The European (UEFA) zone of qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup saw 32 teams competing for 13 places at the finals. UEFA members Italy qualified automatically as hosts of the finals. The qualification process started on 21 May 1988 and ended on 18 November 1989.

Format

Teams were drawn into seven groups, four groups of five teams and three of four teams. All seven group-winners qualified automatically, with the runners-up in the four groups containing five teams (Groups 3, 5, 6 and 7) also qualifying. The two best second-placed teams in the three groups containing only four teams also qualified (Groups 1, 2 and 4), and the second-placed team with the worst record was eliminated.

Draw

The draw for the qualifying groups took place in Zürich, Switzerland on 12 December 1987. During the draw teams were drawn from the 5 pots into the 7 groups. The seedings below were announced ten days before the draw. Teams qualified to the final tournament are in bold. The Seeded teams were the 5 European sides who reached the 1986 Quarter Finals plus Soviet Union and Denmark though there were still security issues with England due to their fan issues in the form of hooliganism which was a factor with all 3 of their away games in the 1990 qualifying campaign being televised live by the BBC

Summary

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7
Romania	Sweden	Soviet Union	Netherlands	Yugoslavia	Spain	Belgium
Denmark	England	Austria	West Germany	Scotland	Republic of Ireland	Czechoslovakia
Greece Bulgaria	Poland Albania	Turkey East Germany Iceland	Finland Wales	France Norway Cyprus	Hungary Northern Ireland Malta	Portugal Switzerland Luxembourg

Results

Group 1

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Romania 6 4 1 1 10 5 +5 9  Denmark 6 3 2 1 15 6 +9 8  Greece 6 1 2 3 3 15 −12 4  Bulgaria 6 1 1 4 6 8 −2 3

Bulgaria  — 0–2 4–0 1–3 Denmark  1–1 — 7–1 3–0 Greece  1–0 1–1 — 0–0 Romania  1–0 3–1 3–0 —

Group 2

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Sweden 6 4 2 0 9 3 +6 10  England 6 3 3 0 10 0 +10 9  Poland 6 2 1 3 4 8 −4 5  Albania 6 0 0 6 3 15 −12 0

Albania  — 0–2 1–2 1–2 England  5–0 — 3–0 0–0 Poland  1–0 0–0 — 0–2 Sweden  3–1 0–0 2–1 —

Group 3

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Soviet Union 8 4 3 1 11 4 +7 11  Austria 8 3 3 2 9 9 0 9  Turkey 8 3 1 4 12 10 +2 7  East Germany 8 3 1 4 9 13 −4 7  Iceland 8 1 4 3 6 11 −5 6

Austria  — 3–0 2–1 0–0 3–2 East Germany  1–1 — 2–0 2–1 0–2 Iceland  0–0 0–3 — 1–1 2–1 Soviet Union  2–0 3–0 1–1 — 2–0 Turkey  3–0 3–1 1–1 0–1 —

Group 4

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Netherlands 6 4 2 0 8 2 +6 10  West Germany 6 3 3 0 13 3 +10 9  Finland 6 1 1 4 4 16 −12 3  Wales 6 0 2 4 4 8 −4 2

Finland  — 0–1 1–0 0–4 Netherlands  3–0 — 1–0 1–1 Wales  2–2 1–2 — 0–0 West Germany  6–1 0–0 2–1 —

Group 5

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Yugoslavia 8 6 2 0 16 6 +10 14  Scotland 8 4 2 2 12 12 0 10  France 8 3 3 2 10 7 +3 9  Norway 8 2 2 4 10 9 +1 6  Cyprus 8 0 1 7 6 20 −14 1

Cyprus  — 1–1 0–3 2–3 1–2 France  2–0 — 1–0 3–0 0–0 Norway  3–1 1–1 — 1–2 1–2 Scotland  2–1 2–0 1–1 — 1–1 Yugoslavia  4–0 3–2 1–0 3–1 —

Group 6

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 8 6 1 1 20 3 +17 13  Republic of Ireland 8 5 2 1 10 2 +8 12  Hungary 8 2 4 2 8 12 −4 8  Northern Ireland 8 2 1 5 6 12 −6 5  Malta 8 0 2 6 3 18 −15 2

Hungary  — 1–1 1–0 0–0 2–2 Malta  2–2 — 0–2 0–2 0–2 Northern Ireland  1–2 3–0 — 0–0 0–2 Republic of Ireland  2–0 2–0 3–0 — 1–0 Spain  4–0 4–0 4–0 2–0 —

Group 7

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Belgium 8 4 4 0 15 5 +10 12  Czechoslovakia 8 5 2 1 13 3 +10 12  Portugal 8 4 2 2 11 8 +3 10   Switzerland 8 2 1 5 10 14 −4 5  Luxembourg 8 0 1 7 3 22 −19 1

Belgium  — 2–1 1–1 3–0 1–0 Czechoslovakia  0–0 — 4–0 2–1 3–0 Luxembourg  0–5 0–2 — 0–3 1–4 Portugal  1–1 0–0 1–0 — 3–1 Switzerland  2–2 0–1 2–1 1–2 —

Ranking of runners-up from groups of four

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
West Germany	6	3	3	0	13	3	+10	9
England	6	3	3	0	10	0	+10	9
Denmark	6	3	2	1	15	6	+9	8

Goalscorers

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal