1994 FIFA World Cup™ Preliminary

(teams of USA, as the host nation and GERMANY, as the current world champion, are exempt from the qualifying games.)

An entry of close to 150 countries, nearly 500 matches and once again more goals than in the past twenty years - these were the figures of the biggest World Cup preliminary in 60 years.

Two of Europe's big names failed to make the finals: England conceded an embarrassing goal after a few seconds in their final match in San Marino and although they won 7-1 in the end they were unable to overtake the Netherlands in the group, who qualified along with group winners Norway. In Group 6, France looked to be heading comfortably for the top spot two matches before the end, but lost surprisingly at home to Israel and then were beaten away by Bulgaria, thanks to a Kostadinov counter-strike in the dying seconds. It was thus Bulgaria who squeezed into second place and accompanied Sweden to the USA. Helped by good results against group winners Italy, Switzerland also qualified for the first time in nearly thirty years.

In South America the only team to come through convincingly were Colombia, undefeated in their group and ahead of Argentina. In the other group Brazil and Bolivia only managed to secure definite qualification in their very last matches. Argentina had to go into a play-off against Oceania winners Australia and were on a knife's edge until a narrow 1-0 home win got them through.

In Africa it was Nigeria (first time for them), Morocco, and Cameroon who qualified, but it was a close battle for all three against the second team in their groups. In a dramatic final in Qatar, Japan let a safe-looking qualification slip away from them at the last minute. After a 2-2 draw against Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic (only on goal difference) finally edged out Japan. After slipping up in Costa Rica and El Salvador, Mexico earned their passage in the direct encounter with their closest rivals Canada.

San Marino’s Davide Gualtieri shot to fame in November 1993 when he scored the opener against England after just nine seconds, the fastest goal ever in a World Cup qualifier. England went on to win the game 7-1 but their dismal attempt to qualify for the 1994 World Cup caused this radio commentary: "Welcome to Bologna on Capital Gold for England versus San Marino with Tennent's Pilsner, brewed with Czechoslovakian yeast for that extra Pilsner taste and England are one down."

Bulgarian Emil Kostadinov shocked a whole nation when he scored the winner against France in the dying seconds of their last World Cup qualifier in November 1993 at Parc des Princes. Bulgaria got the points and the ticket to the USA, which the French had virtually had in their pockets.

Europe 38 +1: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland Republic, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales, Yugoslavia + Israel

South America 9: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

CONCACAF 23: Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, EI Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St.Lucia, St.Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, USA

Africa 40: Algeria, Angola, Benin (late entry), Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia (late entry), Niger, Nigeria, Saõ Tomé e Princípe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa (late entry), Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe

- Withdrawals: Burkina Faso, Gambia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, São Tomé e Princípe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda

Asia 29: Bahrain, Bangladesh, China PR, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen

Oceania 7 Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Western Samoa

Number of Teams participating for the first time in the Preliminary Competition: 16

Botswana, Burundi, Faroe Islands, Lebanon, Namibia, Nicaragua, San Marino, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Vietnam

• Czechoslovakia had begun playing in the preliminary competition as one country. After the division on 1.1.1993, the politically separated countries still continued with a unified team, the RCS (Representation of Czechs and Slovaks).

• Liberia (1 match) and Tanzania (4) withdrew from the competition after having played.

• Yugoslavia was excluded due to UN sanctions in connection with the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Yugoslavia became Serbia and Montenegro in February 2003, and in 2006 the two became independent from each other and are now 2 separate member associations.

• Libya was excluded following UN sanctions in connection with the alleged involvement in terrorist attacks

• Sri Lanka and Lebanon had entered previous preliminary competitions but withdrawn again without playing a match: Sri Lanka 1974 and 1978 (1974 still under the name Ceylon), Lebanon 1986.

• South Africa had entered 1966 but was subsequently banned (anti-discrimination charter) without having played a match. The ban remained in effect until 1992 when South Africa was re-admitted.

• Vietnam’s entry was not accepted in 1954. South Vietnam was re-annexed by the North on 30.4.1975. South Vietnam entered 1974 and 1978 independently.

• Yemen played for the first time as a united country: Yemen (North) and Yemen PDR (South) had enrolled independently for 1986 and 1990.

• Chile was suspended from the 1994 FIFA World Cup following goalkeeper Rojas’ feigning an injury in their away game against Brazil in the previous preliminary competition.

• Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) continued the record of the pre-war Germany with the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) entering independently from 1958-1990. The reunified Germany continues the record of Federal Republic of Germany while that of the German Democratic Republic closed in late 1990.

Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Germany (C), GREECE, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Korea Republic, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, NIGERIA, Norway, Romania, Russia, SAUDI ARABIA, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA (H)

Legend
NEWCOMERS TO FINALS in upper case italics
(C) Defending champions, qualified automatically

Preliminaries tournament statistics (without taking into account technical and annulled results)
Matches (neutral field)	491 (79)
Goals Scored	1426
Host Goals Scored	765 (53,65%)
Guest Goals Scored	394 (27,63%)
Neutral Goals Scored	267 (18,72%)
Home win	222 (45,21%)
Draws	88 (17,92%)
Away win	102 (20,77%)
Goals Scored (average per match)	2,9
High score (more than 3 goals)	160 (32,59%)
No Score Draw	42 (8,55%)
Attendance (*incomplete data)	53 621 064
Average viewers per match (*incomplete data)	109 208
Penalties awarded (*incomplete data)	80
Penalty goals	74
% Successful Penalty kicks (*incomplete data)	92,5 %
Own goals	10
Cautions (on average) (*incomplete data)	1147 (2,34)
Sent off (aver.)	82 (0,17) - 79/3
Players participated (*incomplete data)	3026