Sweden, the hosts of the World Cup, and West Germany, the defending champions, qualified automatically for the final tournament. The 27 teams were divided into 9 groups, each featuring 3 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis with the group winners qualified. One runner-up was randomly drawn for the CAR/AFC-UEFA play-off. East Germany, Iceland and the Soviet Union and took part for the first time. Albania were the only UEFA member not to enter.
^ abAs the Soviet Union and Poland finished level on points, a play-off on neutral ground was played to determine the group winner. The Soviet Union won the play-off 2–0 to win the group.