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121 teams entered the 1986 FIFA World Cupqualification rounds, competing for 24 places in the final tournament. Mexico, as the hosts, and Italy, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 22 spots open for competition. The draw took place on 7 December 1983 in Zürich, Switzerland.
The 24 spots available in the 1986 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:
Europe (UEFA): 13.5 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Italy, while the other 12.5 places were contested by 32 teams. The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the intercontinental play-offs (against a team from OFC).
South America (CONMEBOL): 4 places, contested by 10 teams.
North, Central America, and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 2 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Mexico, while the other place was contested by 17 teams.
Oceania (OFC): 0.5 place, contested by 4 teams (including Israel and Chinese Taipei). The winner of the 0.5 place would advance to the intercontinental play-offs (against a team from UEFA).
A total of 110 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 308 qualifying matches were played, and 801 goals were scored (an average of 2.60 per match).
West Germany lost a World Cup qualifying match for the first time on 16 October 1985, when they were defeated 0–1 by Portugal in Stuttgart, in what was their 37th World Cup qualifier (including games played by Germany before World War II). The other two losses that the (now-reunified) German team suffered in the competition also took place on home soil: 1–5 to England in Munich in 2001, and 1–2 to North Macedonia in Duisburg in 2021. With only three losses in over 100 games, Germany remains the team with by far the lowest loss ratio in the FIFA World Cup qualification.
Scotland manager Jock Stein died during their qualifier at Wales, suffering a heart attack immediately after the Scots scored a late equaliser.
Iraq qualified to their only World Cup up to date.
Preben Elkjær (8 goals)
Australia
Algeria
Argentina
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
England
France
Hungary
Iraq
Italy (defending champions)
South Korea
Mexico (hosts)
Morocco
Northern Ireland
Paraguay
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Uruguay
Soviet Union
West Germany
Jose Roberto Figueroa
Zahi Armeli
Kazushi Kimura
Bassam Jeridi
