| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 75 (from 6 confederations) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 172 |
| Goals scored | 542 (3.15 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Tostão (10 goals) |
← 1966 1974 → | |
A total of 75 teams entered the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Hosts Mexico and defending champions England qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.
For the first time, the winners of both the African zone and the Asian and Oceanian zone were guaranteed a direct place in the final tournament. The 16 spots available in the 1970 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:
- Europe (UEFA): 9 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier England, while the other 8 places were contested by 29 teams.
- South America (CONMEBOL): 3 places, contested by 10 teams.
- North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 2 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Mexico, while the other 1 place was contested by 13 teams.
- Africa (CAF): 1 place, contested by 13 teams. (13 teams applied, but FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire, leaving 11 teams. A 14th team from Africa, Rhodesia, entered through a non-CAF qualifying system.)
- Asia and Oceania (AFC/OFC): 1 place, contested by 7 teams (including Rhodesia).
A total of 68 teams played in at least one qualifying match. A total of 172 qualifying matches were played, and 542 goals were scored (an average of 3.15 per match).
Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.
Key:
- Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.
- Teams highlighted in red in the same table finished level on points and advanced to a play-off on neutral ground.