Liedjes Voetbal Steekspel 1974

This was the seventh Liedjes Voetbal Steekspel to be held. It took place exactly four years after the previous World Cup in 1970. European Qualifiers would take place across 1972 in which 20 spots would be filled. Asian and African Qualifiers would take place in early 1973 in which 2 spots would be filled each. North America Qualifiers would take place in late 1973 in which a further 2 spots would be filled each. South American Qualifiers would take place in late 1973 to early 1974 in which 5 spots would be filled each. The remaining spot would be taken by the host country:

won the hosting rights to the 1974 contest in the 1971 vote. They previously bid for the 1970 contest where they failed. The organising body wanted another European country and didn't want to go back to South America so early after the Brazil World Cup in 1965. Other bids included:


 * , with the final in Mexico City
 * , with the final in Rio de Janeiro
 * , with the final in Buenos Aires
 * , with the final in Sydney

European Qualifiers (1972) - 20 countries
Each group consisted of 6 countries. They would play each other 3 times: once hosting, once playing away, and once in a neutral venue. To get a win point, a country would have to get more leg match victories than their opponent. For a tie to occur, they must win the same amount of matches. Overall on the board, if this is a tie, the goal difference will be used to break it. If this is not possible, the total number of goals will be accounted for. If this cannot be accounted for, an emergency new match between the two in a tie will take place to break the tie, which will go onto penalty shootouts if necessary. The top three teams will qualify from each group. These will qualify for the World Cup. The remaining two slots will be filled by the the highest point difference for the fourth placed teams. Spain didn't compete in the qualifiers having previously automatically qualified by being the host of the World Cup.

The first five matchdays (first matches) took place on 24th January 1972, 7th February 1972, 14th February 1972, 21st February 1972, 28th February 1972, and 6th March 1972. The next five matchdays (second matches) took place on 5th June 1972, 12th June 1972, 19th June 1972, 26th June 1972, and 3rd July 1972. The final five matchdays (third matches) took place on 4th September 1972, 11th September 1972, 18th September 1972, 25th September 1972, and 2nd October 1972. No emergency tie breaker matches were required, but if they were, they were scheduled to take place on 13th November 1972 and 20th November 1972.

The bottom 3 teams in terms of goal difference would be relegated from taking part in the 1976 European Qualifiers for the 1978 World Cup unless no alternative team can be found. The relegated teams for the next tournament are: (-134),  (-126) and  (-89).

, being one of the best teams, threatened to boycott the next 1976 qualifiers if they didn't qualify for the World Cup. This is because they were drawn randomly in a group of death and were destined to not qualify for the World Cup out of a tie breaker. Therefore, the 2 best fourth team rule was added, allowing them and Switzerland to qualify. This meant that 2 spots were taken away from other continent confederations. The original plan was to decrease Europe to 18 spots and increase North America to 3 and South America to 6.

Group A
Neutral venues for this group were located in, , , , and the.

Czechoslovakia, and  qualified. From this group, received a goal difference of 5, qualifying it for a spot in the World Cup as well.

Group B
Neutral venues for this group were located in, , , and.

, and  qualified for the World Cup. No fourth place nations qualified.

Group C
Neutral venues for this group were located in Czechoslovakia,, ,  and.

, and  qualified for the World Cup. No fourth place nations qualified.

Group D
Neutral venues for this group were located in, , , and.

, and  qualified for the World Cup. No fourth place nations qualified.

Group E
Neutral venues for this group were located in, , , and

, and  qualified. From this group, received a goal difference of 25, qualifying it for a spot in the World Cup as well.

Group F
Neutral venues for this group were located in, , , and.

, and  qualified for the World Cup. No fourth place nations qualified.

=North America= North America was originally allocated 3 countries to qualify for the World Cup, but due to issues surrounding Portugal's protest, it was changed back to 2 which had been the normal before. Twelve countries applied to join the North American qualifiers which was 4 more than the previous qualifiers. They would be drawn into 2 groups of 6 teams. The top 2 from each group would qualify into a second round robin consisting of a single group of 4 with the top 2 directly qualifying for the World Cup.

Group A
There were five matchdays. These were: 12th November 1973, 19th November 1973, 26th November 1973, 3rd December 1973 and 10th December 1973. and qualified for the Final Stage. Guatemala won a tie break on having five more goal differences than 3rd place,.

Group B
There were five matchdays. These were: 14th November 1973, 21st November 1973, 28th November 1973, 5th December 1973 and 12th December 1973. and qualified for the Final Stage.

Final Stage
There were three matchdays. These were: Friday 14th December 1973; Monday 17th December 1973; and Wednesday 19th December 1973. and qualified for the World Cup. Cuba won a tie break on having a single extra goal difference than 3rd place,. This upset many Hondurans greatly. Alongside and  qualifying for the World Cup, a final would be held between them as a friendly, similar to the 1964 Qualifiers Final. It took place on Thursday 20th December 1973. =South America= South America was originally allocated 6 countries, but this was later changed down to 5 to stop a Portuguese protest withdrawal. 12 countries would take part, which included Guyana and Suriname as new comers. These 12 would be split into three groups of 4 countries. The winner from each group would qualify to the World Cup. Out of the three runner-ups, the two with the high goal difference will also qualify.

Group A
There were three matchdays. These were Saturday 15th December 1973, Monday 17th December 1973, and Thursday 20th December 1973.

Group B
There were three matchdays. These were Saturday 29th December 1973, Wednesday 2nd January 1974, and Friday 4th January 1974.

Group C
There were three matchdays. These were Saturday 19th January 1974, Monday 21st January 1974 and Friday 25th January 1974.

=Asia= Asia was allocated 2 spots for the World Cup. They held a private vote of who should or should not take part. They split the considered countries into Northern and Southern Asia. Australia and New Zealand were placed into Northern Asia to balance out the amount of countries in each to 8, and because they were in Oceania.

Northern Asia

 * North Vietnam
 * North Vietnam
 * North Vietnam
 * North Vietnam
 * North Vietnam
 * North Vietnam

Southern Asia
Immediately, South and North Vietnam were ruled out for being too political. Macau and Hong Kong were also ruled out due to being territories. The Asian team ruled out Australia and New Zealand as well due to them not being in Asia proper. This left just 3 countries in the North: Japan, South Korea and China. Due to Japan already having played in the tournament before, the pick was between China and South Korea were won due to having more representatives who supported them. Due to supporting Taiwan, India withdrew from the pick leaving just 6 countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Iran and Saudi-Arabia. Again, many voters were from East Asia meaning that the Middle Eastern countries and Pakistan barely got any support. Thailand withdrew due to wanting neutrality in the Vietnam War. ultimately won due to a large amount of Chinese immigrants there.

China were condemned by Lied van Liedjes for technically manipulating the vote but no punishment was ever given. Malaysia and China would play in the tournament in 1965. =Africa= Similar to Asia, Africa was allocated 2 spots and no competition was held. Many African nations only became independent one or two years ago and so many didn't have an established football team. was given one of the spot by the principle of having taken part in the tournament before. A vote internally was given between the following four countries: Where after the votes were tallied, was chosen.