Liedjes Voetbal Steekspel 1990

This was the eleventh Liedjes Voetbal Steekspel to be held. It took place exactly four years after the previous World Cup in 1986.

European Qualifiers were decided by the format of the Euro 1988 tournament. There are 16 qualifying spots up for grabs in this tournament. Other qualification rounds would be interlocked. Asia and Africa would hold similar style but smaller tournaments where the top 4 of the final stage had a chance at going through to the World Cup. The top 3 automatically qualify from each, but the fourth placers would compete in a playoff to decide the 7th spot in the World Cup. The North American and South American tournaments reflected this qualification method. North America was guaranteed 2 spots, with South America guaranteed 5 spots. The 3rd and 6th spots respectively would play in a playoff to decide the final 8th share spot between them. The final qualifier to the World Cup is the host nation however in this situation, the United Kingdom had four Liedjes teams. Due to the Euros 1988 taking place with all of these countries competing, England, Wales and Scotland all already qualified from there. Northern Ireland was offered the automatic qualification but they declined and it was offered instead to the Republic of Ireland, who accepted.

Unlike the 1986 World Cup, this World Cup saw no noticeable boycotts or protests. All previous boycotting nations returned and this World Cup featured the most participating countries in qualifiers where a large amount of new North American and African teams participated for the first time. the Liedjes membership agreed to hold a conference in the future to discuss a possible reduction of seats awarded to Europe.

won the hosting rights to the 1990 contest in the 1983 vote. The final would be held in the capital city, London. This would be the first country to host the World Cup twice, with the United Kingdom also previously hosting the 1957 tournament. Other bids included:


 * , with the final in Buenos Aires
 * , with the final in Beijing
 * , with the final in Mexico City
 * , with the final in Moscow (this bid was withdrew after the first vote but before the second)

Europe
Following 's surprise success in the previous World Cup, interest immediately increased and old Yugoslav footballers tried to join the national team. A famous Serbo-Slovene striker actually defected from his team of to join Slovenia as he viewed them as the better team. Slovenia kept up their great momentum in the Euro 1988 coming 3rd and doing extremely well in international friendlies. Their best result being a 5 - 1 victory over in early 1989. Other Yugoslav teams were doing decently such as who reached the quarter finals of the Euros only losing to eventual winners, Norway. even saw decent results doing better than Hungary in the Euros but ultimately not qualifying. did worse than usual with players deserting and the manager having a terrible reputation. They still managed to qualify from the group of relegation but ultimately lost the Left Right Division Round only drawing once and not winning. Serbia also faired poorly in international friendlies losing against by 2 goals. This team, by the way, had done well despite being a team for only a couple of years by this point. They even secured qualification for the World Cup in the Euros and did well in friendlies. They actually qualified over other Czechoslovakian successor, the Czech Republic.

was still trying to ride it's success. It came 4th in the Euros and was doing decently well. They hoped for another World Cup victory to assert themselves as the country with the most titles. had been on a sharp decline but still qualified for the World Cup. managed to both win the World Cup and the Euros back to back and was hoping for the triple victory. They signed many new young players and was ambitious. Other nordic countries such as, and  saw major upticks of involvement with younger players and much better potentials. None of these nations qualify for the 1990 World Cup, but new players coming on in the Euros and after are preparing them for a great potential in the future. strived for a great future where they could continuously win semi finals confidently. They aimed for their first World Cup win with an exciting new squad. had been a sharp decline for the previous World Cups but their accomplished striker had just retired leaving a massive black hole. They qualified for the World Cup but many were wondered if this squad could actually perform well. was hoping to build off it's great successes in the Euros and aimed for a full World Cup victory.

Rest of the World
, after their humiliation at their own World Cup, tried to build up a great new squad under a new manager. They aimed for a better result and at least a qualification from the Group Stage if they got into the World Cup itself. had saw a noticeable improvement at the 1986 World Cup and hoped to improve that once again and aimed to qualify over their rivals Australia. saw good results and they aimed to qualify back to back. was very impressed with their previous display and hoped to qualify amid more competition. and hyped up their rivalry more but ultimately their goal was to secure qualification once again. , having been humiliated in the qualifiers for the World Cup in 1986 and wanting to host the 1993 tournament, stepped up it's game massively. Interest in young players increased and they assembled a new potential squad and manager role.

European Championships / Euro 1984 (1984) - 16 countries
see here: Euro 1988


 * automatically qualified for the World Cup

Asian Cup and Qualifiers (1985) - 3.5 countries
48 countries took part in the Asian Qualifiers. All five Soviet central Asian nations took part for the first time. Australia also returned. They are separated into 6 groups of 8 countries. The top two of each group go into a final group of 12. The top three qualify for the World Cup. The fourth place will go into a tiebreaker with the African Qualifier fourth place. Palestine, Northern Cyprus, Turkey (who takes part in the European Qualifiers) and several pacific island nations did not appear in the final roster.

Final Round
, and  qualify for the World Cup. This is Kuwait's first World Cup. goes into the tiebreaker round with the African fourth place. Shocking non qualifiers include and a the new great terms of  and.

African Qualifiers (1985) - 3.5 countries
18 countries took part in the African Qualifiers. There are 3 groups of 6 countries, with the top two countries from each group qualifying for a final round. The top 3 of this round robin group qualify for the World Cup while the fourth place goes into a tiebreaker match to determine a 7th combined qualifier between the two continents.

The majority of matches took place in, with some matches taking place in , outside of Africa.

Final Group
, and  qualify for the World Cup. This will be a debut for Senegal. goes into the tiebreaker round with the Asian fourth place. shocks everybody by performing terribly with their best result being a single draw, earning them a single point.

African-Asian Tiebreaker Match (1986) - 1 country
has beaten in the tiebreaker match and has therefore won the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup. This denies Indonesia a debut slot and flips the result from the 1982 tiebreaker where an Asian country won.

North American Qualifiers (1985) - 2.5 countries
Due to time constraints, major conflict of interest in national tournaments, and a lack of interest, only five countries took part. Canada boycotted the World Cup and therefore the qualifiers. and qualified for the World Cup with an incredibly tight race between the Central American countries. This showed a reinterest from Salvadorans where many played for the Guatemalan team because their own team did not play, and their intense rivalry with Honduras. shocked everybody with an incredibly poor performance which caused a massive wave of disinterest in Americans and a cut to funding.

South American Qualifiers (1986) - 5.5 countries
The South American Qualifiers would be run as a 12 country round robin with the top 5 countries making it through to the World Cup.

Group A
6 countries participated in this group. The top two qualify for the World Cup. The third place will go into a tiebreaker match with the third place of Group B. and  qualified for the World Cup. qualified for the tiebreaker.

Group B
6 countries participated in this group. The top two qualify for the World Cup. The third place will go into a tiebreaker match with the third place of Group A. and  qualified for the World Cup. qualified for the tiebreaker.

South American World Cup Tiebreaker Playoff
and played a tiebreaker game for a position in the World Cup. The host was a neutral venue in Brasilia, Brazil. qualified for the World Cup.

North-South American Tiebreaker Match (1986)
and met in a neutral venue in the  to decide the 8th combined spot for North and South America. Each confederation sent their borderline qualifier to compete and the winner would go to the World Cup as an extra team to make 32 countries there. qualifies for the World Cup.

World Cup 1986
Matchday 1 are on the following dates: 23rd June 1986, 30th June 1986, and 7th July 1986.

Matchday 2 are on the following dates: 25th June 1986, 2nd July 1986, and 9th July 1986.

Matchday 3 are on the following dates: 27th June 1986, 4th July 1986, and 11th July 1986.

Group H
Tiebreaker match between and.