Liedjes Voetbal Steekspel 1986

This was the ninth Liedjes Voetbal Steekspel to be held. It took place exactly four years after the previous World Cup in 1978. European Qualifiers would take place in 1980 and would be incorporated into the European Championships 1980 in which 16 spots would be filled. Asian and African Qualifiers would take place in early to mid 1981, with 7 spots available between them. Each confederation would submit 3 teams that will qualify to the World Cup, with a fourth team from each confederation to fight for the final qualification spot. This tie breaker match would take place in late 1981. North American Qualifiers would take place in late 1981 to early 1982, with South American qualifiers taking place in the same time. Similar to the African and Asian qualifiers, there would be a tiebreaker match. The South American confederation would get to submit 5 teams that qualify to the World Cup, with the North Americans getting just 2. A final space will be given to the winner of a match between the 6th South American team and the 3rd North American team. The final space would be taken by the host country:

won the hosting rights to the 1982 contest in the 1977 vote. Yugoslavia would host officially, but would not participate in the World Cup. 6 Yugoslav nations would compete in a mini Yugoslavia Cup in late 1979 to decide the one country that would qualify to the group stage. The other 5 would then take part in the European Championships in 1980. The final would be held in the capital, Belgrade. Other bids included:

Notable changes in this World Cup were the massive momentum of the French national team again. Following their massive victory in the 1978 World Cup, France would then go on to win the next 8 consecutive national matches, only then drawing 1-1 with Czechoslovakia in a friendly in 1979. Austria, England, and Denmark all had new managers that deviated greatly from the norm of those teams. the Yugoslavia national team stopped existing in it's own right in late 1979. This split into 6 new members which were, , , , , and. The two other republics within Yugoslavia: Vojvodina and Kosovo would not take part, instead participating as part of the Serbian national team. Croatia and Slovenia had played as members before during previous European qualifiers and World Cups, alongside defunct nation Serbia and Montenegro whose stats would be transferred to Serbia.
 * , with the final in Buenos Aires
 * , with the final in Sydney
 * , with the final in Beijing
 * , with the final in Paris
 * , with the final in Mexico City
 * , with the final in Warsaw
 * , with the final in Bucharest
 * , with the final in Moscow
 * joint-bid between and, with the final in Tokyo
 * joint-bid between and, with the final in Kuala Lumpur
 * joint-bid between, and , with the final in Malmo

In the 1978 World Cup, Estonia had split from the Soviet Union team. Discussions began for Latvian and Lithuanian separation in 1979. Officially, and  would become official Liedjes Voetbal members in June 1979 and therefore allowed to compete in the Euro 1980 and World Cup 1982. ,, and were allowed to compete in September 1979. Other Soviet Union countries were disallowed, and there were many protests on other ethnicities other than Russian taking part of the Soviet Union team such as Chechnians or Kazakhs.

Yugoslav Cup (1979) - 1 country
Serbia would be the automatic qualifier for the 1982 World Cup.

European Championships / Euro 1980 (1980) - 16 countries
Due to the huge format change of this first European Championship in 1980, there would be all new rules. 48 countries would compete, instead of a previous 32. Firstly, the newly made members of the European Confederation would take part which included: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Secondly, the relegated members, Andorra, San Marino, and Greenland would return. Thirdly, the three countries supposed to withdraw would mostly stay. Groups would be drawn with Northern Ireland without a group. The Yugoslav nation who would automatically qualify would be replaced in the Euro 1980 by Northern Ireland. This nation was Serbia.

8 groups consisting of 6 countries would compete. They would play each other once in a group stage. The top two of each group would qualify for the World Cup, and would qualify to the knockout bracket. If a tie-breaker match was necessary, it would take place in a neutral venue. The knockout bracket will continue, alongside a 3rd place playoff until a champion of Europe can be found.

The European Championships would have 10 host countries. Each group would have a single host country, with the knockouts having two countries sharing duties.

Group A
and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. the Soviet Union was the surprise non-qualifier, as many had predicted Denmark to fail. The host country was.

Group B
and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. North Macedonia surprised everybody by coming in 3rd place, beating out Ireland and Greece, when they were predicted to come in joint last with Azerbaijan. This was their debut. The host country was.

Group C
and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. Infamously, Germany failed to qualify for the World Cup after a tie with Sweden and loss to Norway, meaning they would miss their first World Cup ever. This was their worst showing ever. This group was referred to as the Nordic group for including three Nordic countries. The host country was.

Group D
Czechoslovakia and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. Northern Ireland replacing Serbia meant the group was easier and allowed Finland, who wasn't expected to, to qualify. The host country was.

Group E
and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. A massive shock in this group was Switzerland's non qualification despite relative success. Croatia sourced players and managers from old successful Yugoslav teams alongside great training and new players. They finished two goals above Switzerland in the goal difference tie breaker. The host country was.

Group F
and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. Spain failed to qualify for the World Cup after a tie with Poland and loss to Hungary, meaning they would miss the World Cup. This was another huge upset following Germany's elimination and would ensure this World Cup as one of the most shocking. The host country was.

Group G
and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. There were no real shocks, but Lithuania did better than expected only losing out to Romania via tiebreaks. The host country was.

Group H
and qualified for the World Cup and the Knockout stage. England dominated the group with their new manager. Slovenia, expected to come 4th, managed to scrape into 2nd place and secure a qualification. Turkey was expected to qualify but came 4th, losing a tiebreak to Belgium. The host country was.

Knockouts
won the Euro 1980 and became the Champions of Europe.

Asian Cup and Qualifiers (1981) - 3.5 countries
24 countries take part in the Asian Qualifiers, the same as 1977. They are separated into 6 groups of 6. 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. Five nations took part in a further Asian B League which took place in late 1979 for nations who weren't allowed, or applied too late to join the Asian Cup. The major countries in Asia that did not compete were Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Brunei and Timor-Leste

Asian B League
won the Asian B League. They weren't guaranteed any promotion to the next Asian Cup, but they were given the Asian B League trophy and a cash prize. North Korea came second in a surprise twist where China was thought to succed.

Group A
and qualified for the next stage of the tournament.

Group B
and qualified for the next stage of the tournament. When beat  in goal difference, many on the Indian football team were harassed.

Group C
and qualified for the next stage of the tournament. was expected to beat Lebanon, who was thought to do terribly, but two new debut players managed to get very consequential goals.

Group D
and qualified for the next stage of the tournament. There was no unexpected qualifications, but managed criticized the somewhat easy group.

Group E
and qualified for the next stage of the tournament. Macau unexpected did better than Myanmar on goal difference despite their loaning of star South Korean striker.

Group F
and qualified for the next stage of the tournament. Tuvalu, despite only managing to pay the fee with the help of Australia, announced that following the event that they would not participate in the next Asian Cup due to their terrible performance. The Tuvaluan team later announced that, the winner of the B League, should replace them in 1985.

Final Round
, and  qualified directly for the World Cup. qualified for the African-Asian tiebreaker. South Korea was the shock non-qualifier only losing the position to a goal difference tiebreak with Iran and Australia. Taiwan performed very well despite being a debut nation.

African Qualifiers (1981) - 3.5 countries
17 countries took part in the African Qualifiers. the top country from each group would go participate in the final group stage consisting of 4 nations. The top 3 would qualify with the last place going into an Asian-African tiebreaker match to decide the 7th qualifier between the two confederations. wanted to participate, but already had it's spot. Therefore, Group A would consist of 5 nations.

The majority of matches took place in, with all of their matches to avoid home turf advantage taking place in neighbouring.

Group A
qualified for the next stage of the tournament.

Group B
qualified for the next stage of the tournament. This was a huge upset for.

Group C
qualified for the next stage of the tournament.

Group D
qualified for the next stage of the tournament.

Final Group
The top countries of each group advance to a final round robin of 4 countries. , and  qualified for the World Cup. qualified for the African-Asian tiebreaker match.

African-Asian Tiebreaker Match (1982) - 1 country
qualified for the World Cup, beating out Ghana.

North American Qualifiers (1981) - 2 countries
Due to major financial issues, sponsors and many teams pulled out of the event like the previous time in 1977. Eight teams competed with three more than the previous event. Some footballers from smaller nations joined other teams. Many were backed financially by the United States. It took place in a single group with the top two countries advancing. and qualified once again for the World Cup. Canada did much worse than expected at the event.

South American Qualifiers (1982) - 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 (1982)
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.

Group Stage
Matchday 1 are on the following dates: 21st June 1982, 28th June 1982, and 5th July 1982.

Matchday 2 are on the following dates: 23rd June 1982, 30th June 1982, and 7th July 1982.

Matchday 3 are on the following dates: 25th June 1982, 2nd July 1982, and 9th July 1982.