Football at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's European Qualifiers

The Men's European Football Qualifiers for the 1972 Summer Olympics consisted of two stages, the first single elimination tournament and then group stage.

Men's European Qualifier

Tournament details
Teams	24 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	36
Goals scored	112 (3.11 per match)

Play-off stage

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Finland	w/o	Malta	–	–
East Germany	5–0	Italy	4–0	1–0
Great Britain	1–5	Bulgaria	1–0	0–5
Iceland	0–1	France	0–0	0–1
Luxembourg	3–3	Austria	1–0	2–3
Poland	8–0	Greece	7–0	1–0
Republic of Ireland	0–3	Yugoslavia	0–1	0–2
Romania	4–2	Albania	2–1	2–1
Soviet Union	4–0	Netherlands	4–0	0–0
Spain	0-4	Turkey	0–0	0–4
Switzerland	2–5	Denmark	2–1	0–4

Group stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		URS	FRA	AUT
1	Soviet Union	4	4	0	0	13	2	+11	8	1972 Summer Olympics finals		—	5–1	4–0
2	France	4	2	0	2	10	9	+1	4			1–3	—	5–1
3	Austria	4	0	0	4	1	13	−12	0			0–1	0–3	—

Source: [ FIFA]

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		POL	BUL	SPA
1	Poland	4	3	0	1	8	3	+5	6	1972 Summer Olympics finals		—	3–0	2–0
2	Bulgaria	4	2	1	1	14	10	+4	5			3–1	—	8–3
3	Spain	4	0	1	3	6	15	−9	1			0–2	3–3	—

Source: [ FIFA]

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GDR	YUG	FIN
1	East Germany	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	3	1972 Summer Olympics finals		—	2–0	+/-
2	Yugoslavia	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	1			0–0	—	+/-
3	Finland	0	-	-	-	-	-	—	0	withdrew		-/+	-/+	—

Source: [ FIFA]

Group 4

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Denmark	5–3	Romania	2–1	3–2