A total of 107 teams entered the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, which began with the preliminary qualification draw on 20 November 1975 at Guatemala City. Argentina, as the hosts, and West Germany, as the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition. The 16 places would be distributed among the continental zones as follows: A total of 95 teams played at least one qualifying match. A total of 252 qualifying matches were played, and 723 goals were scored (an average of 2.87 per match).

Confederation qualification

AFC and OFC

CAF

CONCACAF

CONMEBOL

First round

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Final round

Brazil and Peru qualified. Bolivia advanced to the inter-confederation play-offs.

UEFA

Hungary advanced to the UEFA–CONMEBOL play-off.

Inter-confederation play-offs: UEFA v CONMEBOL

The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the 1978 FIFA World Cup:

[Final qualification status {{legend|#000cff|Country qualified for World Cup}} {{legend|#ffb400|Country failed to qualify}} {{legend|#000000|Country did not enter World Cup}} {{legend|#ababab|Country not a FIFA member|undefined | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/1978///FIFA///World///Cup///qualification.png]

Top goalscorers