Editing 1978 FIFA World Cup (section)

==Qualification==
{{main|1978 FIFA World Cup qualification}}
[[File:1978 world cup qualification.png|thumb|300px|{{legend|#000cff|Countries that qualified for World Cup}} {{legend|#ffb400|Countries that failed to qualify}} {{legend|black|Countries that did not enter}} {{legend|#ababab|Non-FIFA members}}]]

England, Belgium, Czechoslovakia (the [[UEFA Euro 1976|European champions]]) and the Soviet Union failed to qualify for the second World Cup in succession, losing out to Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland and Hungary respectively. Along with England's failure, Wales and Northern Ireland also failed to qualify leaving Scotland the only nation of the [[United Kingdom]] to remain in the final sixteen.  1974 quarter-finalists East Germany and Yugoslavia were eliminated by Austria and Spain and thus also failed to qualify for the finals, along with Bulgaria which failed to qualify for the first time since 1958 after losing to France. Bolivia's win meant Uruguay also failed to qualify for the first time since 1958. Newcomers to the finals were Iran and Tunisia; Austria qualified for the first time since 1958, while France, Spain and Hungary were back for the first time since 1966. Peru and Mexico returned after missing the 1974 tournament. For the first time, more than 100 nations entered the competition.<ref>{{cite web |title=1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina Preliminaries |url=https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/worldcup/argentina1978/preliminaries/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220191723/http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/worldcup/argentina1978/preliminaries/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 December 2013 |publisher=FIFA}}</ref>

===List of teams qualifying===
The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament:
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;[[1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC)|AFC]] (1)
* {{fb|IRN|1964}} (debut)
;[[1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)|CAF]] (1)
* {{fb|TUN|1959}} (debut)
;[[1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC and OFC)|OFC]] (0)
: ''None qualified''
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;[[1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)|CONCACAF]] (1)
* {{fb|MEX}}
;[[1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)|CONMEBOL]] (3)
* {{fb|ARG|1861}}&nbsp;(hosts)
* {{fb|BRA|1968}}
* {{fb|PER}}
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;[[1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)|UEFA]] (10)
* {{fb|AUT}}
* {{fb|FRA|1974}}
* {{fb|HUN|1957}}
* {{fb|ITA|1946}}
* {{fb|NED}}
* {{fb|POL|1928}}
* {{fb|SCO}}
* {{fb|ESP|1977}}
* {{fb|SWE}}
* {{fb|FRG}} (holders)

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