1986 FIFA World Cup

1986 FIFA World Cup
Host	Mexico (originally Colombia)
Dates	May 31-June 29
Winner	Argentina (2nd title)

The 1986 FIFA World Cup is the 13th edition of the men's FIFA World Cup tournament. Originally it was going to be in Colombia, but fiancial reasons caused the World Cup to move it to Mexico, who previously hosted the 1970 tournament.

This is known by many as the "Canada World Cup", because of Canada's qualification to the final tournament. This was Canada's last World Cup finals until the 2026 finals.

The defending champions were Italy. They were eliminated in the second round by eventual semifinalists France in a rematch of the 2006 final.

Argentina won the World Cup title, defeating West Germany 3-2 in the final. Their next final meetings didn't occur until 1990 and 2014.

Host selection

Colombia was the original host but had to withdraw due to financial issues. Mexico was named the new host in 1983.

Qualified teams

Qualification status for the 1986 FIFA World Cup

Three times qualified for the first time, Canada, Iraq and Denmark.

Teams that failed to qualify were the Netherlands and Sweden for the second consecutive World Cup. 2010 and 2014 participant Honduras was eliminated by eventual CONCACAF winners Canada. The original host selected by FIFA, Colombia, was eliminated by Paraguay. South Korea qualified for the first time in 32 years. Paraguay qualified for the first time in 28 years.

This was Poland and Portugal's last finals until 2002 and Algeria's last finals until 2010.

This was the last time until 2018 that the United States failed to qualify for the World Cup. As of 2022, this was the last time that Northern Ireland, Hungary and Iraq qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals.

This was Northern Ireland's last major finals until Euro 2016. It was Canada's first and only World Cup final tournament until the 2022 tournament.

AFC

• Iraq
• South Korea

CAF

• Algeria
• Morocco

CONCACAF

• Canada
• Mexico (Host)

CONMEBOL

• Argentina
• Brazil
• Paraguay
• Uruguay

OFC

None qualified (Australia eliminated by Scotland)

UEFA

• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Denmark
• England
• France
• Hungary
• Italy
• Northern Ireland
• Poland
• Portugal
• Scotland
• Soviet Union
• Spain
• West Germany

Rankings of third placed teams

Hungary would have advanced if three points for a win was used. But Uruguay advanced instead.

Trivia

• Rafael Nadal, a nine time French Open winner, was born in Spain during the World Cup.
• The 1986 tournament is known for the only World Cup appearances for Canada and Iraq.
• This is the only men's World Cup tournament to see the original host country's bid move to a different country.
• This World Cup was known for the Paraguayan comeback. It was Paraguay's only World Cup between 1962 and 1994.