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.^[1]

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

Tournament details
Dates	24 March 1971 – 31 May 1972
Teams	22 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	36
Goals scored	112 (3.11 per match)
← 1968 1976 →

First round

Main article: Football at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's European Qualifiers – First round

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

Second round

Main article: Football at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's European Qualifiers – Second round

Qualified teams

The following four teams from Europe qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in the Summer Olympics football tournament1 2
Soviet Union	Group 1 winners	18 November 1971	2 (1952, 1956)
East Germany	Group 3 winners	26 April 1972	1 (1964)
Poland	Group 2 winners	7 May 1972	4 (1924, 1936, 1952, 1960)
Denmark	Group 4 winners	21 May 1972	6 (1908, 1912, 1920, 1948, 1952, 1960)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

² Includes all participations by a competing nation at the Summer Olympics (clubs representing nations, olympic teams, full national teams, etc.).