Group 1 consisted of four of the 32 teams entered into the European zone: ^[1] Austria, Hungary, Malta, and Sweden. These four teams competed on a home-and-away basis for one of the 9,5 spots in the final tournament allocated to the European zone, with the group's winner claiming this spot.

Standings

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1=	Austria	6	3	2	1	14	7	+7	8
1=	Sweden	6	3	2	1	15	8	+7	8
3	Hungary	6	2	4	0	12	7	+5	8
4	Malta	6	0	0	6	1	20	−19	0

Matches

14 November 1971

Malta	0–2	Hungary
	[1]	Bene 3', 56'

The Stadium, Valletta, Malta

Attendance: 9,231

Referee: Lo Bello ( Italy)

30 April 1972

Austria	4–0	Malta
Hickersberger 29', 34', 36' Hof 85'	[2]

Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria

Attendance: 16,081

Referee: Kruashvili ( Soviet Union)

6 May 1972

Hungary	3–0	Malta
Kocsis 35' Bene 60' I. Juhász 75'	[3]

Megyeri úti Stadion, Budapest, Hungary

Attendance: 5,646

Referee: Gugulović ( Yugoslavia)

25 May 1972

Sweden	0–0	Hungary
	[4]

Råsunda Fotbollstadion, Stockholm, Sweden

Attendance: 28,598

Referee: Van Ravens ( Netherlands)

10 June 1972

Austria	2–0	Sweden
Parits 65' Pumm 78'	[5]

Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria

Attendance: 40,578

Referee: Anton Bucheli ( Switzerland)

15 October 1972

Austria	2–2	Hungary
Hasil 58' ( pen.) Jara 71'	[6]	Dunai II 16' Kocsis 20'

Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria

Attendance: 67,392

Referee: Glöckner ( East Germany)

15 October 1972

Sweden	7–0	Malta
Edström 2', 32', 64' Larsson 18', 35' ( pen.) Sandberg 44' Szepanski 57' ( pen.)	[7]

Ullevi Stadion, Gothenburg, Sweden

Attendance: 24,277

Referee: Hirviniemi ( Finland)

25 November 1972

Malta	0–2	Austria
	[8]	Köglberger 48' Spiteri 77' ( o.g.)

The Stadium, Valletta, Malta

Attendance: 4,373

Referee: Francescon ( Italy)

29 April 1973

Hungary	2–2	Austria
Zámbó 12' Bálint 69'	[9]	Starek 14' Jara 28'

Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary

Attendance: 72,068

Referee: Kitabdjian ( France)

23 May 1973

Sweden	3–2	Austria
Sandberg 24', 78' Grahn 52'	[10]	Jara 50' Starek 89'

Ullevi Stadion, Gothenburg, Sweden

Attendance: 48,462

Referee: Loraux ( Belgium)

13 June 1973

Hungary	3–3	Sweden
Kozma 9' Vidáts 59' Zámbó 71'	[11]	Kindvall 38' Sandberg 57' Edström 77'

Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary

Attendance: 73,070

Referee: Lo Bello ( Italy)

11 November 1973

Malta	1–2	Sweden
Camilleri 20'	[12]	Kindvall 21' Larsson 35' ( pen.)

The Stadium, Valletta, Malta

Attendance: 15,459

Referee: Katsoras ( Greece)

Austria and Sweden finished level on points and goal difference, and a play-off on neutral ground was played to decide who would qualify.

27 November 1973

Sweden	2–1	Austria
Sandberg 12' Larsson 28' ( pen.)	[13]	Hattenberger 39'

Parkstadion, Gelsenkirchen, West Germany

Attendance: 69,974

Referee: Glöckner ( East Germany)

Notes

External links

• Group 1 Detailed Results at RSSSF