The group consisted of four teams: Seeded team, the European champions West Germany, World Cup debutants Algeria, Chile and Austria.
West Germany won the group and advanced to the second round, along with Austria.
The final game in the group, between these two teams, was one of the most controversial in World Cup history: with both teams knowing a win by one or two goals for West Germany would result in both them and Austria qualifying at the expense of Algeria, after West Germany took the lead after 10 minutes, the remainder of the match was played without any serious attempts from either side to score.
FIFA amended the rules for all future tournaments so that the final group fixtures are always played simultaneously to avoid a repeat of this situation.
Assistant referees: Gilberto Aristizábal (Colombia) Paolo Casarin (Italy) Assistant referees: Paolo Casarin (Italy) Gilberto Aristizábal (Colombia) Assistant referees: Vojtech Christov (Czechoslovakia) Tony Boskovic (Australia) Assistant referees: Vojtech Christov (Czechoslovakia) Ebrahim Al Doy (Bahrain) Assistant referees: Erik Fredriksson (Sweden) Arnaldo Cézar Coelho (Brazil) Assistant referees: Ebrahim Al Doy (Bahrain) Arnaldo Cézar Coelho (Brazil)