The remaining 22 places were determined by a qualification process, in which 147 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed.

Most of the successful teams were determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter-confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process.

Fifteen teams withdrew: Liechtenstein, Cuba, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Myanmar and Western Samoa, and three teams were excluded: Yugoslavia and Libya due to UN sanctions, and Chile for the El Maracanazo cheating incident during 1990 qualification.

[7] For the first time, three teams qualified from the African zone, because of its performance in the previous tournament.

After the first round of 1994 FIFA World Cup finals, the percentage of teams from each confederation that passed through to the round of 16 was as follows:[8] For FIFA World Cup qualifying stages using a league format, the method used for separating teams level on points is the same for all Confederations.

If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time are played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves.

If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out.

In the Caribbean zone, 14 teams played in knockout matches on a home-and-away basis to determine three winners advancing to the second round.

In the Central American zone, the six teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis.

[1] Nine CONMEBOL teams entered the competition (Chile was banned by FIFA due to the 1989 Maracanazo incident).

[1] 38 were initially involved in UEFA qualifying, but Liechtenstein withdrew and Yugoslavia was suspended.

Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Romania, Belgium, Greece, Russia, Sweden, and Bulgaria all qualified.