Italy, Sweden, Soviet Union, West Germany and Yugoslavia gained qualification to the Olympic tournament.
The South American Pre-Olympic tournament was held over a total of three groups from 18 April to 3 May 1987 in Bolivia, and saw Argentina and Brazil qualify.
On 30 June 1988, FIFA banned Mexico from all competitions for two years due to the falsification of documents regarding the ages of players for the 1988 CONCACAF U-20 Tournament.
FIFA confirmed on 5 July 1988 that Guatemala would replace Mexico in the final Olympic tournament in Seoul.
The African Qualifiers tournament for the 1988 Summer Olympics took place over a total of four rounds between 16 November 1986 and 31 January 1988.