Group 1 consisted of five of the 34 teams entered into the European zone:[1]Albania,Austria,Bulgaria,Finland, andWest Germany. These five teams competed on a home-and-away basis for two of the 14 spots inthe final tournament allocated to the European zone, with the group's winner and runner-up claiming those spots.
| Rank | Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  West Germany | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 3 | +30 |
| 2 |  Austria | 11 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 6 | +10 |
| 3 |  Bulgaria | 9 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 10 | +1 |
| 4 |  Albania | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 22 | −18 |
| 5 |  Finland | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 27 | −23 |
| Finland | 0–2 | Bulgaria |
|---|---|---|
| Report | P. Markov 28'Kostadinov 81' |
| Bulgaria | 1–3 | West Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Yonchev 66' | Report | Kaltz 14',36' (pen.) K.H. Rummenigge 54' |
| Albania | 0–2 | West Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Schuster 9',71' |
| Bulgaria | 4–0 | Finland |
|---|---|---|
| Slavkov 10',53' Kostadinov 55'Tsvetkov 90' | Report |
| West Germany | 7–1 | Finland |
|---|---|---|
| Fischer 11' K.H. Rummenigge 42',60',72'Breitner 54',67'Dremmler 83' | Report | Turunen 41' |
| Austria | 1–3 | West Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Schachner 15' | Report | Littbarski 17',77' Magath 20' |
| West Germany | 8–0 | Albania |
|---|---|---|
| K.H. Rummenigge 5',19',43' Fischer 32',72'Kaltz 36'Littbarski 52'Breitner 68' (pen.) | Report |
| West Germany | 4–0 | Bulgaria |
|---|---|---|
| Fischer 4' K.H. Rummenigge 49',83'Kaltz 62' (pen.) | Report |