1974 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1974 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 29th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

Sweden's own Anders Michanek scored a 15-point maximum to claim his only Individual world title in front of a capacity crowd at the Ullevi stadium in Göteborg. Four time champion Ivan Mauger finished second on 11 points after winning a run-off with Swede Sören Sjösten who also scored 11. With the defending champion Jerzy Szczakiel not qualifying after finishing last in the 2nd Continental Semi-final, the only other World Champion in the field was Denmark's Ole Olsen who suffered a horror night, finishing second in his first ride before falling in his second and not being able to contest the rest of the meeting.

Format changes
The format of the Championship changed for the 1974 event. This time the Swedish riders were allowed five places in the World Final to be held in Sweden. All other nations had to go through the European Final route to provide the remaining 11 riders for the World Final.

British/Commonwealth preliminaries

 * Riders progress to British/Commonwelath qualifying

Continental qualifying

 * Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals

Third round
{| width=100%
 * width=50% valign=top|

Norwegian qualifying

 * 14 October 1973
 * 🇳🇴 Geiteryggen Speedwaybane, Skien
 * Top 8 to Nordic final 1974
 * width=50% valign=top|

Finnish qualifying

 * 🇫🇮 Turku Hippodrome, Turku)
 * First (+2 seeded riders) to Nordic final 1975
 * }

Danish final

 * Top 4 to Nordic final

Continental quarter-finals

 * Top 32 riders to Continental semi-finals

British/Commonwealth Final

 * 12 June 1974
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brandon Stadium, Coventry
 * First 10 to British-Nordic Final plus 1 reserve

Nordic Final

 * 9 June 1974
 * 🇫🇮 Eteläpuisto, Tampere
 * First 6 to British-Nordic Final plus 1 reserve

Swedish qualification

 * Top 5 in each heat to Swedish final

Continental Final

 * 23 June 1974
 * Anatoly Stepanov Stadium, Tolyatti
 * First 8 to European Final

British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final

 * 4 August 1974
 * Speedway Center, Fredericia
 * First 8 to European Final

Swedish Finals

 * Top 5 from 3 meetings progress to World final
 * R1 (28 May, Gubbängens IP, Stockholm)
 * R2 (29 May, Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping)
 * R3 (30 May, Ullevi, Göteborg)

European Final

 * Top 11 to World final
 * 31 August 1974
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wembley Stadium, London

World Final

 * 6 September 1974
 * 🇸🇪 Ullevi, Göteborg.