Football at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification

This is the overview of the qualification for the football tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Format
The final tournament had 16 spots.

Automatic qualification was granted to 🇮🇹 italy as hosts. The others were allocated as follows:


 * Europe: 7 places, contested by 22 teams (including Israel).
 * Americas: 3 places, contested by 10 teams.
 * Africa: 2 places, contested by 9 teams (including Malta).
 * Asia: 2 places, contested by 8 teams.
 * Middle East: 1 place, contested by 3 teams (including Turkey).

Americas

 * First round: 10 teams played home-and-away over two legs. The five winners advanced to the second round.
 * Second round: 5 teams which advanced from the first round play round-robin matches. The top three teams of the group qualified for the Summer Olympics.

Africa

 * First round: Three groups of three teams played home-and-away round-robin matches. The winner of each group advances to the second round.
 * Second round: Three teams which advanced from the first round play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two teams of the group qualified for the Summer Olympics.

Asia

 * First round: Eight teams played home-and-away over two legs. The four winners advanced to the second round.
 * Second round: Four teams from the first round played home-and-away over two legs. The two winners qualified for the Summer Olympics.

Middle East
The three teams played a home-and-away round-robin tournament.