The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, the
football world championship for
men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the
host nation by
FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament, defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the second time that France staged the competition (the first was in
1938) and the ninth time that it was held in Europe. Spanning 32 days, it is the longest World Cup tournament ever held.
Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997. For the first time in the competition, the group stage was expanded from 24 teams to 32, with eight groups of four. 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums in 10 host cities, with the opening match and final staged at the newly built
Stade de France in the Parisian commune of
Saint-Denis.
The tournament was won by host country
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, who beat defending champions
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
3–0 in
the final. France won their first title, becoming the seventh nation to win a World Cup, and the sixth (after
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
) to win the tournament on home soil.
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Japan and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
made their first appearances in the finals.
Host selection
France was awarded the 1998 World Cup on 2 July 1992 by the executive committee of FIFA during a general meeting in
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
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, Switzerland. They defeated Morocco by 12 votes to 7. Switzerland withdrew, due to being unable to meet FIFA's requirements. This made France the third country to host two World Cups, after Mexico and Italy in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
and
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
respectively. France previously hosted the third edition of the World Cup in
1938. England, who hosted the competition in
1966 and won it, were among the original applicants, but later withdrew their application in favour of an ultimately successful bid to host
UEFA Euro 1996
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...
.
Bribery and corruption investigations
On 4 June 2015, while co-operating with the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
and the Swiss authorities,
Chuck Blazer confirmed that he and other members of FIFA's executive committee were bribed during the 1998 and
2010 World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
s host selection process. Blazer stated that "we facilitated bribes in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup". Since France won the selection process it was initially thought the bribery came from its bid committee. It eventually transpired that the bribe payment was from the failed Moroccan bid.
Qualification
The qualification draw for the 1998 World Cup finals took place in the Musée du
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, Paris on 12 December 1995. As tournament hosts, France was exempt from the draw as was defending champion Brazil, but it was also France's first World Cup since 1986. 174 teams from six confederations participated, 24 more than in the
previous round. Fourteen countries qualified from the European zone (in addition to hosts France). Ten were determined after group play – nine group winners and the best second-placed team; the other eight group runners-up were drawn into pairs of four play-off matches with the winners qualifying for the finals as well.
CONMEBOL (South America) and
CAF (Africa) were each given five spots in the final tournament, while three spots were contested between 30
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...
members in the North and Central America and the Caribbean zone. The winner of the Oceanian zone advanced to an intercontinental play-off against the runner-up of the Asian play-off, determined by the two best second-placed teams.
Four nations qualified for the first time:
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Japan and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. The last team to qualify was
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
by virtue of beating
Australia in a
two-legged tie
In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum ...
on 29 November 1997. It marked their first appearance in the finals since
1978, the last time
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
also qualified for the tournament.
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
qualified for the first time since 1982, after serving a ban that saw them miss out on the two previous tournaments. Paraguay and Denmark returned for the first time since 1986. Austria, England, Scotland and Yugoslavia returned after missing out on the
1994 tournament, with the Balkan team now appearing under the name of
FR Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...
. Among the teams who failed to qualify were two-time winners
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
(for the second successive tournament);
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
(their last absence as of 2022);
Sweden, who finished third in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
;
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
(who failed to qualify for the first time since 1978 after losing to Italy in the play-off round); and the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
, who had qualified for the previous two tournaments. The highest-ranked team not to qualify was the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
(ranked 3rd), while the lowest-ranked team that did qualify was Nigeria (ranked 74th).
As of 2022, this was the last time Austria, Bulgaria, Norway, Romania and Scotland qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals, and the only time Jamaica have qualified.
List of qualified teams
The following 32 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the final tournament.
;
AFC (4)
* (42)
* (12)
* (34)
* (20)
;
CAF (5)
* (49)
* (13)
* (74)
* (24)
* (21)
;
OFC (0)
* ''None qualified''
;
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...
(3)
* (30)
* (4)
* (11)
;
CONMEBOL (5)
* (6)
* (1)
* (9)
* (10)
* (29)
;
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
(15)
* (31)
* (36)
* (35)
* (19)
* (27)
* (5)
* (18) (hosts)
* (2)
* (14)
* (25)
* (7)
* (22)
* (41)
* (15)
*
FR Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...
(8)
Venues
France's bid to host the World Cup centered on a national stadium with 80,000 seats and nine other stadiums located across the country. When the finals were originally awarded in July 1992, none of the regional club grounds were of a capacity meeting FIFA's requirements – namely being able to safely seat 40,000. The proposed national stadium, colloquially referred to as the 'Grand stade', met with controversy at every stage of planning; the stadium's location was determined by politics, finance and national symbolism. As
Mayor of Paris
The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de Paris) is the chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to the C ...
,
Jacques Chirac successfully negotiated a deal with Prime Minister
Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, c ...
to bring the Stade de France, as it was now called, to the commune of Saint-Denis just north of the
capital city
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...
. Construction on the stadium started in December 1995 and was completed after 26 months of work in November 1997 at a cost of ₣2.67 billion.
The choice of stadium locations was drafted from an original list of 14 cities. FIFA and CFO monitored the progress and quality of preparations, culminating in the former providing final checks of the grounds weeks before the tournament commenced.
Montpellier was the surprise inclusion from the final list of cities because of its low urban hierarchy in comparison to
Strasbourg, who boasted a better hierarchy and success from its local football team, having been taken over by a consortium. Montpellier however was considered ambitious by the selecting panel to host World Cup matches. The local city and regional authorities in particular had invested heavily into football the previous two decades and were able to measure economic effects, in terms of jobs as early as in 1997. Some of the venues used for this tournament were also used for the previous World Cup in France in
1938. The Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, the Stade Municipal in Toulouse, the Gerland in Lyon, the Parc Lescure in Bordeaux and the Parc des Princes in Paris received the honour of hosting World Cup matches once again in 1998 as they had all done in 1938.
10 stadiums in total were used for the finals; in addition to nine matches being played at the Stade de France (the most used stadium in the tournament), a further six matches took place in
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...
's
Parc des Princes, bringing Paris's total matches hosted to 15. France played four of their seven matches in the national stadium; they also played in the country's second and third largest cities, Marseille (hosting 7 total matches) and Lyon (hosting 6 total matches), as well as a Round of 16 knockout match in the northern city of Lens (also hosting 6 total matches). Nantes, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Saint-Etienne also hosted 6 matches in total; all of the stadiums used also hosted knockout round matches.
Innovations
Technologies
This was the first FIFA World Cup where fourth officials used electronic boards, instead of cardboard.
[
]
Rule changes
This was the first World Cup since the introduction of golden goal
The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...
s,[France 1998.]
Sport24, 5 May 2010 12:12. banning of tackles from behind that endanger the safety of an opponent and allowance of three substitutions per game.
Match officials
34 referees and 33 assistants officiated in the 1998 World Cup. As a result of the extension to 32 teams in the finals, there was an increase of 10 referees and 11 officials from the 1994 World Cup.
; CAF (5)
* Said Belqola
Said Belqola ( ar, سعيد بلقولة; August 30, 1956 – June 15, 2002) was a Moroccan Association football referee, best known for officiating the 1998 FIFA World Cup final between Brazil and France, being the first African referee to offic ...
* Gamal Al-Ghandour
Gamal Mahmoud Ahmed El-Ghandour ( ar, جمال محمود الغندور; born June 12, 1957) is a retired Egyptian referee.
Details
El-Ghandour has refereed the 2002 African Cup of Nations final (Cameroon vs Senegal), the second leg of the 200 ...
* Lucien Bouchardeau
* Lim Kee Chong
* Ian McLeod
; AFC (4)
* Abdul Rahman Al-Zaid
* Ali Bujsaim
Ali Mohamed Bujsaim ( ar, علي بوجسيم, born September 9, 1959 in Dubai) is a retired association football referee from the United Arab Emirates, who is best known for supervising matches at three FIFA World Cups: 1994 (two matches), 1998
...
* Masayoshi Okada
is a Japanese football referee. He refereed a first round match between England and Tunisia in the 1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The fi ...
* Pirom Un-Prasert
;UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
(15)
* Marc Batta
* Günter Benkö
Günter Benkö (born 12 July 1955 in Oberwart, Burgenland) is a retired football (soccer) referee from Austria, best known for supervising two matches during the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. He also led two matches at the 2000 UEFA European Fo ...
* Pierluigi Collina
Pierluigi Collina (; born 13 February 1960) is an Italian former football referee. He was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics six consecutive times from 1998-2003.
Collina is still ...
* Hugh Dallas
* Paul Durkin
* José María García-Aranda
José María García-Aranda Encinar (born 3 March 1956 in Madrid) is a retired football (soccer) referee from Spain, best known for supervising three matches during the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. He also led two matches at the 2000 UEFA Euro ...
* Bernd Heynemann
Bernd Reinhold Gerhard Heynemann (born 22 January 1954 in Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, ...
* Nikolai Levnikov
* Urs Meier
Urs Meier (born January 22, 1959, in Zurich) is a retired Swiss football referee. He officiated at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, taking charge of the semi-final between South Korea and Germany in 2002. He also refereed the 2002 UEFA Champions ...
* Vítor Melo Pereira
* Kim Milton Nielsen
Kim Milton Nielsen (born 3 August 1960) is a Danish former international football referee. An IT manager by trade, Jesper Victor LarsenKim Milton Nielsen: Ham i sort!, ''Krop & Sport'', vol. 2, 2006 Nielsen is noted for his impressive height ...
* Rune Pedersen
* László Vágner
* Mario van der Ende
* Ryszard Wójcik
;CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...
(3)
* Esfandiar Baharmast
Esfandiar "Esse" Baharmast (born March 11, 1954) is a retired Iranian-American football referee best known for supervising two matches during the 1998 FIFA World Cup held in France.
Career
At that tournament, he was briefly vilified for giving a ...
* Arturo Brizio Carter
* Ramesh Ramdhan
Ramesh Ramdhan (born July 25, 1960) is a football (soccer) referee from Trinidad and Tobago, The first referee from the Caribbean to officiate in the WC Finals (Japan-Croatia) during the 1998 FIFA World Cup held in France.
Ramdhan also officiated ...
; OFC (1)
* Eddie Lennie
; CONMEBOL (6)
* Javier Castrilli
* Epifanio González
* Márcio Rezende de Freitas
* Mario Sánchez Yanten
* Alberto Tejada Noriega
* John Toro Rendón
Draw
The FIFA Organising Committee announced the eight seeded teams on 3 December 1997. The historic tradition to seed the hosts (France) and holders (Brazil) was upheld; while the remaining six seeds were granted for the other top7-ranked teams, based on their results obtained in the last three FIFA World Cups (ratio 3:2:1, counting in total 60%) and their FIFA World Ranking
The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...
position in the last month of the past three years (equal ratio, counting in total 40%).
For the draw, the 32 teams were allocated into four pots. The eight top-seeded teams were allocated in pot A and would be drawn/selected into the first position of the eight groups playing in the group stage. The remaining 24 unseeded teams were allocated into three pots based on geographical sections, with the: Nine European teams in pot B; four Asian teams and three South American teams in pot C; five African teams and three North American teams in pot D.
The general principle was to draw one team from each pot into the eight groups, although with special combined procedures for pot B and pot C, due to comprising more/less than eight teams - but sixteen teams in total. At the same time, the draw also needed to respect the geographical limitation, that each group could not feature more than one team from each confederation, except for the European teams where the limitation was maximum two per group.
* The draw took place at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, and was televised live on 4 December 1997
FIFA World Cup Draw
on BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
.
For the first time in history, the draw event took place in a football stadium, with 38,000 spectators and an estimated 1 billion TV viewers. The draw was officiated by FIFA secretary general Sepp Blatter. Teams were drawn by football legends Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto Parreira
Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira (born 27 February 1943) is a Brazilian former football manager who holds the record for attending the most FIFA World Cup final tournaments as manager with six appearances. He also managed five different national te ...
, George Weah
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (; born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who is the incumbent president of Liberia, in office since 2018. Prior to his election to the presidency, Weah served as ...
and Raymond Kopa.
Organiser Michel Platini
Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...
, who later became president of UEFA, admitted in 2018 that the draw for the group stage of the competition had been fixed so that France and Brazil were kept apart until the final, telling France Bleu Sport: "We did a bit of trickery. When we were organising the schedule. We did not spend six years organising the World Cup to not do some little shenanigans".
The statement from Platini referred to the fact that, shortly before the World Cup finals draw took place, the FIFA Organising Committee had met to finalise the draw process. At this meeting, the committee had approved the proposal to assign host nation France to group position C1 and defending champions Brazil to group position A1 ahead of the draw. As the tournament structure was also predetermined so that the winners of Groups A, D, E and H, and the runners-up of Groups B, C, F and G would be kept apart from the group winners of B, C, F and G, and the runners-up of Group A, D, E and H until the final; thus, France and Brazil could avoid meeting each other until the final if both teams finished in the same position in the top two of their respective groups.
Procedure for the draw:
# Pot A was used to draw the remaining six top-seeded teams for the first position of groups B, D, E, F, G and H.
# Pot D was used to draw one team to each of the eight groups (drawing in the alphabetic order from A to H).
# Pot B was used to draw one team to each of the eight groups (drawing in the alphabetic order from A to H).
# As per the FIFA rule of only allowing a maximum of two UEFA teams in each group, the remaining ninth team from Pot B, was subject to a second draw, to be put in either of the groups containing a top-seeded South American (CONMEBOL) team.
# Pot C was used to draw one team to each of the seven groups with an empty spot (drawing in alphabetical order from A to H). However, as each group could only contain one South American (CONMEBOL) team, the first Asian (AFC) team drawn would not be drawn into a group in alphabetical order, but instead be drawn into the remaining open group with a top-seeded South American (CONMEBOL) team.
# To decide the match schedules, the exact group position number for the un-seeded teams in each group (2, 3 or 4), were also drawn immediately from eight special group bowls, after each respective team had been drawn from pot D, B and C.
Draw results and group fixtures
The draw resulted in the following eight groups:
In each group, the teams played three matches, one against each of the other teams. Three points were awarded for each win, while a draw was worth one point. After completion of the group stage, the two teams with the most points in each group would advance to the knockout stage, with each group winner facing the runner-up from one of the other groups in the round of 16. This was a new format for the World Cup, following the expansion from 24 teams in 1994. A total of 64 games were played, including the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
* Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
and a third-place play-off between the losers of the two semi-finals.
The fixtures for the group stage were decided based on the draw results, as follows:
Squads
As with the preceding tournament, each team's squad for the 1998 World Cup finals consisted of 22 players. Each participating national association had to confirm their final 22-player squad by 1 June 1998.
Out of the 704 players participating in the 1998 World Cup, 447 were signed up with a European club; 90 in Asia, 67 in South America, 61 in Northern and Central America and 37 in Africa. 75 played their club football in England – five more than Italy and Spain. Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
of Spain was the club contributing to the most players in the tournament with 13 players on their side.
The average age of all teams was 27 years, 8 months – five months older than the previous tournament. Samuel Eto'o
Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation from 11 December 2021. In his prime, Eto'o was regarded by pundits as one of ...
of Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
was the youngest player selected in the competition at 17 years, 3 months, while the oldest was Jim Leighton
James Leighton (born 24 July 1958) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Leighton started his career with Aberdeen, where he won seven domestic trophies and the 1982–83 European Cup Winners' Cup under the m ...
of Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
at 39 years, 11 months.
Group stage
''All times are Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...
(UTC+2
UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...
)''
Group A
Defending champions Brazil won Group A after only two matches as the nation achieved victories over Scotland (2–1) and Morocco (3–0). Heading into the third game, Brazil had nothing to play for but still started its regulars against Norway, who was looking to upset Brazil once again. Needing a victory, Norway overturned a 1–0 deficit with 12 minutes remaining to defeat Brazil 2–1, with Kjetil Rekdal
Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg.
Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Lig ...
scoring the winning penalty to send Norway into the knockout stage for the first time.
Norway's victory denied Morocco a chance at the Round of 16, despite winning 3–0 against Scotland. It was only Morocco's second ever victory at a World Cup, having recorded its first previous win 12 years earlier on 11 June 1986.
Scotland managed only one point, coming in a 1–1 draw against Norway, and failed to get out of the first round for an eighth time in the FIFA World Cup, a record that stands to this date.
Group B
Italy and Chile progressed to the second round, while Austria failed to win for the first time since 1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
and Cameroon failed to get out of the group stage for the second time in a row.
Group C
France, the host nation, swept Group C when the start of their path to their first FIFA World Cup trophy culminated with their 2–1 win over Denmark, who despite their loss, progressed to the second round. Saudi Arabia, after a good performance four years earlier, finished bottom with only one point. Debutant South Africa grabbed two points and also exited at the group stage.
Group D
Nigeria and Paraguay advanced to the Round of 16 after a surprise elimination of top seed Spain, while Bulgaria failed to repeat their surprise performance from the previous tournament.
Group E
The Netherlands and Mexico advanced with the same record (The Netherlands placed first on goal difference); Belgium and eventual 2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...
co-hosts South Korea failed to advance.
Group F
Germany and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia advanced, each with 7 points (Germany took 1st through goal differential tiebreak). Iran and 1994 host United States failed to advance.
Group G
Romania and England became Group G top finishers as Colombia and Tunisia were unable to reach the last 16, despite Colombia having one win.
Group H
Argentina finished at the top of Group H against three debutants. Croatia took the runners up spot while Jamaica and Japan failed to advance.
Knockout stage
The knockout stage comprised the 16 teams that advanced from the group stage of the tournament. For each game in the knockout stage, any draw at 90 minutes was followed by 30 minutes of extra time; if scores were still level, there was a penalty shoot-out
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
to determine who progressed to the next round. Golden goal
The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...
comes into play if a team scores during extra time, thus becoming the winner which concludes the game.
Round of 16
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Quarter-finals
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Semi-finals
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Third place play-off
Croatia beat the Netherlands to earn third place in the competition. Davor Šuker
Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian football administrator and former footballer who played as a striker. He served as president of the Croatian Football Federation from 2012 to 2021. He began his footballing career in his hometo ...
scored the winner in the 35th minute to secure the golden boot.
Final
The final was held on 12 July 1998 at the Stade de France, Saint-Denis. France defeated holders Brazil 3–0, with two goals from Zinedine Zidane and a stoppage time strike from Emmanuel Petit. The win gave France their first World Cup title, becoming the sixth national team after Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
and Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
to win the tournament on their home soil. They also inflicted the second-heaviest World Cup defeat on Brazil, later to be topped by Brazil's 7–1 defeat by Germany in the semi-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The pre-match build up was dominated by the omission of Brazilian striker Ronaldo from the starting lineup only to be reinstated 45 minutes before kick-off. He managed to create the first open chance for Brazil in the 22nd minute, dribbling past defender Thuram before sending a cross out on the left side that goalkeeper Fabien Barthez struggled to hold onto. France however took the lead after Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos
Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...
conceded a corner from which Zidane scored via a header. Three minutes before half-time, Zidane scored his second goal of the match, similarly another header from a corner. The tournament hosts went down to ten men in the 68th minute as Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, l ...
was sent off for a second bookable offence. Brazil reacted to this by making an attacking substitution and although they applied pressure France sealed the win with a third goal: substitute Patrick Vieira
Patrick Vieira (born 23 June 1976) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Crystal Palace. He is widely considered as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. Vieira began his career at ...
set up his club teammate Petit in a counterattack to shoot low past goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel.
French president Jacques Chirac was in attendance to congratulate and commiserate the winners and runners-up respectively after the match. Several days after the victory, winning manager Aimé Jacquet announced his resignation from the French team with immediate effect.
Statistics
Goalscorers
Davor Šuker received the Golden Boot for scoring six goals. In total, 171 goals were scored by 112 players:
;6 goals
* Davor Šuker
Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian football administrator and former footballer who played as a striker. He served as president of the Croatian Football Federation from 2012 to 2021. He began his footballing career in his hometo ...
;5 goals
* Gabriel Batistuta
Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for ''Angel Gabriel''). Regarded as one of th ...
* Christian Vieri
Christian "Bobo" Vieri (; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward.
Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his p ...
;4 goals
* Ronaldo
* Marcelo Salas
José Marcelo Salas Melinao (; born 24 December 1974), nicknamed ''Matador'' (due to his goalscoring celebrations), ''El Fenómeno'' and ''Shileno'', is a Chilean former footballer who played as a striker. Salas is considered the best strik ...
* Luis Hernández
;3 goals
* Bebeto
José Roberto Gama de Oliveira (born 16 February 1964), known as Bebeto (), is a Brazilian former professional football player who played as a forward. He entered politics in the 2010 Brazilian General Elections and was elected to the Le ...
* César Sampaio
Carlos César Sampaio Campos (born 31 March 1968) is a Brazilian football pundit and retired footballer, who played as a midfielder.
Club career
A former defensive midfielder, César Sampaio is one of the few players who played for the four ma ...
* Rivaldo
Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo (), is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as a ...
* Thierry Henry
Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best player ...
* Oliver Bierhoff
Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association.
A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierh ...
* Jürgen Klinsmann
Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...
* Dennis Bergkamp
;2 goals
* Ariel Ortega
Ariel Arnaldo Ortega (born 4 March 1974) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His nickname is "El Burrito" (''The Little Donkey''), thus he is called "Burrito Ortega".
Ariel Ortega first played f ...
* Marc Wilmots
Marc Robert Wilmots (born 22 February 1969) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who recently managed the Iran national team and is now active at Raja CA. During his club career as attacking midfielder, he won trophies w ...
* Robert Prosinečki
Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.
Early in his career, he was part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won three Yugoslav First League titles and ...
* Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup (, born 22 February 1969) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a winger, forward or as a midfielder, and was regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation. He currently works as a football co ...
* Michael Owen
Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...
* Alan Shearer
* Emmanuel Petit
Emmanuel Laurent Petit (born 22 September 1970) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder at club level for Arsenal, Barcelona, Monaco, and Chelsea. He represented France at international level in two FIFA ...
* Lilian Thuram
* Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
* Roberto Baggio
* Theodore Whitmore
Theodore Eccleston Whitmore, OD (born 5 August 1972) is a Jamaican former professional footballer. He is the former head coach of Jamaica national football team.
Club career
Whitmore attended St. James High School in Montego Bay, Jamaica. D ...
* Ricardo Peláez
Ricardo Peláez Linares (born 14 March 1963) is a Mexican former professional footballer and former Director of Football for Liga MX club Guadalajara.
As a player, Peláez made his debut with Club América in 1985, before moving to Necaxa in 198 ...
* Salaheddine Bassir
Salaheddine Bassir ( ar, صلاح الدين بصير; born 5 September 1972) is a Moroccan former professional footballer who played as a striker.
He played for a few clubs, including Raja Casablanca, Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and Deportivo La ...
* Abdeljalil Hadda
Abdeljalil Hadda ( ar, عبدالجليل حدّا; born 23 March 1972), sometimes nicknamed Kamatcho, is a Moroccan retired footballer who played as a striker.
Club career
Born in Meknes, Hadda started playing for local CODM, moving to Saudi ...
* Phillip Cocu
Phillip John-William Cocu (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, he is the manager of Vitesse.
Cocu was born in Eindhoven but raised in Zevenaar, playing youth football for local clubs DCS and De Gra ...
* Ronald de Boer
Ronaldus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played for the Netherlands national team as well as a host of professional clubs in Europe. He is the twin brother of Frank de Boe ...
* Patrick Kluivert
Patrick Stephan Kluivert (; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch former football player, coach and sporting director. He played as a striker, most notably for AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona and the Netherlands national team.
He was part of Ajax's Golden Gen ...
* Viorel Moldovan
* Shaun Bartlett
Shaun Bartlett (born 31 October 1972) is a South African professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Cape Town Spurs. During his playing career, he played as a striker.
Early life
Born in Cape Town, Bartlett was ra ...
* Fernando Hierro
Fernando Ruiz Hierro (; born 23 March 1968) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, sweeper or defensive midfielder. He is the current sporting director of Liga MX club C.D. Guadalajara.
He won five L ...
* Fernando Morientes
Fernando Morientes Sánchez (; born 5 April 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager.
He played for a number of clubs during his career, including Real Madrid, Monaco, Liverpool and Valenci ...
* Slobodan Komljenović
Slobodan Komljenović (, born 2 January 1971) is a Serbian football manager and retired footballer who played as either a central or right defender.
He played several years in Germany in representation of five teams, namely Eintracht Frankf ...
;1 goal
* Claudio López
* Mauricio Pineda
* Javier Zanetti
* Andreas Herzog
* Toni Polster
Anton "Toni" Polster (born 10 March 1964) is an Austrian professional football coach and former player. He is the all-time leading goalscorer for the Austria national team with 44 goals.
Polster's top flight coaching debut at Admira Wacker la ...
* Ivica Vastić
* Luc Nilis
Luc Gilbert Cyrille Nilis (born 25 May 1967) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Belgian Division 2 club Belisia Bilzen. He enjoyed a successful career in his native Belgium and, in particular, ...
* Emil Kostadinov
* Patrick M'Boma
* Pierre Njanka
* José Luis Sierra
* Léider Preciado
Léider Calimenio Preciado Guerrero (born 26 February 1977) is a retired Colombian football striker, who currently manages minor league teams (lower divisions) for Independiente Santa Fe.
Club career
He has played for Independiente Santa Fe, ...
* Robert Jarni
Robert Jarni (born 26 October 1968) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a left winger or wingback and current manager.
Jarni started his professional career with Hajduk Split in 1986, and went on to spend 10 years playin ...
* Mario Stanić
* Goran Vlaović
* Thomas Helveg
* Martin Jørgensen
Lars Martin Jørgensen (; born 6 October 1975) is a Danish former professional footballer played as a midfielder or defender. He works as talent manager for AGF.
Jørgensen amassed 102 caps and scored 12 goals for the Denmark national team. ...
* Michael Laudrup
Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup.
During his p ...
* Peter Møller
* Allan Nielsen
* Marc Rieper
* Ebbe Sand
Ebbe Sand (; born 19 July 1972) is a former professional footballer from Denmark who played as a forward for Brøndby IF in Denmark and FC Schalke 04 in Germany. He was the Bundesliga top scorer in 2001, and won the DFB-Pokal in 2001 and 2002 w ...
* Darren Anderton
Darren Robert Anderton (born 3 March 1972) is an English former professional footballer and pundit.
As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City. His twelve-year spell with ...
* David Beckham
* Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...
* Laurent Blanc
Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him ...
* Youri Djorkaeff
Youri Raffi Djorkaeff (born 9 March 1968) is a French former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward.
Throughout his club career, he played for teams in France, Italy, Germany, England, and the United States.
A ...
* Christophe Dugarry
Christophe Jérôme Dugarry (born 24 March 1972) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. His clubs include Bordeaux, Milan, Barcelona, Marseille, Birmingham City and Qatar SC. He was also a member of the France team ...
* Bixente Lizarazu
Bixente Jean-Michel Lizarazu (, born 9 December 1969) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left back for Bordeaux and Bayern Munich, among other teams. He also had 97 caps for the France national team.
In a twelve-year ...
* David Trezeguet
David Sergio Trezeguet (born 15 October 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Trezeguet began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Platense at the age of eight, progressing through their youth sys ...
* Andreas Möller
Andreas Möller (born 2 September 1967) is a German former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the head of the youth department at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Club career
At club level, Möller played for Eintrach ...
* Mehdi Mahdavikia
Mehdi Mahdavikia ( fa, ; born 24 July 1977) is an Iranian professional football coach and former player usually played as a right winger or right back.
He is currently under contract by Hamburger SV as a youth coach, and also manages his own ...
* Hamid Estili
Hamid Reza Estili ( fa, حميد استيلی; born 1 April 1967) is an Iranian football coach and former player. Estili was a member of the Iran national team and is mostly remembered for his memorable goal and goal celebration against the Uni ...
* Luigi Di Biagio
Luigi Di Biagio (; born 3 June 1971) is an Italian professional football manager and former player.
A former defensive midfielder, Di Biagio last played for Ascoli Calcio 1898 in 2007, and previously also played for several other Italian clubs ...
* Robbie Earle
* Masashi Nakayama
is a Japanese football manager and former player who is the manager of Azul Claro Numazu from 2023. He played as a forward in his playing career.
Club career
Playing as a forward, Nakayama made his J1 League debut on 11 March 1994. From then ...
* Cuauhtémoc Blanco
Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo (; born 17 January 1973) is a Mexican politician and former professional footballer who is the current Governor of Morelos under the coalition '' Juntos Haremos Historia''. He formerly served as the municipal president ...
* Alberto García Aspe
* Mustapha Hadji
Mustapha Hadji (born 16 November 1971) is a Moroccan football coach and former player. He was named the 50th greatest African player of all time by the African football expert Ed Dove.
Early life
Hadji was born in Ifrane Atlas-Saghir, Morocco. ...
* Edgar Davids
* Marc Overmars
Marc Overmars (; born 29 March 1973) is a Dutch former professional footballer and director of football at Belgian Pro League side Royal Antwerp FC. He was previously director of football at Ajax. During his football career, he played as a win ...
* Pierre van Hooijdonk
Pierre van Hooijdonk (; born 29 November 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. He had spells with clubs across Europe where he was a prolific goal scorer. Van Hooijdonk was capped 46 times for the Dutch nation ...
* Boudewijn Zenden
Boudewijn Zenden (; born 15 August 1976) also known by his nickname "Bolo", is a Dutch former footballer who played as a left winger or as an attacking midfielder.
Named the 1997 Dutch Football Talent of the Year, Zenden played for four teams in ...
* Mutiu Adepoju
* Tijani Babangida
Tijani Babangida (born 25 September 1973) is a Nigerian former professional footballer, who played as a winger. Known for his pace, his playing style was sometimes compared to that of Marc Overmars. Babangida spent the majority of his playing c ...
* Victor Ikpeba
Victor Ikpeba Nosa (born 12 June 1973) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward for both club and country. Ikpeba played 31 international matches and scored seven goals for Nigeria. He was a member of Super Eagles tea ...
* Sunday Oliseh
* Wilson Oruma
Wilson Oruma (born 30 December 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in France.
Club career
Oruma was born in Warri, Nigeria. He arrived at RC Lens from Bendel Insurance in ...
* Dan Eggen
Dan Eggen (born 13 January 1970) is a Norwegian football manager and former player.
He has previously coached KFUM Oslo and Kolbotn in the Norwegian Premier League for women. He was capped 25 times for Norway, scoring two goals.
Career
Dan ...
* Håvard Flo
Håvard Flo (born 4 April 1970) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He played for Stryn TIL and Sogndal Fotball, before he left Norway in 1994 and played for AGF, SV Werder Bremen, and Wolverhampton Wanderers ...
* Tore André Flo
Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a Norwegian former professional football striker and coach who is the manager of 1. divisjon club Sogndal.
He was capped 76 times, scoring 23 goals for Norway, and represented his country in 1998 FIFA Wor ...
* Kjetil Rekdal
Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg.
Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Lig ...
* Celso Ayala
* Miguel Ángel Benítez
* José Cardozo
José Saturnino Cardozo Otazú (; born 19 March 1971) is a Paraguayan football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a striker and spent 10 years of his career playing for Toluca and is the club's all-time top goalscorer. H ...
* Adrian Ilie
* Dan Petrescu
Daniel Vasile Petrescu (; born 22 December 1967) is a Romanian football manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club CFR Cluj.
As a player, Petrescu was deployed as a full-back or a winger and represented Premier Leag ...
* Sami Al-Jaber
Sami Abdullah Al-Jaber ( ar, سامي الجابر; born 11 December 1972) is a Saudi Arabian football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He spent the entirety of his career with Al-Hilal apart from a five-month ...
* Yousuf Al-Thunayan
Yousuf Al-Thunayyan ( ar, يوسف الثُنيان, born November 18, 1963) is a former association football winger and attacking midfielder from Saudi Arabia. He spent all 21 seasons of his senior career at Al-Hilal FC. A playmaker known for ...
* Craig Burley
* John Collins
* Benni McCarthy
Benedict Saul "Benni" McCarthy (born 12 November 1977) is a South African coach and former footballer who is a first-team coach at Manchester United. He previously worked as head coach of South African Premier Division team AmaZulu.
A former f ...
* Ha Seok-ju
* Yoo Sang-chul
Yoo Sang-chul ( ko, 유상철; 18 October 1971 – 7 June 2021) was a South Korean football player and manager. Yoo was regarded as one of the greatest South Korean midfielders of all time. He was selected as a midfielder of the 2002 FIFA Wor ...
* Kiko
* Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player.
A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playing in several different positions, but usually played as ...
* Raúl
Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul.
Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...
* Skander Souayah
* Brian McBride
Brian Robert McBride (born June 19, 1972) is an American former soccer player who played as a forward for Columbus Crew, Fulham and Chicago Fire. He is the fifth-highest all-time leading goalscorer for the United States national team.
For m ...
* Siniša Mihajlović
Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian professional football player and manager.
During his career as a footballer, he played as a defender or midfielder. He won ...
* Predrag Mijatović
Predrag "Peđa" Mijatović ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Мијатовић, ; born 19 January 1969) is a Montenegrin retired professional footballer who played as a striker. At club level, Mijatović played for six clubs: Budućnost, Partizan, Va ...
* Dragan Stojković
Dragan Stojković ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Стојковић, ; born 3 March 1965), also known by the nickname Piksi (Пикси), is a Serbian former footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current manager of the Serbia national team. Wi ...
;Own goals
* Georgi Bachev (against Spain)
* Youssef Chippo (against Norway)
* Tom Boyd (against Brazil)
* Pierre Issa (against France) x2
* Andoni Zubizarreta
Andoni Zubizarreta Urreta (, ; born 23 October 1961) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
The all-time most capped player for the Spain national team for several years, he played with individual and team su ...
(against Nigeria)
* Siniša Mihajlović
Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian professional football player and manager.
During his career as a footballer, he played as a defender or midfielder. He won ...
(against Germany)
Awards
Players who were red-carded during the tournament
* Ariel Ortega
Ariel Arnaldo Ortega (born 4 March 1974) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. His nickname is "El Burrito" (''The Little Donkey''), thus he is called "Burrito Ortega".
Ariel Ortega first played f ...
* Gert Verheyen
Gert Verheyen (; born 20 September 1970) is a Belgian retired footballer and manager, who was last in charge of Oostende.
In a 20-year professional career, he was mainly associated with Anderlecht and Club Brugge (especially the latter), scor ...
* Anatoli Nankov
* Raymond Kalla
* Lauren
* Rigobert Song
Rigobert Song Bahanag (born 1 July 1976) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who is the manager of the Cameroon national team.
Known for his defensive skills, Song usually played as a centre-back but could also operate at right-back ...
* Miklos Molnar
* Morten Wieghorst
* David Beckham
* Laurent Blanc
Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him ...
* Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, l ...
* Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...
* Christian Wörns
Christian Wörns (born 10 May 1972) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. Wörns is widely considered one of the finest German defenders of his generation. He started his career with Waldhof Mannheim but played the ...
* Darryl Powell
* Ha Seok-ju
* Pável Pardo
Pável Pardo Segura (; born 26 July 1976) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.
Pardo spent most of his career playing with Club América and is the fourth most capped player in the history of the Me ...
* Ramón Ramírez
* Patrick Kluivert
Patrick Stephan Kluivert (; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch former football player, coach and sporting director. He played as a striker, most notably for AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona and the Netherlands national team.
He was part of Ajax's Golden Gen ...
* Arthur Numan
Arthur Numan (born 14 December 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He played as a left back and was a regular fixture in Netherlands national football team. He is currently the team manager for the Netherlands B squad and a scout fo ...
* Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi
* Craig Burley
* Alfred Phiri
All-star team
The All-star team is a squad consisting of the 16 most impressive players at the 1998 World Cup, as selected by FIFA's Technical Study Group.
Final standings
After the tournament, FIFA published a ranking of all teams that competed in the 1998 World Cup finals based on progress in the competition and overall results.
Marketing
Broadcasting
FIFA, through several companies, sold the broadcasting rights for the 1998 FIFA World Cup to many broadcasters. In the UK BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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had the broadcasting rights.
The pictures and audio of the competition were supplied to the TV and radio channels by the company TVRS 98, the broadcaster of the tournament.
The World Cup matches were broadcast in 200 countries. 818 photographers were credited for the tournament. In every match, a stand was reserved for the press. The number of places granted to them reached its maximum in the final, when 1,750 reporters and 110
were present in the stand.
(which was one of the sponsors in the previous two World Cups) is notable due to the
, which forbids alcohol-related sponsorship in France, including in sports events (and thus, being replaced by
).
. It was the first international football game developed by Electronic Arts since obtaining the rights from FIFA in 1997 and received mostly favourable reviews.
In Japan,
was granted the FIFA World Cup licence and produced two distinct video games: ''
for the PlayStation. These games were released in the rest of the world as ''International Superstar Soccer '98'' and ''International Superstar Soccer Pro '98'', without the official FIFA World Cup licence, branding or real player names.
Also in Japan,
video game ''World Cup '98 France: Road to Win''.
Many other video games, including ''
'' were released in the buildup to the 1998 World Cup and evidently were based on the tournament. ''
'', also by EA Sports focused on the qualification stage.
first presented in May 1996.
It was created by graphic designer Fabrice Pialot and selected from a shortlist of five mascots. Research carried out about the choice of having a cockerel as a mascot was greatly received: 91% associated it immediately with France, the traditional symbol of the nation.
'' comic strip.
The mascot's colours reflect those of the host nation's flag and home strip – blue for the jump suit, a red crest and with the words 'France 98' coloured in white.
was named the ''Tricolore'', meaning 'three-coloured' in French. It was the eighth World Cup match ball made for the tournament by the German company and was the first in the series to be multi-coloured.
The tricolour flag and cockerel, traditional symbols of France, were used as inspiration for the design.
.
praised France's hosting of the World Cup, describing the tournament as one that would "remain with me forever, as I am sure they will remain with everyone who witnessed this unforgettable competition".
, the chairman of the organising committee for the World Cup and President of UEFA added that France provided "subject matter of a quality that made the world hold its breath".
, released its report on the organisation of the 1998 World Cup in 2000.