Listed below are the dates and results for the
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to:
* Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...
rounds for the South American zone (
CONMEBOL). For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article ''
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
''.
A total of 10 CONMEBOL teams entered the competition. The South American zone was allocated 5 places (out of 32) in the final tournament.
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 ...
, the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 4 spots open for competition between 9 teams.
This was the first World Cup qualifying competition to involve all of the yet-unqualified teams in the confederation playing against each other home and away to decide places in the tournament, a format that was replicated for subsequent World Cup qualifying competitions between CONMEBOL members.
Final standings
Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia and Chile qualified.
Matches
Round 1
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Round 2
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Round 3
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Round 4
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Round 5
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Round 6
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Round 7
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Round 8
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Round 9
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Round 10
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Round 11
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Round 12
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Round 13
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Round 14
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Round 15
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Round 16
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Round 17
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Round 18
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Qualified teams
The following five teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament.
:
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. ''Italic'' indicates hosts for that year.
Goalscorers
There were 184 goals scored in 72 matches, for an average of 2.56 goals per match.
;12 goals
*
Iván Zamorano
Iván Luis Zamorano Zamora (; born 18 January 1967) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of Chile's most recognized footballers, along with Marcelo Salas, Leonel Sánchez and Elias Figuer ...
;11 goals
*
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 ...
;7 goals
*
Faustino Asprilla
Faustino Hernán Asprilla Hinestroza (born 10 November 1969) is a Colombian former professional footballer who most notably played for Parma, Newcastle United and the Colombia national team as a forward.
Club career Early years
After starting ...
;6 goals
*
Álex Aguinaga
Álex Dario Aguinaga Garzón (, born 9 July 1969) is an Ecuadorian former professional football player and manager. A midfielder during his playing career, he is one of the all-time cap leaders for Ecuador with 109 matches, scoring 23 goals. Ag ...
*
Ariel Graziani
*
Roberto Palacios
Roberto Carlos Palacios Mestas (born December 28, 1972) is a Peruvian retired footballer who played as a midfielder.
Palacios is Peru's record cap holder and played most of his career for Sporting Cristal, which was the team he started his care ...
;4 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 ...
;3 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 ...
*
Hernán Crespo
Hernán Jorge Crespo (; born 5 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player. He is the current manager of Qatari club Al-Duhail.
A prolific striker, Crespo scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 19 years. At in ...
* Marco Etcheverry
* Marco Sandy
* Antony de Ávila
* Carlos Valderrama (footballer), Carlos Valderrama
* Eduardo Hurtado
* Miguel Ángel Benítez
* Arístides Rojas
* Marcelo Otero
;2 goals
* Marcelo Gallardo
* Claudio López (footballer), Claudio López
* Diego Simeone
* Julio Baldivieso
* Jaime Moreno (footballer, born 1974), Jaime Moreno
* Berthy Suárez
* Javier Margas
* Pedro Reyes (footballer), Pedro Reyes
* Jorge Bermúdez
* Hamilton Ricard
* Mauricio Serna
* Agustín Delgado
* Carlos Gamarra
* Derlis Soto
* Catalino Rivarola
* Germán Carty
* Juan Reynoso Guzmán
* Julio César de Andrade Moura, Julinho
* Flavio Maestri
* José Pereda
* Jorge Soto (footballer), Jorge Soto
* Sebastián Abreu
* Paolo Montero
* Marcelo Saralegui
* Darío Silva
* Giovanni Savarese
;1 goal
* José Albornoz
* Fernando Cáceres
* Néstor Gorosito
* Hugo Morales
* Pablo Paz
* Juan Pablo Sorín
* Juan Sebastián Verón
* Ramiro Castillo
* Milton Coimbra
* Luis Cristaldo
* Fernando Ochoaizpur
* Roly Paniagua
* Vladimir Soria
* Rodrigo Barrera
* Juan Carreño López
* Fernando Cornejo
* Fabián Estay
* Pedro González Vera
* Víctor Aristizábal
* Wilmer Cabrera
* Freddy Rincón
* Iván Valenciano
* Cléber Chalá
* José Gavica
* Iván Hurtado
* Alberto Montaño
* Máximo Tenorio
* Roberto Acuña
* Francisco Arce
* Richard Báez
* Hugo Brizuela
* José Cardozo
* José Luis Chilavert
* Julio César Enciso (footballer, born 1974), Julio César Enciso
* Félix Ricardo Torres
* Manuel Marengo
* Carlos Aguilera (Uruguayan footballer), Carlos Aguilera
* Pablo Bengoechea
* Gabriel Cedrés
* Eber Moas
* Gustavo Poyet
* Álvaro Recoba
* Gonzalo de los Santos
* Rafael Castellín
* Gerson Díaz
* Rafael Dudamel
* Dioni Guerra
* Gabriel Miranda
* Edson Tortolero
;1 own goal
* Hugo Galeano (playing against Paraguay national football team, Paraguay)
References
External links
Eliminatoria Sudamericana Mundial Francia 1998at Conmebol.com
at rsssf.com
at rsssf.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1998 Fifa World Cup Qualification (Conmebol)
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, CONMEBOL
FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)
1996 in South American football, World
1997 in South American football, World