1998 FIFA World Cup

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1998 FIFA World Cup Coupe du Monde - France 98
Tournament details
Host nation	France
Dates	June 10 – July 12
Teams	32 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	10 (in 9 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	France (1st title)
Second place	Brazil
Third place	Croatia
Fourth place	Netherlands
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	171  (2.67 per match)
Attendance	2,785,100  (43,517 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Davor Šuker (6 goals)
Best player	Ronaldo

The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th staging of the World Cup, was held in France from June 10 to July 12 after 60 years to celebrate the third edition scheduled in 1938. France was chosen as hosts by FIFA on July 1, 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final. France won their first title, the 7th nation to win a World Cup, and the first host nation to win the tournament since Argentina did it in 1978.

Contents 1 Qualification 2 Seeding 3 Summary 4 Mascot 5 Venues 6 Match officials 7 Squads 8 Results 8.1 First round 8.1.1 Group A 8.1.2 Group B 8.1.3 Group C 8.1.4 Group D 8.1.5 Group E 8.1.6 Group F 8.1.7 Group G 8.1.8 Group H 8.2 Knockout stage 8.2.1 Round of 16 8.2.2 Quarter-finals 8.2.3 Semi-finals 8.2.4 Third place match 8.2.5 Final 9 Winner 10 Awards 10.1 All-star team 11 Scorers 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

[edit] Qualification

Main article: 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

Four nations qualified for the World Cup for the first time: Croatia, Jamaica, Japan, and South Africa.

[edit] Seeding

Main article: 1998 FIFA World Cup seeding

Germany, Italy, Argentina, Spain, Romania and the Netherlands were seeded along with defending champion Brazil and host France. For the first time in FIFA's history, the draw took place in a football stadium - Stade Vélodrome in Marseilles, on December 4, 1997.^[1]

[edit] Summary

The format of the competition was different from 1994, as the finals were expanded from 24 to 32 teams. The 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four. The eight group winners and the eight group runners-up would qualify for the knockout stage. The golden goal rule was also introduced to decide knockout matches which went into extra time. Another change in the rules came into effect at this World Cup, stating that as regulation time was about to expire in any period of play the fourth official would use a handheld electronic display to show how many minutes of stoppage time were to be played. This practice has continued since then, after being well received by media and spectators alike.

The tournament opened with 1994 FIFA World Cup champions Brazil's 2-1 victory over Scotland. Norway pulled the shock of Group A, topping the holders 2-1 after two late goals. Still, both teams advanced to the next round. Italy easily won Group B, with Chile's three draws enough for them to get through. The Italy-Chile clash which ended 2-2 saw Italy's Roberto Baggio cast aside the spectre of his miss in the penalty shootout in the final 4 years earlier: this time around his highly controversial spot-kick earned Italy a draw.

France swept Group C, with the lone blemish being the red card expulsion and two-game suspension of Zinedine Zidane in a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia. Denmark also moved on from the group. Nigeria was the surprise winner of Group D, dubbed the Group of Death, as Spain once again failed to live up to high pre-cup expecations. Nigeria beat them 3-2 in a thrilling game and moved on to the next round together with Paraguay.

Netherlands and Mexico moved on from Group E, a group that saw four games end in draws. Germany and Yugoslavia made easy work of Group F.

A late goal for Romania saw them beat England 2-1 and take the top spot in Group G; the English finished second. Argentina swept Group H, joined by Croatia in the second round.

In the second round, Italy beat Norway 1-0 and Brazil made easy work of Chile, 4-1. Laurent Blanc of France scored the first Golden Goal in World Cup history as the hosts beat Paraguay 1-0. Denmark surprised Nigeria, crushing them 4-1. Germany beat Mexico and Netherlands topped Yugoslavia by identical 2-1 scores. Croatia upset Romania 1-0. Argentina beat England on penalties after drawing 2-2 in a game that saw a goal from 18-year-old Michael Owen. The game was marred by England's David Beckham being sent off after kicking Diego Simeone.

France beat Italy in the quarter-finals on penalties after a scoreless draw. Brazil topped Denmark 3-2 in an exciting game. Croatia pulled perhaps the biggest shocker of the tournament, crushing Germany 3-0 and sparking celebrations across Europe. The Netherlands-Argentina match was marred by violence; the Netherlands was reduced to 10 men early on after a tackle injured Diego Simeone and he had to be carried off the field for treatment. Late in the match, Argentina star Ariel Ortega received a red card for head-butting Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after van der Sar confronted Ortega on the latter's play-acting attempt to draw a penalty[1]. Shortly after Ortega's sending off, Dennis Bergkamp of the Netherlands scored a goal to eliminate Argentina, 2-1.

In the semi-finals, Patrick Kluivert equalized late for the Netherlands to make it 1-1, but the Dutch couldn't pull it out in the penalty shootout, sending Brazil to the final. They were joined by France, as defender Lilian Thuram scored two goals to offset Golden Boot winner Davor Šuker's opener for Croatia. The Croats beat the Dutch for third place.

For the first time ever, the final featured the host nation and the defending champions. Zinedine Zidane scored two headers from corners in the 26th minute and in first half stoppage time respectively, and Emmanuel Petit added a late goal in second half stoppage time to give France a 3-0 win over Brazil. Brazil's star player Ronaldo played poorly, having a mysterious fit the night before and many questioned his reinstatement in the starting lineup. An estimated one million people took to the Paris streets to celebrate through the night. France became the seventh world champions, joining Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Brazil, England and Argentina.

The official theme song for the event was La Copa de la Vida by Ricky Martin.

[edit] Mascot

The official mascot of this World Cup was Footix, a cockerel with the words "FRANCE 98" on the chest. Its body is mostly blue, like the host's national team shirt and its name is a portmanteau of "football" and the ending "-ix" from the popular Astérix comic strip.

[edit] Venues

Ten stadia were used during the tournament:

Saint-Denis	Marseille	Paris	Lens	Lyon
Stade de France	Stade Vélodrome	Parc des Princes	Stade Félix Bollaert	Stade Gerland
Capacity: 80,000	Capacity: 60,000	Capacity: 49,000	Capacity: 41,800	Capacity: 41,200
Nantes	Toulouse	Saint-Étienne	Bordeaux	Montpellier
Stade de la Beaujoire	Stade de Toulouse	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard	Parc Lescure	Stade de la Mosson
Capacity: 38,500	Capacity: 37,000	Capacity: 36,000	Capacity: 35,200	Capacity: 33,900

[edit] Match officials

Africa Said Belqola Gamal Al-Ghandour Lucien Bouchardeau Lim Kee Chong Ian McLeod Asia Abdul Rahman Al-Zeid Ali Bujsaim Masayoshi Okada Pirom Un-Prasert Europe Marc Batta Günter Benkö Pierluigi Collina Hugh Dallas Paul Durkin José Garcia Aranda Bernd Heynemann Nikolai Levnikov Urs Meier Vítor Melo Pereira Kim Milton Nielsen Rune Pedersen László Vagner Mario van der Ende Ryszard Wójcik

North, Central America and Caribbean Esfandiar Baharmast Arturo Brizio Carter Ramesh Ramdhan Oceania Edward Lennie Mikey Kokupaloon South America Javier Castrilli Epifanio González Márcio Rezende de Freitas Mario Sanchez Yanten Alberto Tejada John Toro Rendon

[edit] Squads

For a list of all squads that played in the final tournament, see 1998 FIFA World Cup squads.

[edit] Results

[edit] First round

All times local (CEST)/(UTC+2)

[edit] Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
Norway	3	1	2	0	5	4	+1	5
Morocco	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
Scotland	3	0	1	2	2	6	-4	1

1998-06-10 17:30	Brazil	2 – 1	Scotland	Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 80,000 Referee: José Garcia Aranda (Spain)
	César Sampaio  4' Boyd  73' (o.g.)	(Report)	Collins  38' (pen.)

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1998-06-10 21:00	Morocco	2 – 2	Norway	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier Attendance: 29,800 Referee: Pirom Un-Prasert (Thailand)
	Hadji  38' Hadda  59'	(Report)	Chippo  46' (o.g.) Eggen  60'

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1998-06-16 17:30	Scotland	1 – 1	Norway	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux Attendance: 31,800 Referee: László Vagner (Hungary)
	Burley  66'	(Report)	H. Flo  46'

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1998-06-16 21:00	Brazil	3 – 0	Morocco	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes Attendance: 35,500 Referee: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia)
	Ronaldo  9' Rivaldo  45+2' Bebeto  50'	(Report)

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1998-06-23 21:00	Brazil	1 – 2	Norway	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Esfandiar Baharmast (United States)
	Bebeto 78'	(Report)	T. A. Flo  83' Rekdal  88' (pen.)

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1998-06-23 21:00	Scotland	0 – 3	Morocco	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne Attendance: 30,600 Referee: Ali Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates)
		(Report)	Bassir  22'  85' Hadda  46'

[edit] Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	3	2	1	0	7	3	+4	7
Chile	3	0	3	0	4	4	0	3
Austria	3	0	2	1	3	4	-1	2
Cameroon	3	0	2	1	2	5	-3	2

1998-06-11 17:30	Italy	2 – 2	Chile	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux Attendance: 31,800 Referee: Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)
	Vieri  10' R. Baggio  85' (pen.)	(Report)	Salas  45'  49'

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1998-06-11 21:00	Cameroon	1 – 1	Austria	Stade de Toulouse, Toulouse Attendance: 33,460 Referee: Epifanio González (Paraguay)
	Njanka  78'	(Report)	Polster  90'

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1998-06-17 17:30	Chile	1 – 1	Austria	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne Attendance: 30,600 Referee: Gamal Al-Ghandour (Egypt)
	Salas  70'	(Report)	Vastić  90'

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1998-06-17 21:00	Italy	3 – 0	Cameroon	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier Attendance: 29,800 Referee: Edward Lennie (Australia)
	Di Biagio  7' Vieri  75'  89'	(Report)

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1998-06-23 16:00	Italy	2 – 1	Austria	Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 80,000 Referee: Paul Durkin (England)
	Vieri  49' R. Baggio  89'	(Report)	Herzog  90' (pen.)

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1998-06-23 16:00	Chile	1 – 1	Cameroon	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes Attendance: 35,500 Referee: Laszlo Vagner (Hungary)
	Sierra  20'	(Report)	Mboma  55'

[edit] Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	9
Denmark	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
South Africa	3	0	2	1	3	6	-3	2
Saudi Arabia	3	0	1	2	2	7	-5	1

1998-06-12 17:30	Saudi Arabia	0 – 1	Denmark	Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens Attendance: 38,140 Referee: Javier Castrilli (Argentina)
		(Report)	Rieper  68'

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1998-06-12 21:00	France	3 – 0	South Africa	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 55,077 Referee: Márcio Rezende de Freitas (Brazil)
	Dugarry  34' Issa  77' (o.g.) Henry  90'	(Report)

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1998-06-18 17:30	South Africa	1 – 1	Denmark	Stade de Toulouse, Toulouse Attendance: 33,300 Referee: John Toro Rendon (Colombia)
	McCarthy  52'	(Report)	Nielsen  13'

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1998-06-18 21:00	France	4 – 0	Saudi Arabia	Stade de France, Saint-Denis Attendance: 80,000 Referee: Arturo Brizio Carter (Mexico)
	Henry  36'  77' Trezeguet  68' Lizarazu  85'	(Report)

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1998-06-24 16:00	France	2 – 1	Denmark	Stade Gerland, Lyon Attendance: 39,100 Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
	Djorkaeff  12' (pen.) Petit  56'	(Report)	M. Laudrup  42' (pen.)

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1998-06-24 16:00	South Africa	2 – 2	Saudi Arabia	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux Attendance: 31,800 Referee: Mario Sanchez Yanten (Chile)
	Bartlett  19'  90+4' (pen.)	(Report)	Al-Jaber  45' (pen.) Al-Thunayan  74' (pen.)

[edit] Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Nigeria	3	2	0	1	5	5	0	6
Paraguay	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
Spain	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4	4
Bulgaria	3	0	1	2	1	7	-6	1

1998-06-12 14:30	Paraguay	0 – 0	Bulgaria	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier Attendance: 27,650 Referee: Abdul Rahman Al-Zeid (Saudi Arabia)
		(Report)

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1998-06-13 14:30	Spain	2 – 3	Nigeria	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes Attendance: 33,257 Referee: Esfandiar Baharmast (United States)
	Hierro  20' Raúl  46'	(Report)	Adepoju  24' Lawal  72' Oliseh  77'

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1998-06-19 17:30	Nigeria	1 – 0	Bulgaria	Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 45,500 Referee: Mario Sanchez Yanten (Chile)
	Ikpeba  26'	(Report)

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1998-06-19 21:00	Spain	0 – 0	Paraguay	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne Attendance: 30,600 Referee: Ian McLeod (South Africa)
		(Report)

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1998-06-24 21:00