1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

Listed below are the dates and results for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the European zone (UEFA).

A total of 50 UEFA teams entered the competition; Andorra, which joined FIFA and UEFA in November 1996 while the qualifiers were underway, could not enter. The European zone was allocated 15 places (out of 32) in the final tournament. France, the hosts, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition between 49 teams.

The 49 teams were divided into nine groups, four groups of six teams and five groups of five teams. The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. The runners-up would be ranked according to their records against the 1st, 3rd and 4th-placed team in their groups, and the team with the best record would also qualify. The other runners-up would advance to the UEFA Play-offs.

In the play-offs, the 8 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would qualify.

First round

First round was group play. The draw was made on 12 December 1995, and was based on the November 1995 FIFA World Rankings.[1][2]

The teams were divided into six pools as shown in table below (November 1995 rankings shown in brackets). The national teams which eventually qualified for the final tournament are presented in bold and the national teams who took part in the play-offs are presented in italic.

Drawing pools
Pool 1	Pool 2	Pool 3
Germany (2) Spain (3) Italy (4) Russia (5) Norway (6) Denmark (8) Netherlands (10) Sweden (11) Romania (12)	Bulgaria (14) Switzerland (15) Portugal (16) Czech Republic (18) England (20) Republic of Ireland (21) Scotland (25) Belgium (26) Greece (29)	Turkey (31) Poland (33) Slovakia (35) Austria (38) Croatia (39) Israel (40) Finland (41) Lithuania (45) Northern Ireland (46)
Pool 4	Pool 5	Pool 6
Iceland (48) Latvia (54) Wales (57) Hungary (60) Cyprus (70) Ukraine (71) Slovenia (75) Georgia (77) FR Yugoslavia (80)	Albania (87) Belarus (88) Malta (89) Macedonia (90)	Luxembourg (98) Moldova (107) Armenia (112) Faroe Islands (116) Estonia (126) Azerbaijan (136) San Marino (142) Liechtenstein (151) Bosnia and Herzegovina (not ranked)

Summary

Winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified directly for the 1998 FIFA World Cup

The remaining runners-up advanced to the second round (play-offs)

Other teams were eliminated after the first round

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5	Group 6	Group 7	Group 8	Group 9
Denmark	England	Norway	Austria	Bulgaria	Spain	Netherlands	Romania	Germany
Croatia	Italy	Hungary	Scotland	Russia	FR Yugoslavia	Belgium	Republic of Ireland	Ukraine
Greece Bosnia and Herzegovina Slovenia	Poland Georgia Moldova	Finland Switzerland Azerbaijan	Sweden Latvia Estonia Belarus	Israel Cyprus Luxembourg	Czech Republic Slovakia Faroe Islands Malta	Turkey Wales San Marino	Lithuania Macedonia Iceland Liechtenstein	Portugal Armenia Northern Ireland Albania

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	8	5	2	1	14	6	+8	17	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	3–1	2–1	2–0	4–0
2	Croatia	8	4	3	1	17	12	+5	15	Advance to second round	1–1	—	1–1	3–2	3–3
3	Greece	8	4	2	2	11	4	+7	14		0–0	0–1	—	3–0	2–0
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	3	0	5	9	14	−5	9		3–0	1–4	0–1	—	1–0
5	Slovenia	8	0	1	7	5	20	−15	1		0–2	1–3	0–3	1–2	—

Source:

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	8	6	1	1	15	2	+13	19	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	0–1	2–1	2–0	4–0
2	Italy	8	5	3	0	11	1	+10	18	Advance to second round	0–0	—	3–0	1–0	3–0
3	Poland	8	3	1	4	10	12	−2	10		0–2	0–0	—	4–1	2–1
4	Georgia	8	3	1	4	7	9	−2	10		0–2	0–0	3–0	—	2–0
5	Moldova	8	0	0	8	2	21	−19	0		0–3	1–3	0–3	0–1	—

Source:

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	8	6	2	0	21	2	+19	20	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	3–0	1–1	5–0	5–0
2	Hungary	8	3	3	2	10	8	+2	12	Advance to second round	1–1	—	1–0	1–1	3–1
3	Finland	8	3	2	3	11	12	−1	11		0–4	1–1	—	2–3	3–0
4	Switzerland	8	3	1	4	11	12	−1	10		0–1	1–0	1–2	—	5–0
5	Azerbaijan	8	1	0	7	3	22	−19	3		0–1	0–3	1–2	1–0	—

Source:

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Austria	10	8	1	1	17	4	+13	25	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	0–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	4–0
2	Scotland	10	7	2	1	15	3	+12	23	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	2–0	—	1–0	2–0	2–0	4–1
3	Sweden	10	7	0	3	16	9	+7	21		0–1	2–1	—	1–0	1–0	5–1
4	Latvia	10	3	1	6	10	14	−4	10		1–3	0–2	1–2	—	1–0	2–0
5	Estonia	10	1	1	8	4	16	−12	4		0–3	0–0	2–3	1–3	—	1–0
6	Belarus	10	1	1	8	5	21	−16	4		0–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	—

Source:

Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bulgaria	8	6	0	2	18	9	+9	18	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	1–0	1–0	4–1	4–0
2	Russia	8	5	2	1	19	5	+14	17	Advance to second round	4–2	—	2–0	4–0	3–0
3	Israel	8	4	1	3	9	7	+2	13		2–1	1–1	—	2–0	1–0
4	Cyprus	8	3	1	4	10	15	−5	10		1–3	1–1	2–0	—	2–0
5	Luxembourg	8	0	0	8	2	22	−20	0		1–2	0–4	0–3	1–3	—

Source:

Group 6

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	10	8	2	0	26	6	+20	26	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	2–0	1–0	4–1	3–1	4–0
2	FR Yugoslavia	10	7	2	1	29	7	+22	23	Advance to second round	1–1	—	1–0	2–0	3–1	6–0
3	Czech Republic	10	5	1	4	16	6	+10	16		0–0	1–2	—	3–0	2–0	6–0
4	Slovakia	10	5	1	4	18	14	+4	16		1–2	1–1	2–1	—	3–0	6–0
5	Faroe Islands	10	2	0	8	10	31	−21	6		2–6	1–8	0–2	1–2	—	2–1
6	Malta	10	0	0	10	2	37	−35	0		0–3	0–5	0–1	0–2	1–2	—

Source:

Group 7

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	8	6	1	1	26	4	+22	19	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	3–1	0–0	7–1	4–0
2	Belgium	8	6	0	2	20	11	+9	18	Advance to second round	0–3	—	2–1	3–2	6–0
3	Turkey	8	4	2	2	21	9	+12	14		1–0	1–3	—	6–4	7–0
4	Wales	8	2	1	5	20	21	−1	7		1–3	1–2	0–0	—	6–0
5	San Marino	8	0	0	8	0	42	−42	0		0–6	0–3	0–5	0–5	—

Source:

Group 8

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Romania	10	9	1	0	37	4	+33	28	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	1–0	3–0	4–2	4–0	8–0
2	Republic of Ireland	10	5	3	2	22	8	+14	18	Advance to second round	1–1	—	0–0	3–0	0–0	5–0
3	Lithuania	10	5	2	3	11	8	+3	17		0–1	1–2	—	2–0	2–0	2–1
4	Macedonia	10	4	1	5	22	18	+4	13		0–3	3–2	1–2	—	1–0	3–0
5	Iceland	10	2	3	5	11	16	−5	9		0–4	2–4	0–0	1–1	—	4–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	0	10	3	52	−49	0		1–8	0–5	0–2	1–11	0–4	—

Source:

Group 9

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	10	6	4	0	23	9	+14	22	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup	—	2–0	1–1	4–0	1–1	4–3
2	Ukraine	10	6	2	2	10	6	+4	20	Advance to second round	0–0	—	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–0
3	Portugal	10	5	4	1	12	4	+8	19		0–0	1–0	—	3–1	1–0	2–0
4	Armenia	10	1	5	4	8	17	−9	8		1–5	0–2	0–0	—	0–0	3–0
5	Northern Ireland	10	1	4	5	6	10	−4	7		1–3	0–1	0–0	1–1	—	2–0
6	Albania	10	1	1	8	7	20	−13	4		2–3	0–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	—

Source:

Ranking of second-placed teams

Record against the 1st, 3rd and 4th-placed team in their groups.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Scotland	6	4	1	1	8	2	+6	13
Italy	6	3	3	0	5	0	+5	12
Belgium	6	4	0	2	11	11	0	12
Russia	6	3	2	1	12	5	+7	11
Croatia	6	3	2	1	11	8	+3	11
FR Yugoslavia	6	3	2	1	7	5	+2	11
Republic of Ireland	6	2	2	2	8	6	+2	8
Ukraine	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8
Hungary	6	1	3	2	4	7	−3	6

Play-offs

Matches

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Croatia	3–1	Ukraine	2–0	1–1
Russia	1–2	Italy	1–1	0–1
Republic of Ireland	2–3	Belgium	1–1	1–2
Hungary	1–12	FR Yugoslavia	1–7	0–5

Qualified teams

The following 15 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup¹
France	Hosts	2 July 1992	9 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986)
Denmark	Group 1 winners	11 October 1997	1 (1986)
England	Group 2 winners	11 October 1997	9 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990)
Norway	Group 3 winners	6 September 1997	2 (1938, 1994)
Austria	Group 4 winners	11 October 1997	6 (1934, 1954, 1958, 1978, 1982, 1990)
Bulgaria	Group 5 winners	10 September 1997	6 (1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1994)
Spain	Group 6 winners	11 October 1997	9 (1934, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994)
Netherlands	Group 7 winners	11 October 1997	6 (1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1990, 1994)
Romania	Group 8 winners	18 August 1997	6 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1970, 1990, 1994)
Germany	Group 9 winners	11 October 1997	13 (1934, 1938, 1954², 1958², 1962², 1966², 1970², 1974², 1978², 1982², 1986², 1990², 1994)
Scotland	Best runners-up	11 October 1997	7 (1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990)
Croatia	Play-off winners	15 November 1997	0 (debut)
Italy	Play-off winners	15 November 1997	13 (1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994)
Belgium	Play-off winners	15 November 1997	9 (1930, 1934, 1938, 1954, 1970, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994)
FR Yugoslavia	Play-off winners	15 November 1997	8 (1930³, 1950³, 1954³, 1958³, 1962³, 1974³, 1982³, 1990³)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

² Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only competed in 1974.

³ Competed as Yugoslavia.

Goalscorers

14 goals

Predrag Mijatović

9 goals

Savo Milošević

8 goals

7 goals

Dejan Savićević

6 goals

Kevin Gallacher

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Dražen Ladić (playing against Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Janek Meet (playing against Scotland)
Marek Lemsalu (playing against Latvia)

Óli Johannesen (playing against Spain)
Teuvo Moilanen (playing against Hungary)
Jurgen Kohler (playing against Albania)

Theodoros Zagorakis (playing against Denmark)
Fabio Cannavaro (playing against Russia)
Luca Gobbi (playing against Turkey)

Notes

To date, this was the last time that Portugal failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup.

References

"FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – November 1995 (UEFA)". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 21 November 1995. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
"The 1998 FIFA World Cup - Preliminary Draw in Paris". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 30 November 1995. Retrieved 6 February 2018.

External links

UEFA Qualifier results with full game box scores at Scoreshelf.com

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – November 1995 (UEFA)". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 21 November 1995. Retrieved 3 February 2018.

[2] "The 1998 FIFA World Cup - Preliminary Draw in Paris". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 30 November 1995. Retrieved 6 February 2018.

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
AFC	First Round Final Round Play-off
CAF	First Round Final Round
CONCACAF	Preliminary Round First Round Second Round Third Round Fourth Round
CONMEBOL	Group Round
OFC	First Round Second Round Third Round
UEFA	Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Estonia v Scotland Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 Group 9 Play-offs
Play-offs	AFC v OFC

FIFA World Cup
Tournaments	Uruguay 1930 Italy 1934 France 1938 Brazil 1950 Switzerland 1954 Sweden 1958 Chile 1962 England 1966 Mexico 1970 West Germany 1974 Argentina 1978 Spain 1982 Mexico 1986 Italy 1990 United States 1994 France 1998 South Korea–Japan 2002 Germany 2006 South Africa 2010 Brazil 2014 Russia 2018 Qatar 2022 Canada–Mexico–United States 2026 2030 2034
Qualification	1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Finals	1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Squads	1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Final draw	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Broadcasters	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Bids	2014 2018 and 2022 2026 2030
Statistics	2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Team appearances	AFC CAF CONCACAF CONMEBOL OFC UEFA
Overall records	All-time table Goalscorers top goalscorers finals goalscorers hat-tricks own goals Managers Opening matches Penalty shoot-outs Player appearances Red cards Referees Winning players Winning managers
Miscellaneous	Awards Balls Controversies Economics Fan fest Films History Mascots Music Notable matches qualifying Organisers Stadiums Final stadiums Trophy Video games World Champions Cup
Notes: There was no qualification for the 1930 World Cup as places were given by invitation only. In 1950, there was no final; the article is about the decisive match of the final group stage.