FIFA World Cup 1998

The 1998 FIFA 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 in 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.

Qualification

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

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.

Summary

The format of the competition was different from 1994. This tournament 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 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.

In Group C France have got a respective win 4-0 over Saudi Arabia. Denmark also moved on from the group. Nigeria was the surprise winner of Group D Spain once again failed to Nigeria, which 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. 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.

France beat Italy in the quarter-finals on penalties after a scoreless draw. Brazil topped Denmark 3-2. Croatia crushed Germany 3-0. The Netherlands eliminated Argentina, 2-1.

In the semi-finals the Netherlands made 1-1, but the Dutch couldn’t pull it out in the penalty shootout, sending Brazil to the final. They were joined by France. 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. 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.

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.

Venues

Ten stadia were used during the tournament:

City	Venue	Capacity
Saint-Denis	Stade de France	80000
Marseille	Stade Vélodrome	60000
Paris	Parc des Princes	49000
Lens	Stade Félix Bollaert	41800
Lyon	Stade de Gerland	41200
Nantes	Stade de la Beaujoire	38500
Toulouse	Stadium de Toulouse	37000
Saint-Étienne	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard	36000
Bordeaux	Parc Lescure	35200
Montpellier	Stade de la Mosson	33900