1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. 174 teams entered the qualification rounds, while two places were reserved for France and Brazil as host nation and defending champions, respectively.

Qualified teams

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Last appearance	Consecutive finals appearances	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking at start of event
	Host	2 July 1992	10th	1986	1	Third place	18
	1994 FIFA World Cup winners	17 July 1994	16th	1994	16	Winners	1
	CAF final round group 1 winners	7 June 1997	2nd	1994	2	Round of 16	74
	CAF final round group 2 winners	8 June 1997	2nd	1978	1	Group stage	21
	CAF final round group 5 winners	8 June 1997	4th	1994	2	Round of 16	13
	CAF final round group 3 winners	16 August 1997	1st	—	1	—	24
	CAF final round group 4 winners	17 August 1997	4th	1994	3	Quarter-finals	49
	UEFA group 8 winners	18 August 1997	7th	1994	3	Quarter-finals	22
	UEFA group 3 winners	6 September 1997	3rd	1994	2	*First round	7
	UEFA group 5 winners	10 September 1997	7th	1994	2	Fourth place	35
	CONMEBOL winners	10 September 1997	12th	1994	7	Winners	6
	CONMEBOL 3rd place	10 September 1997	4th	1994	3	Round of 16	10
	CONMEBOL 2nd place	10 September 1997	5th	1986	1	Round of 16	29
	UEFA group 1 winners	11 October 1997	2nd	1986	1	Round of 16	27
	UEFA group 2 winners	11 October 1997	10th	1990	1	Winners	5
	UEFA group 4 winners	11 October 1997	7th	1990	1	Third place	31
	UEFA group 6 winners	11 October 1997	10th	1994	6	Fourth place	15
	UEFA group 7 winners	11 October 1997	7th	1994	3	Runners-up	25
	UEFA group 9 winners	11 October 1997	14th	1994	12	Winners	2
	UEFA group 4 runners-up	11 October 1997	8th	1990	1	Group stage	41
	CONCACAF fourth round winners	12 October 1997	11th	1994	2	Quarter-finals	4
	AFC final round group B winners	18 October 1997	5th	1994	4	Group stage	20
	CONCACAF fourth round 2nd place	9 November 1997	6th	1994	3	Third place	11
	AFC final round group A winners	12 November 1997	2nd	1994	2	Round of 16	34
	UEFA play-off winners	15 November 1997	1st	—	1	—	19
	UEFA play-off winners	15 November 1997	14th	1994	10	Winners	14
	UEFA play-off winners	15 November 1997	10th	1994	5	Fourth place	36
	UEFA play-off winners	15 November 1997	9th	1990	1	Fourth place	8
	AFC play-off winners	16 November 1997	1st	—	1	—	12
	CONCACAF fourth round 3rd place	16 November 1997	1st	—	1	—	30
	CONMEBOL 4th place	16 November 1997	7th	1982	1	Third place	9
	[1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC–OFC play-off)\|AFC v Oceania Football Confederation\|OFC play-off] winners	29 November 1997	2nd	1978	1	Group stage	42

Norway was eliminated from the group stage of the 1994 World Cup, while they exited the 1938 tournament in the first round of what was then a pure knockout tournament.

Qualification process

The distribution by confederation for the 1998 FIFA World Cup was:

AFC : 3 or 4 places
CAF : 5 places
CONCACAF : 3 places
CONMEBOL : 4 places
OFC : 0 or 1 place
UEFA : 14 places

Confederation qualification

AFC

A total of 36 teams entered the competition. The Asian zone was allocated 3.5 places in the final tournament.
There were three rounds of play:

First round: The 36 teams were divided into 10 groups of 3 or 4 teams each. The teams played against each other twice, except in Group 10, where the teams played against each other once. The group winners would advance to the final round.
Second round: The 10 teams were divided into 2 groups of 5 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. The runners-up would advance to the AFC play-off.
Third round: The two teams played against each other once in Malaysia. The winner would qualify. The loser would advance to the AFC–OFC intercontinental play-offs.

Third round

Team 1	Score	Team 2
	2–3 (a.e.t.)

CAF

A total of 38 CAF teams entered the competition. However, Mali and Niger both withdrew before the draw was made. The African Zone was allocated five places in the final tournament.
There would be two rounds of play:

First round: Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt, the four highest-ranked teams according to FIFA, received byes and advanced to the final round directly. The remaining 32 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the final round.
Final round: The 20 teams were divided into five groups of four teams each. The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.

CONCACAF

A total of 30 CONCACAF teams entered the competition. Mexico, the US, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Canada, the six highest-ranked teams according to FIFA, received byes and advanced to the third round directly. The remaining 24 teams were divided into two zones, based on geographical locations, as follows:

Caribbean Zone: The 20 teams played in three rounds of knockout matches on a home-and-away basis to determine four winners advancing to the third round.
Central American Zone: The four teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the third round.

In the third round, the 12 teams were divided into three groups of four teams each. They played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners and runners-up would advance to the final round.
In the final round, the six teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The top three teams would qualify.

Final positions (fourth round)

Team	Pld	Pts
	10	18
	10	17
	10	14
	10	12
	10	10
	10	6

CONMEBOL

A total of 10 CONMEBOL teams entered the competition. The South American zone was allocated 5 places in the final tournament. Brazil, the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 4 spots open for competition between 9 teams.
The rules were very simple. The 9 teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The top 4 teams would qualify.

OFC

A total of 10 teams entered the competition. The Oceanian zone was allocated 0.5 places in the final tournament.
There were three rounds of play:

First round: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tahiti, the four best ranked teams according to FIFA, received byes and advanced to the second round directly. The remaining 6 teams were divided into 2 groups of 3 teams each, namely the Melanesian Group and the Polynesian Group, based on geographical considerations. The teams played against each other once. The winner of the Melanesian Group would advance to the second round. The runner-up of the Melanesian Group and the winner of the Polynesian Group would advance to the first round play-off. In the play-off, they played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would advance to the second round.
Second round: The 6 teams were divided into 2 groups of 3 teams each. The teams played against each other twice. The group winners would advance to the final round.
Final round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would advance to the AFC / OFC intercontinental play-off.

UEFA

A total of 50 UEFA teams entered the competition. The European zone was allocated 15 places 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 remaining 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.

Legend

Countries that qualified for the 1998 World Cup

Countries that advanced to the Play-offs

Inter-confederation play-offs: AFC v OFC

It was a two-legged home-and-away tie between the winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament, Australia, and the losing team in the AFC play-off from the Asian qualifying tournament, Iran. The games were played on 22 and 29 November 1997 in Tehran and Melbourne respectively. Australia was hoping to play in the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974 and Iran in 1978. The second game is known in Iran as the Saga of Melbourne.

Top goalscorers

;19 goals

Karim Bagheri

;14 goals

;12 goals

Iván Zamorano

;11 goals

;6 goals