1998 FIFA World Cup

The 1998 FIFA World Cup marked the 16th edition of the men's international football championship. The final tournament took place in France from June 10 to July 12, 1998. France secured the hosting rights for the second time in the event's history—the first being in 1938—by defeating Morocco in the bidding process. This was the ninth World Cup held in Europe.

At 32 days, it was the longest World Cup ever staged, and with 32 teams in the finals, it featured the most participants until the tournament expanded to 48 teams in 2026. Qualifying rounds began in March 1996 and ended in November 1997. For the first time, the group stage grew from 24 to 32 teams, split into eight groups of four. A total of 64 matches were played across ten stadiums in ten host cities.

The opening match and the final were held at the newly built Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. Host nation France won the tournament, defeating defending champions Brazil 3–0 in the final to claim their first title. With this victory, France became the seventh nation to win the World Cup and the sixth—after Uruguay, Italy, England, West Germany, and Argentina—to triumph on home soil. As of 2026, France remains the most recent team to win the tournament as the host.

Croatia, Jamaica, Japan, and South Africa all made their first World Cup appearances. FIFA’s executive committee awarded the 1998 World Cup to France on July 2, 1992, during a general meeting in Zürich, Switzerland. France won by 12 votes to 7 over Morocco. Switzerland withdrew its bid because it could not meet FIFA’s requirements.

This made France the third country to host two World Cups, after Mexico (1986) and Italy (1990). France had previously hosted the third edition in 1938. England, which hosted the 1966 tournament, was among the original applicants but later withdrew to focus on a successful bid for UEFA Euro 1996. On June 4, 2015, while cooperating with the FBI and Swiss authorities, Chuck Blazer confirmed that he and other FIFA executive committee members were bribed during the host selection processes for the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.

Blazer stated, "we facilitated bribes in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup." Because France won the vote, it was initially suspected that the bribery came from its bid committee. It later emerged that the bribe payment originated from the failed Moroccan bid. The qualification draw for the 1998 World Cup finals took place at the Musée du Louvre in Paris on December 12, 1995.

As hosts, France was exempt from the draw, as was defending champion Brazil. This was France’s first World Cup since 1986. A total of 174 teams from six confederations participated, 24 more than in the previous qualifying round. Fourteen countries qualified from the European zone in addition to France.

Ten spots were determined after group play—nine group winners and the best second-placed team. The other eight group runners-up were paired into four play-off matches, with the winners also qualifying. CONMEBOL (South America) and CAF (Africa) each received five spots in the final tournament. Three spots were contested among 30 CONCACAF members from North and Central America and the Caribbean.

The winner of the Oceanian zone advanced to an intercontinental play-off against the runner-up of the Asian play-off, which was determined by the two best second-placed teams. Four nations qualified for the first time: Croatia, Jamaica, Japan, and South Africa. The last team to qualify was Iran, which beat Australia in a two-legged tie on November 29, 1997. This marked Iran’s first finals appearance since 1978.

Chile qualified for the first time since 1982 after serving a ban that caused them to miss the two previous tournaments. Paraguay and Denmark returned for the first time since 1986. Austria, England, Scotland, and Yugoslavia returned after missing the 1994 tournament, with the Balkan team now competing as FR Yugoslavia. The highest-ranked team that failed to qualify was the Czech Republic (ranked 3rd, largely due to their runner-up finish at UEFA Euro 1996).

The lowest-ranked team that did qualify was Nigeria (ranked 74th). This was the last time Romania and Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup finals, the only time Jamaica has qualified, and the last time Portugal failed to qualify. The following 32 teams, shown with their final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the final tournament: AFC (4): Iran (42), Japan (debut) (12), Saudi Arabia (34), South Korea (20) CAF (5): Cameroon (49), Morocco (13), Nigeria (74), South Africa (debut) (24), Tunisia (21) OFC (0): None qualified CONCACAF (3): Jamaica (debut) (30), Mexico (4), United States (11) CONMEBOL (5): Argentina (6), Brazil (holders) (1), Chile (9), Colombia (10), Paraguay (29) UEFA (15): Austria (31), Belgium (36), Bulgaria (35), Croatia (debut) (19), Denmark (27), England (5), France (hosts) (18), Germany (2), Italy (14), Netherlands (25), Norway (7), Romania (22), Scotland (41), Spain (15), FR Yugoslavia (8) France’s bid to host the World Cup centered on building a new 80,000-seat national stadium and upgrading nine other stadiums across the country.

When the finals were awarded in July 1992, none of the regional club grounds met FIFA’s requirement of safely seating 40,000. The proposed national stadium, informally called the "Grand stade," faced controversy at every planning stage. Its location was determined by politics, finance, and national symbolism. Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac successfully negotiated a deal with Prime Minister Édouard Balladur to place the Stade de France in the commune of Saint-Denis, just north of the capital. Construction began in December 1995 and was completed after 26 months in November 1997, at a cost of ₣2.67 billion.