1998 FIFA World Cup facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
1998 FIFA World Cup

Tournament details
Host country	France
Dates	10 June – 12 July
Teams	32 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	10 (in 10 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	France (1st title)
Runners-up	Brazil
Third place	Croatia
Fourth place	Netherlands
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	171 (2.67 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Davor Šuker (6 goals)
← 1994 2002 →

The 1998 FIFA World Cup was a huge international football tournament. It happened in France from June 10 to July 12, 1998. Teams from 32 countries competed to win the famous trophy. In the exciting final match, France played against Brazil. France won the game with a score of 3-0, becoming the champions!

Teams That Played

Many countries sent their best football teams to France for the World Cup. Here are the teams that took part, grouped by their continent:

Africa

•  Cameroon
•  Morocco
•  Nigeria
•  South Africa
•  Tunisia

Asia

•  Iran
•  Japan
•  South Korea
•  Saudi Arabia

Europe

•  Austria
•  Belgium
•  Bulgaria
•  Croatia
•  Denmark
•  England
•  France
•  Germany
•  Italy
•  Netherlands
•  Norway
•  Romania
•  Scotland
•  Spain
•  Yugoslavia

North and Central America

•  Jamaica
•  Mexico
•  United States

South America

•  Argentina
•  Brazil
•  Chile
•  Colombia
•  Paraguay

Group Stage Matches

In the first part of the tournament, teams were divided into groups. Each team played against the other teams in their group. Teams earned points for their games:

• A win gave the team 3 points.
• A draw (a tie) gave them 1 point.
• A loss meant no points.

The top two teams from each group moved on to the next stage.

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

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
Template:Flag=Austria Austria	3	0	2	1	3	4	-1	2
Cameroon	3	0	2	1	2	5	-3	2

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

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

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	1	2	0	7	2	+5	5
Mexico	3	1	2	0	7	5	+2	5
Belgium	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
South Korea	3	0	1	2	2	9	-7	1

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
Yugoslavia	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Iran	3	1	0	2	2	4	-2	3
United States	3	0	0	3	1	5	-4	0

Group G

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Romania	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
England	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
Colombia	3	1	0	2	1	3	-2	3
Tunisia	3	0	1	2	1	4	-3	1

Group H

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9
Croatia	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Jamaica	3	1	0	2	3	9	-6	3
Japan	3	0	0	3	1	4	-3	0

Knockout Stage

After the group stage, the tournament became a knockout competition. If a team lost, they were out! This stage included the Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, and the Final.

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

27 June – Paris

Brazil

4

3 July – Nantes

Chile

1

Brazil

3

28 June – Saint-Denis

Denmark

2

Nigeria

1

7 July – Marseille

Denmark

4

Brazil (p)

1 (4)

29 June – Toulouse

Netherlands

1 (2)

Netherlands

2

4 July – Marseille

Yugoslavia

1

Netherlands

2

30 June – Saint-Étienne

Argentina

1

Argentina (p)

2 (4)

12 July – Saint-Denis

England

2 (3)

Brazil

0

27 June – Marseille

France

3

Italy

1

3 July – Saint-Denis

Norway

0

Italy

0 (3)

28 June – Lens

France (p)

0 (4)

France (aet)

1

8 July – Saint-Denis

Paraguay

0

France

2

29 June – Montpellier

Croatia

1

Third place

Germany

2

4 July – Lyon

11 July – Paris

Mexico

1

Germany

0

Netherlands

1

30 June – Bordeaux

Croatia

3

Croatia

2

Romania

0

Croatia

1

1998 FIFA World Cup Winners
France 1st title

Tournament Statistics

Top Goal Scorers

These players scored the most goals during the tournament:

6 goals

• Davor Šuker

5 goals

• Christian Vieri
• Gabriel Batistuta

4 goals

• Marcelo Salas
• Luis Hernández
• Ronaldo

3 goals

• Thierry Henry
• César Sampaio
• Bebeto
• Rivaldo
• Jürgen Klinsmann
• Oliver Bierhoff
• Dennis Bergkamp

Own Goals

Sometimes, a player accidentally scores a goal for the other team. This is called an "own goal."

• Tom Boyd (against Brazil)
• Youssef Chippo (against Norway)
• Pierre Issa (against France)
• Andoni Zubizarreta (against Nigeria)
• Siniša Mihajlović (against Germany)
• Georgi Bachev (against Spain)

Images for kids

• 

       Countries qualified for World Cup      Country did not qualify      Countries that did not enter World Cup      Country not a FIFA member

• 
• 

  Footix, the official mascot of the tournament

• 

  Coca-Cola was one of the sponsors of FIFA World Cup 1998.

• 

  JVC was the official partner for VHS cassettes.

See also

In Spanish: Copa Mundial de Fútbol de 1998 para niños