| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 10 March 1996 – 29 November 1997 |
| Teams | 174 (from 6 confederations) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 643 |
| Goals scored | 1,922 (2.99 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Karim Bagheri(19 goals) |
← 1994 2002 → | |
The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — 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.