1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Tournament details
Teams	36 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Top scorer(s)	Karim Bagheri (19 goals)
← 1994 2002 →

Listed below are the dates and results for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the Asian zone (AFC). For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Format

A total of 36 teams entered the competition. The Asian zone was allocated 3.5 places (out of 32) 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 advanced to the final round.
• Final 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 qualified for the World Cup. The runners-up advanced to the AFC play-off.
• Play-off: The two teams played against each other once in Malaysia. The winner qualify for the World Cup. The loser advanced to the AFC–OFC intercontinental play-offs.

First round

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners qualify for the Final round

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	6	5	1	0	18	1	+17	16
Malaysia	6	3	2	1	5	3	+2	11
Chinese Taipei	6	1	1	4	4	13	−9	4
Bangladesh	6	1	0	5	4	14	−10	3

Group 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	6	5	1	0	39	3	+36	16
Syria	6	3	1	2	30	5	+25	10
Kyrgyzstan	6	3	0	3	12	14	−2	9
Maldives	6	0	0	6	0	59	−59	0

Group 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United Arab Emirates	4	3	1	0	7	1	+6	10
Jordan	4	1	1	2	4	4	0	4
Bahrain	4	1	0	3	3	9	−6	3

Group 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Japan	6	5	1	0	31	1	+30	16
Oman	6	4	1	1	14	2	+12	13
Macau	6	1	1	4	3	28	−25	4
Nepal	6	0	1	5	2	19	−17	1

Group 5

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Uzbekistan	6	5	1	0	20	3	+17	16
Yemen	6	2	2	2	10	7	+3	8
Indonesia	6	1	4	1	11	6	+5	7
Cambodia	6	0	1	5	2	27	−25	1

Group 6

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	4	3	1	0	9	1	+8	10
Thailand	4	1	1	2	5	6	−1	4
Hong Kong	4	1	0	3	3	10	−7	3

Group 7

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kuwait	4	4	0	0	10	1	+9	12
Lebanon	4	1	1	2	4	7	−3	4
Singapore	4	0	1	3	2	8	−6	1

Group 8

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
China	6	5	1	0	13	2	+11	16
Tajikistan	6	4	1	1	15	2	+13	13
Turkmenistan	6	2	0	4	8	13	−5	6
Vietnam	6	0	0	6	2	21	−19	0

Group 9

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kazakhstan	4	4	0	0	15	2	+13	12
Iraq	4	2	0	2	14	8	+6	6
Pakistan	4	0	0	4	3	22	−19	0

Group 10

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Qatar	3	3	0	0	14	0	+14	9
Sri Lanka	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
India	3	1	1	1	3	7	−4	4
Philippines	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

Final round

Key to colours in group tables
	Group winners qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup
	Runners-up advance to the AFC play off

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	8	4	2	2	8	6	+2	14
Iran	8	3	3	2	13	8	+5	12
China	8	3	2	3	11	14	−3	11
Qatar	8	3	1	4	7	10	−3	10
Kuwait	8	2	2	4	7	8	−1	8

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	8	6	1	1	19	7	+12	19
Japan	8	3	4	1	17	9	+8	13
United Arab Emirates	8	2	3	3	9	12	−3	9
Uzbekistan	8	1	3	4	13	18	−5	6
Kazakhstan	8	1	3	4	7	19	−12	6

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Play-off

• The play-off was played over a single leg at a neutral venue.
• Extra time was played using the golden goal rule.

Inter-confederation play-offs

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Iran	(a) 3–3	Australia	1–1	2–2

Qualified teams

The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Saudi Arabia	Final Round Group A winners	12 November 1997	1 (1994)
South Korea	Final Round Group B winners	18 October 1997	4 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994)
Japan	Play-off winners	16 November 1997	0 (debut)
Iran	AFC–OFC play-off winners	29 November 1997	1 (1978)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

There were 459 goals scored in 132 matches (including 2 international play-offs), for an average of 3.53 goals per match.

19 goals

14 goals

9 goals

8 goals

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

External links

• 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) at FIFA.com