1998 FIFA World Cup

The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th edition of the men's FIFA World Cup. France hosted the tournament for the second time, the first being in 1938.

"Ole Ole Ole (The Cup of Life)" by Ricky Martin was chosen as the official song for the 1998 tournament.

Four teams qualified for the first time, Croatia, South Africa, Jamaica and Japan.

Hosts France won the title, defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final. This was Brazil's heaviest defeat until a 1-7 loss to Germany at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Qualified teams
This was the first World Cup with 32 teams participating. Croatia, Japan, South Africa and Jamaica qualified as the countries with no previous World Cup appearances; but Croatia was still part of Yugoslavia.

Countries that failed to qualify were Uruguay for the second time in a row and 1994 third place team Sweden.