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.

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 second round.
• Second 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 third round.
• Third round: 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	8	4	2	2	8	6	+2	14	1998 FIFA World Cup
2	Iran	8	3	3	2	13	8	+5	12	Third round
3	China	8	3	2	3	11	14	−3	11
4	Qatar	8	3	1	4	7	10	−3	10
5	Kuwait	8	2	2	4	7	8	−1	8

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	8	6	1	1	19	7	+12	19	1998 FIFA World Cup
2	Japan	8	3	4	1	17	9	+8	13	Third round
3	United Arab Emirates	8	2	3	3	9	12	−3	9
4	Uzbekistan	8	1	3	4	13	18	−5	6
5	Kazakhstan	8	1	3	4	7	19	−12	6

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

16 November 1997

21:00 UTC+8

Iran	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Japan
Azizi 46' Daei 58'	report (FIFA) report (Japanese)	Nakayama 39' Jo 75' Okano 118'

Larkin Stadium, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Manuel Diaz Vega (Spain)

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

3–3 on aggregate, Iran won on away goals

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.

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

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