1998 FIFA World Cup

In 1998 the FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the unofficial championship of the men's national football teams association. It was held in France from 10 June until 12 July 1998. For the second time in the history of the competition FIFA named the country as the host nation, defeating Morocco in the bidding process. This was the second time France hosted the exhibition, and the seventh time it was held in Europe. It was the first World Cup held under the leadership of Sepp Blatter. The final qualifying began in March 1996, and finished in November 1997. The group stage was extended for the first time in the tournament from 24 teams to 32, with eight groupings of four. 64 matches were played at Stade de France, Saint-Denis, in 10 stadiums in 10 host cities, with the opening match and the final game. France's World Cup hosting plan concentrated on an 80,000-seat national stadium and nine other stadiums spread throughout the world. When the finals were first contested in July 1992, neither of the national club grounds were able to meet FIFA's requirements – that is, being able to comfortably seat 40,000. The proposed national stadium, colloquially referred to as the 'Grand Stadium,' encountered uncertainty at every planning stage; politics, economy and cultural importance determined the stadium's location. As Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac succeeded in striking a agreement with Prime Minister Édouard Balladur to bring the Stade de France to the municipality of Saint-Denis just north of the capital, as it is called today. Construction on the stadium began in December 1995, and was completed after 26 months of construction in November 1997 at a cost of about 2.67 billion. In particular, 10 stadiums were used for the finals; in addition to nine matches being played at the Stade de France, an further six matches were held at the Parc des Princes in Paris Saint-Germain, bringing the cumulative number of matches contested in Paris to 15. France played for four of their seven matches at the national stadium; they also participated in the second and third largest cities in the world, Marseille and Lyon, as well as a round of 16 knockout matches in northern city Lens. Nantes, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, and Saint-Etienne each played a total of 6 matches; all the used stadiums have played second stage matches. This was the first World Cup in which fourth officers used electronic displays, not carton. The knockout stage consisted of the 16 teams that were advancing from the group stage of the competition. In the knockout round, every draw at 90 minutes was followed by 30 minutes of extra time for each team; if scores were still level there was a penalty shoot-out to determine who went on to the next round. If during extra time a team wins, the golden goal comes into play, becoming the winner that ends the game. The final was played on the 12th of July 1998 at Stade de France, Saint-Denis. France defeated Brazil 3–0 champions, with two goals from Zinedine Zidane and a stop-off time shot from Emmanuel Petit. The triumph secured France their first World Cup trophy, becoming the sixth national team after Uruguay, Italy, England, West Germany and Argentina to bring the tournament to their home soil. We have suffered the second-heaviest defeat to Brazil in the World Cup, only to be overtaken by Germany's 7–1 demolition to Brazil in the semi-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The pre-match build-up was dominated by the exclusion from the start line-up by Brazilian striker Ronaldo, only to be recalled 45 minutes before kick-off.