# 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

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 | 3–3 (a) | 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 Cup |
| 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

* Karim Bagheri

### 14 goals

* Kazuyoshi Miura

### 9 goals

* Ali Daei
* Choi Yong-soo

### 8 goals

* Khodadad Azizi
* Mohammed Salem Al-Enazi
* Oleg Shatskikh

### 7 goals

* Takuya Takagi
* Khaled Al-Muwallid

### 6 goals

* Hao Haidong
* Said Bayazid

### 5 goals

* Hidetoshi Nakata
* Jasem Al Huwaidi
* Ibrahim Al-Shahrani
* Omar Al Ariki

### 4 goals

* Fan Zhiyi
* Mehdi Mahdavikia
* Alireza Mansourian
* Hussam Fawzi
* Viktor Zubarev
* Bashar Abdulaziz
* Nihad Al Boushi
* Arsen Avakov
* Khamees Saad Mubarak
* Ravshan Bozorov
* Andrei Fyodorov
* Igor Shkvyrin

### 3 goals

* Gao Feng
* Rocky Putiray
* Widodo Putro
* Hamid Estili
* Reza Shahroudi
* Laith Hussein
* Yutaka Akita
* Wagner Lopes
* Hiroshi Nanami
* Boulat Esmagambetov
* Vladimir Loginov
* Pavel Yevteyev
* Sergey Kutsov
* Ahmed Hassan
* Mahmoud Soufi
* Obeid Al-Dosari
* Fahad Al-Mehallel
* Kim Do-hoon
* Lee Sang-yoon
* Yoo Sang-chul
* Nader Joukhadar
* Khaled Al Zaher
* Shukhrat Dzhaborov
* Takhirdjon Mouminov
* Mouslim Agaev
* Zuhair Bakheet

### 2 goals

* Mohammed Jewel Rana
* Hok Sochetra
* Li Bing
* Ma Mingyu
* Peng Weiguo
* Ansyari Lubis
* Ronny Wabia
* Mehrdad Minavand
* Ali Asghar Modir Roosta
* Sahib Abbas
* Qahtan Chathir
* Shoji Jo
* Hiroaki Morishima
* Masashi Nakayama
* Akinori Nishizawa
* Norio Omura
* Jeris Tadrus
* Alexei Klishin
* Nourken Mazbaev
* Fawaz Al Ahmad
* Hamed Al Saleh
* Farhat Haitbaev
* Aleksandr Merzlikin
* Abdulfattah Shehab
* Mahfood Sultan Al Araimi
* Saeed Shaaban Al Busaidy
* Majdi Shaaban Samir
* Mohammad Umer
* Zamel Al Kuwari
* Adel Khamis Al Noobi
* Fazli
* Choi Moon-sik
* Ha Seok-ju
* Seo Jung-won
* Roshan Perera
* Aref Al Agha
* Tarek Jabban
* Oumed Alidodov
* Viacheslav Knizaev
* Natipong Sritong-In
* Adnan Al Talyani
* Adel Mohamed Abdulla
* Numon Khasanov
* Sergey Lebedev
* Shukhrat Maksudov
* Abdukahhor Marifaliev
* Nikolai Shirshov

### 1 goal

* Khaled Al-Doseri
* Hameed Darwish
* Faisal Aziz Rashed
* Mohammed Alfaz Ahmed
* Ahmed Imtiaz
* Li Jinyu
* Li Ming
* Mao Yijun
* Su Maozhen
* Zhang Enhua
* Chen Kuei-jen
* Hsu Te Ming
* Huang Che-ming
* Lin Wen Han
* Au Wai Lun
* Cheng Sin Siu
* Lee Kin Woo
* Carlton Chapman
* Bruno Coutinho
* Raman Vijayan
* Sudirman
* Farhad Majidi
* Ali Mousavi
* Haidar Abdullah
* Ahmed Radhi
* Sadiq Saadoun
* Yasuto Honda
* Masami Ihara
* Masayuki Okano
* Naoki Soma
* Motohiro Yamaguchi
* Basam Al-Khateeb
* Hassouneh Al-Sheikh
* Ruslan Baltiyev
* Vitali Sparyshev
* Valeri Yablochkin
* Dmitri Yurist
* Faisal Al Otaibi
* Hani Al Saqer
* Jamal Mubarak
* Abdullah Saihan
* Vladimir Chertkov
* Sergei Ivanov
* Alexandr Korzanov
* Kanat Sardarov
* Rafik Yusupov
* Babkin Melikian
* Wael Nazha
* Che Chi Man
* Cheang Chon Man
* José Maria da Cruz Martins
* Idris Abdul Karim
* Azman Adnan
* Ahmad Che Zambil
* Rosdee Sulong
* Zainal Abidin Hassan
* Deepak Amatya
* Hari Khadka
* Mohamed Tayib Abdul Noor
* Farid Al Masori
* Nabeel Mubar Al Siyabi
* Zahir Rafiq
* Dahi Al Naemi
* Abdul Jaloof
* Nasir Khamees
* Waleed Bakhit Maayof
* Abdulaziz Al-Dosari
* Abdullah Al-Dosari
* Sami Al-Jaber
* Khalid Al-Temawi
* Yousuf Al-Thunayan
* Khamis Al-Zahrani
* Chuan Tan Teng
* Zulkarnaen Zainal
* Ko Jeong-woon
* Lee Min-sung
* Park Kun-ha
* Roh Sang-rae
* Anton Silva
* Chaminda Steinwall
* Redwan Abrash
* Ali Cheikh Dib
* Abdel Kader Rifai
* Ammar Rihawi
* Bashar Srour
* Loay Taleb
* Alier Achourmamadov
* Dusit Chalermsan
* Krissada Piandit
* Piyapong Pue-on
* Redjeb Agabaev
* Valeri Broshin
* Valeri Gulyan
* Djumadurdy Meredov
* Georgi Tkavadze
* Bakhit Alabadla
* Gholam Ali
* Hassan Mubarak
* Mohamed Obaid
* Ahmed Saeed
* Jafar Irismetov
* Bahtior Kambaraliev
* Mirdjalal Kasimov
* Lê Huỳnh Đức
* Nguyễn Công Vinh
* Abdul Rahman Abdulla
* Jeyeb Bashafal
* Esam Dariban
* Munif Shaef Noman
* Mohammed Zughair

### 1 own goal

* Sadiq Saadoun (playing against Kazakhstan)
* Raju Kaji Shakya (playing against Oman)