1998 Sahurle World Cup

Logo of the 1998 Sahurle World Cup prior to Saarekettis' joint bid announcement.

## Tournament statistics

### Fair play award

N/A

The **1999 Sahurle World Cup**, also known as the **1998 World Cup** or **Illqurivati-Saarekettis 1998** was the 3rd edition of the Sahurle World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by SIFF. It was held from June 6th to July 21st at venues and sites in Illqurivati and Saarekettis, with it's final match hosted by Saarekettis in Alyrne.

Over a field of 8 teams out of the 14 national teams qualified the 1998 World Cup, which is also the first tournament to be jointly hosted by more than one nation. Saarekettis, which is one of the host countries of this World Cup made their World Cup debuts and also became the champions of the tournament.

The tournament had several surprises and upsets, with Illqurivati being eliminated on the quarter-finals after scoring a single goal and the defending champions Ambrosia also being eliminated in the quarter-finals. Eiskareburg and Saarekettis managed to reach the semi-finals, beating both Demoria and Illqurivati respectively. Saarekettis eventually managed to win the World Cup in the finals.

The tournament was met with suspicion and concern after potential allegations of Hesal-Qe surveilance and involvement in the tournament

## Host Selection

Illqurivati and Saarekettis were selected by the SSFA on March 1993, as they were the only one bidding for hosting rights for the 1998 World Cup. Initially, only Illqurivati was selected by the SSFA as there were no other bids until Saarekettis a few days after their repeal of their initial ban on football joined along side Illqurivati for hosting rights. This is the first World Cup to be hosted by more than one country.

At the time the decision was made to make Illqurivati and Saarekettis the host nations, Saarekettis had never qualified for a World Cup due to their original football ban disbanding the national football team of Saarekettis for the duration of the first two editions of the World Cup. It was also requested by Illqurivati to change the timeframe of the World Cup from March to July timeframes to November to December due to cost and preparations, but it was rejected following Illqurivati's more colder climate in winter months.

## Qualification

12 national teams along side football clubs of Demoria and Artois attempted to qualify for the 1998 Sahurle World Cup. The qualification process began in 1996 to 1997 with the preliminary draw held in Aljaddeen. Defending champions Ambrosia and co-hosts Illqurivati and Saarekettis qualified automatically and did not have to play any qualification matches.

Remaining 5 places were contested by all remaining national teams decided by playoffs. This is the first occasion Artois did not qualify for the World Cup as well as being the highest ranked team not qualifying and the first time Saarekettis qualified for the World Cup. The previous champions of the World Cup Pasovinatoli also qualified for the World Cup.

### List of qualified teams

The following 8 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the tournament in alphabetical order:

* Ambrosia
* Demoria
* Eiskareburg
* Illqurivati
* Pasovinatoli
* Saarekettis
* Takanesato
* Virtaria

## Venues

Illqurivati and Saarekettis both provided over 4 venues, with the vast majority of them being built originally for the 1994 tournament. All quarter-final and semi-final matches were held in Illqurivati whilst the finals were held in Saarekettis.

## Concerns & controversies

There were allegations of Hesal-Qe involvement withn the World Cup with evidence of various members affiliated with the terrorist organization on the seats of the Lusaile International Stadium venue, which all 12 of them were arrested. Despite the possible concerns of a terrorist attack in one of the stadiums, it was decided to not delay the World Cup but security was heightened withn all Illqurivati venues.

There were also concerns regarding the choice to make Saarekettis one of the co-hosts of the World Cup due instability withn the country, most notably the region of Nabangos after the government of Nabangos was overthrowned by Tiia Kuushik and her supporters, along side the incredibly unpopular name change to rename Nabangos to Furious Panthers (which the name change for the region has not been recognized by any nation), with several demonstrations criticizing and demanding for Saarekettis to be removed as co-host of the tournament. Ahadi Okiro, the paramount leader of Illqurivati instead defended Saarekettis' position as the co-host of the World Cup, reiterating that politics have no place in sports.