1998 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA second round

Football tournament qualification stage The 1998 FIFA World Cup European qualification playoffs were a set of home-and-away playoffs to decide the final four places granted to national football teams from European nations (more precisely, UEFA members) for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The playoffs were decided by the standard FIFA method of aggregate score, with away goals and, if necessary, extra time with the possibility of a penalty shoot-out at the end of the second leg. The winner of each playoff was awarded a place in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Qualified teams By the rules of the UEFA qualifying tournament, the first-place finishers in each of the nine groups received automatic berths, along with the best second-place team that had earned the most points. As some groups had six teams and others had five, the matches vs the fifth and sixth place teams were discarded for the purposes of the ranking, despite the fact that discarding results vs the sixth placed team would have sufficed. The eight remaining second-place teams were competed in this round: An open draw was held on 13 October 1997 at FIFA headquarters in Zürich. Matches CRO 3–1 UKR 1992 2–0 1–1 RUS 1–2 ITA 1–1 0–1 IRL 2–3 BEL 1–1 1–2 HUN 1–12 FR Yugoslavia 1–7 0–5 |} Croatia v Ukraine 29 October 1997 18:00 UTC+1 CRO 2–0 Report UKR 1992 Bilić 11 Vlaović 49 28,000 Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb Alain Sars (France) Ukraine v Croatia 15 November 1997 19:00 UTC+2 UKR 1992 1–1 Report CRO Shevchenko 5 Bokšić 27 Olimpiysky, Kyiv 77,500 Rune Pedersen (Norway) Croatia won 3–1 on aggregate. Russia v Italy 29 October 1997 20:30 UTC+3 RUS 1–1 Report ITA Cannavaro 52 o.g. Vieri 49 15,000 Dynamo Stadium, Moscow Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark) Italy v Russia 15 November 1997 20:45 UTC+1 ITA 1–0 Report RUS Casiraghi 53 Stadio San Paolo, Naples 69,207 Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland) Italy won 2–1 on aggregate. Hungary v Yugoslavia 29 October 1997 20:00 UTC+1 HUN 1–7 Report FR Yugoslavia Illés 88 Brnović 2Đukić 6Savićević 10Mijatović 26 41 51Milošević 63 13,175 Stadion Albert Flórián, Budapest Vítor Melo Pereira (Portugal) Yugoslavia v Hungary 15 November 1997 17:00 UTC+1 FR Yugoslavia 5–0 Report HUN Milošević 18Mijatović 44 45 pen. 71 88 Stadion Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade 48,498 Metin Tokat (Turkey) Yugoslavia won 12–1 on aggregate. Republic of Ireland v Belgium 29 October 1997 19:30 UTC±0 IRL 1–1 Report BEL Irwin 7 Nilis 29 32,305 Lansdowne Road, Dublin László Vagner (Hungary) Belgium v Republic of Ireland 15 November 1997 20:00 UTC+1 BEL 2–1 Report IRL Oliveira 25 Nilis 70 Houghton 58 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels 35,320 Günter Benkö (Austria) Belgium won 3–2 on aggregate. Goalscorers 25 8 FRY Predrag Mijatović BEL Luc Nilis FRY Savo Milošević BEL Luís Oliveira CRO Slaven Bilić CRO Alen Bokšić CRO Goran Vlaović HUN Béla Illés IRL Ray Houghton IRL Denis Irwin ITA Pierluigi Casiraghi ITA Christian Vieri UKR 1992 Andriy Shevchenko FRY Branko Brnović FRY Miroslav Đukić FRY Dejan Savićević ITA Fabio Cannavaro (against Russia) References Playoff UEFA Qual Category:1997–98 in Republic of Ireland association football Category:1997–98 in Hungarian football Qual Category:1997 in Russian football Qual Category:1997–98 in Ukrainian football Qual Category:October 1997 sports events in Europe Category:November 1997 sports events in Europe