Qualification: qualified for the world cup finals will be five teams emerging as group winners of the final qualification stage. The qualification consists of a preliminary knock-out round reducing the number of participiants to 20. A second draw after this knock out round will determine 5 groups with four teams each, the winners qualify for France '98. Four nations, which represented Africa in the recent World Cup tournaments, get a first round bye. The others were seeded before the draw, so that the 16 lower seeded nations play the sixteen higher seeded nations. The higher seeded play the return leg at home. (Also the field was divided into two regional sections to relieve the teams of traveling problems. To play a knock-out round first seems strange but this system was found to solve the problem of the high number of pull-outs during the qualification periods for World Cup and African Cup of Nations tournaments of the recent past. But another thing will at least avoid pull-outs in the preliminary knock-out round: UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) suggested, that FIFA should pay back all participating teams taking part at the qualification about 1 million swiss francs. Although FIFA still has to decide on this it seems likely, that such a perspective will keep nations from pulling out and make associations regret which didn't take part for financial reasons. A similar model cannot be installed by CAF (the African Confederation of African Football Associations) of cause, because there isn't any money comparable to this involved in the African Cup of Nations as it is in the World Cup. On FIFA level it's also discussed whether nations should receive the money anyway to help develop football, but such probably wouldn't help thw withdrawal problem.
List of the participating associations
Algeria
Angola
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Congo
Cote d'Ivoire
Egypt
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea
Kenya
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mauretania
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Rwanda
Senegal
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Sudan
Swasiland
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zaire
Zambia
Zimbabwe
List of the associations not participating
Botswana
Benin
Cape Verde
CAR
Chad
Comoros
Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia
Lesotho
Lybia (UN sanctions(?))
Mali (last minute withdrawal (for financial
reasons?))
Niger (disqualified (because of government
interference with the association?))
Reunion
Somalia
Seychelles
Zanzibar
Preliminary Knock Out Round (May/June 31st/1st/2nd/6th/8th/9th
and
June 13th/14th/15th/20th/21st/22nd of 1996)
Byes: Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Morocco
First results from first weekend of June: Surprises at Sudan,
Namibia, Kenya, Congo and Guinea-Bissau, Zambia in danger while Zaire answers
their mediocre Nations Cup performance with impressing away- result!
Return leg: Zambia pays last minute overcome with another
football tragedy when fans get killed in a stampede after the match.
Big names Algeria and Cote d'Ivoire out!
Mauretania - Burkina Faso 0:0 + 0:2
Namibia - Mozambique 2:0 +1:1
Swaziland - Gabon 0:1 + 0:2
Malawi - Sth Africa 0:1 + 0:3
Uganda - Angola 0:2 + 1:3
Guinea-Bissau - Guinea 3:2 + 1:3
Gambia - Liberia 2:1 + 0:4
Burundi - Sierra Leone 1:0 + 1:0
Madagascar - Zimbabwe 1:2 + 2:2
Congo - Côte d'Ivoire 2:0 + 1:1
Mauritius - Zaire 1:5 + 0:2
Rwanda - Tunisia 1:3 + 0:2
Kenya - Algeria 3:1 + 0:1
Togo - Senengal 2:1 + 1:1
Sudan - Zambia 2:0 + 0:3
Tanzania - Ghana 0:0 + 1:2
Oct 30: FIFA announced withdrewal of Burundi. Burundi was replaced by Sierra Leone
What are the prospects of the 20
teams in the second round - A preview...
SECOND ROUND
The second round included the participation of 20 teams (the 16
winners of the first round + Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria, who
had first-round byes.)
On July 2, 1996, in Zurich, the 20 remaining teams were drawn into
five groups of four teams1, with the group winners qualifying
for the 1998 tournament in France
For more Details see FIFA-Result-Service
featuring also match descriptions on statistical basis
Group 1
Nigeria - Burkina Faso 2:0
Guinea - Kenya 3:1
Kenya - Nigeria 1:1
Burkina Faso - Guinea 1:3
Nigeria - Guinea 2:1
Kenya - Burkina Faso 4:3
Burkina Faso - Nigeria 1:2
Kenya - Guinea 1:0
Nigeria - Kenya 3:0
Guinea - Burkina Faso 3:1
Guinea - Nigeria 1:0
Burkina Faso - Kenya 2:4
1. Nigeria 10-4 13 2. Guinea 10-5 12 3. Kenya 11-12 10 4. Burkina Faso 6-7 0What are the prospects of the teams in France - A preview...
Liberia - Tunisia 0:1
Egypt - Namibia 7:1
Tunisia - Egypt 1:0
Namibia - Liberia 0:0
Liberia - Egypt 1:0
Namibia - Tunisia 1:2
Tunisia - Liberia 1:2
Namibia - Egypt 2:3
Egypt - Tunisia 0:0
Liberia - Namibia 1:2
Egypt - Liberia 5:0
Tunisia - Namibia 4:0
1. Tunisia 10-1 16 2. Egypt 15-5 10 3. Liberia 2-10 4 4. Namibia 6-17 4What are the prospects of the qualified teams in France - A preview...
Group 3
Congo - Zambia 1:0
South Africa - Zaire 1:0
Zambia - South Africa 0:0
Zaire - Congo 1:1
Congo - South Africa 2:0
Zaire - Zambia 2:2
Zambia - Congo 3:0
Zaire - South Africa 1:2
South Africa -Zambia 3:0
Congo - Zaire 1:0
South Africa - Congo 1:0
Zambia - DR Congo 2:0
1. South Africa 7-3 13 2. Congo 5-5 10 3. Zambia 7-6 8 4. DR Congo/Zaire 4-9 2
Group 4
Angola - Zimbabwe 2:1
Togo - Cameroon 2:4
Zimbabwe - Togo 3:0
Cameroon - Angola 0:0
Angola - Togo 3:1
Cameroon - Zimbabwe 1:0
Zimbabwe - Angola 0:0
Cameroon - Togo 2:0
Togo - Zimbabwe 2:1
Angola - Cameroon 1:1
Togo - Angola 1:1
Zimbabwe - Cameroon 1:2
1. Cameroon 10-4 14 2. Angola 7-4 10 3. Zimbabwe 6-7 4 4. Togo 6-14 4What are the prospects of the qualified teams in France - A preview...
Group 5
Gabon - Ghana 1:1
Morocco - Sierra Leone 4:0
Sierra Leone - Gabon 1:0
Ghana - Morocco 2:2
Gabon - Morocco 0:4
Sierra Leone - Ghana 1:1
Ghana - Gabon 3:0
Sierra Leone - Morocco 0:1
Gabon - Sierra Leone cancelled
Morocco - Ghana 1:0
Morocco - Gabon 2:0
Ghana - Sierra Leone 0:2 *Ghana fielded only the club side of Obuasi
Goldfields
1. Morocco 14-2 16 2. Sierra Leone 4-6 12 3. Ghana 7-7 6 4. Gabon 1-11 1What are the prospects of the qualified teams in France - A preview...