Listed below are the dates and results for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the European zone (UEFA). A total of 50 UEFA teams entered the competition; Andorra, which joined FIFA and UEFA in November 1996 while the qualifiers were underway, could not enter. The European zone was allocated 15 places (out of 32) in the final tournament. France, the hosts, qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition between 49 teams. The 49 teams were divided into nine groups, four groups of six teams and five groups of five teams. The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify. The runners-up would be ranked according to their records against the 1st, 3rd and 4th-placed team in their groups, and the team with the best record would also qualify. The other runners-up would advance to the UEFA Play-offs. In the play-offs, the 8 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would qualify. First round First round was group play. The draw was made on 12 December 1995, and was based on the November 1995 FIFA World Rankings. Seeding The teams were divided into five pools as shown in table below (November 1995 rankings shown in brackets). Teams in bold eventually qualified for the final tournament, teams in bold italic qualified for the final tournament through the play-offs, and teams in italic participated in the play-offs but did not qualify for the final tournament. Summary Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 Group 9 Ranking of second-placed teams Record against the 1st, 3rd and 4th-placed team in their groups. Second round |} Qualified teams The following 15 teams from UEFA qualified for the final tournament. 1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year. 2 Competed as West Germany. A separate team for East Germany also participated in qualifications during this time, having only competed in 1974. 3 Competed as Yugoslavia. Goalscorers There were 667 goals scored in 228 matches, for an average of 2.93 goals per match. 14 goals Predrag Mijatović 9 goals Savo Milošević 8 goals Gheorghe Popescu Hakan Şükür 7 goals Toni Polster Tony Cascarino Dennis Bergkamp Kennet Andersson Dejan Savićević 6 goals Luís Oliveira Emil Kostadinov Oliver Bierhoff Viorel Moldovan Kevin Gallacher 5 goals Lorenzo Staelens Davor Šuker