| Tourney Name: | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) |
| Num Teams: | 36 |
| Confederations: | 1 |
| Top Scorer: |  Karim Bagheri (19 goals) |
| Prevseason: | 1994 |
| Nextseason: | 2002 |
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.
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:
See main article: 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round.
| Key to colours in group tables | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=#ccffcc style="width: 20px;" | Group winners qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup | ||
| bgcolor=#BBF3FF style="width: 20px;" | Runners-up advance to the AFC play off | ||
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See main article: article and 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC–OFC play-off).
The following four teams from AFC qualified for the final tournament.
| Team | Qualified as | Qualified on | data-sort-type="number" | Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (1994) | ||||
| 4 (1954, 1986, 1990, 1994) | ||||
| 0 (debut) | ||||
| 1 (1978) |
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.
There were 459 goals scored in 132 matches (including 2 international play-offs), for an average of 3.53 goals per match.
Hidetoshi Nakata
Omar Al Ariki
Fan Zhiyi Mehdi Mahdavikia Alireza Mansourian
Hussam Fawzi
Viktor Zubarev
Nihad Al Boushi
Arsen Avakov
Ravshan Bozorov Andrei Fyodorov Igor Shkvyrin 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
Mahmoud Soufi
Kim Do-hoon Lee Sang-yoon Yoo Sang-chul Nader Joukhadar Khaled Al Zaher Shukhrat Dzhaborov Takhirdjon Mouminov
Mouslim Agaev 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 Farhat Haitbaev Aleksandr Merzlikin
Mohammad Umer Zamel Al Kuwari Adel Khamis Al Noobi Fazli Choi Moon-sik Ha Seok-ju Seo Jung-won Aref Al Agha Tarek Jabban Oumed Alidodov Viacheslav Knizaev
Natipong Sritong-In Numon Khasanov Sergey Lebedev Shukhrat Maksudov Abdukahhor Marifaliev Nikolai Shirshov
Khaled Al-Doseri Hameed Darwish Faisal Aziz Rashed Li Jinyu Li Ming Mao Yijun Su Maozhen Zhang Enhua
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 Vladimir Chertkov Sergei Ivanov Alexandr Korzanov Kanat Sardarov Rafik Yusupov
Che Chi Man Cheang Chon Man José Maria da Cruz Martins Zahir Rafiq Dahi Al Naemi Abdul Jaloof Nasir Khamees Waleed Bakhit Maayof Ko Jeong-woon Lee Min-sung Park Kun-ha Roh Sang-rae 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 Jafar Irismetov Bahtior Kambaraliev Mirdjalal Kasimov Abdul Rahman Abdulla Jeyeb Bashafal Esam Dariban Munif Shaef Noman Mohammed Zughair Sadiq Saadoun (playing against Kazakhstan)