The 1998 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship qualification was a qualification event, played in 1997 and 1998, for the thirteenth edition of Men's World Championship, which was held in Japan. The event was split into several groups divided by continent.
The distribution by confederation for the 1998 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship was:[1]
8 national teams originally entered qualification but Malawi, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire withdrew, Cameroon was later added to Pool B.
| width=50% | Pool A | width=50% | Pool B |
|---|---|---|---|
12 national teams entered qualification but Bahrain and Philippines withdrew. Top two teams from Pool C and D and Pool E winner qualified to the World Championship.
| width=33% | Pool C | width=33% | Pool D | width=33% | Pool E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tashkent, Uzbekistan28 national teams entered qualification. The teams were distributed according to their position in the FIVB Senior Men's Rankings. Teams ranked 1–15 automatically qualified for the second round.
| width=20% | Sub Pool a | width=20% | Sub Pool b | width=20% | Sub Pool c | width=20% | Sub Pool d | width=20% | Pool F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | 1st Sub Pool c 1st Sub Pool b | ||||||
| width=20% | Pool G | width=20% | Pool H | width=20% | Pool I | width=20% | Pool J | width=20% | Pool K |
2nd Sub Pool c | 1st Sub Pool d 2nd Sub Pool a | 2nd Sub Pool d | 1st Sub Pool a 2nd Sub Pool b | valign=top |
Montecatini Terme, Italy| width=50% | Pool L | width=50% | Pool M |
|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top |
San Antonio, United States| width=40 | Rank | width=200 | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 |
Mexico City, Mexico4 national teams entered qualification.
Santa Fe, Argentina and 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
