Preamble

The last of the 20th century and the first to feature 32 teams, France played host to FIFA World Cup 1998. 

What Made France So 1998? is perhaps the best professional analysis of the themes which defined the sixteenth World Cup finals. For me, it would be a British summer defined by Blair, Britpop and Beckham; if I may say so, through our COVID-19 lens, rather better times :).  

In that video, FIFA write that the tournament's refereeing was "no nonsense" - and not accidentally so. A rigorous approach to disciplinary control could take much of the credit for a World Cup 1994 that was widely seen as very successful, and there was no intention of changing what was then a willing formula. But what did that entail in 1998?

A classic venue for a classic match - Argentina and the Netherlands walking out in Marseille

At first, more competing teams meant more match officials. FIFA selected forty-eight in 1994, this increased to sixty-seven in France, with thirty-four men in the middle. I wrote some pieces analysing who the FIFA Referees Committee selected, and who missed out, entitled Road to WC 1998 - they are sorted by confederation, hopefully you'll find them interesting!

With regards to refereeing, this World Cup took place at a historically significant time, just a year after the great Laws of the Game rewrite in 1997. Linesmen became assistant referees and tackles with "intent" became "Serious Foul Play", amongst other vast changes. 

About this tournament specifically - if the big, headline directive for World Cup 1994, was the enforcement of the last man (DOGSO) rule, then strictly punishing tackles from behind was the key demand of the referee in 1998. Actually, this was also the case in the United States four years earlier, but on my count, only one or two such tackles occurred - a lot more, would happen this time round.  

Referees were also encouraged to punish goalkeepers who failed to release the ball in adequate time; buzzer flags, electronic boards (which for the first time indicated additional time) and, most importantly, golden goals, all made their World Cup debuts too. 

Pre-match diplomacy - the friendliness before kick off belied the tension of the powerkeg Iran - US match

One difference from prior projects - the marks will not be determined according to the UEFA scale, but this a new evaluation system which I have devised. For more information on it please click here, but on the most basic level, here is the difference. 

Evaluation Scale

	Descriptor	≈ UEFA
10		>9,0
9	Excellent	9,0 - 8,8
8	Very good	8,7 - 8,6
7	Good	8,5 - 8,3
6	Satisfactory	8,2 - 8,1
5	Deficient	8,0 - 7,9/8
4	Disappointing	7,7 - 7,3
3	Very poor	7,2 - 7,0
2	Unacceptable	6,9 - 6,5
1		<6,5

French passion - the Champs-Élysées in Paris after the World Cup final 

I hope you enjoy this look back at a classic tournament, please feel free to interact with it through silent readership and comments alike. 

Welcome to the World Cup 1998 refereeing blog!