The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is France, which won its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing career. Nicknamed the "Non-Flying Dutchman" by Arsenal supporters due to his fear of flying, Bergkamp is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of Arsenal's greatest ever players.
Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks. Davenport is one of five women who have been the year-end singles world No. 1 at least four times since 1975; the others are Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams. She also held the doubles world No. 1 ranking for 32 weeks.
Zinedine Yazid Zidane, popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most successful coaches in the world. Also widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Zidane was a playmaker renowned for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control and technique. He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or.
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national football teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament, defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the second time that France staged the competition and the ninth time that it was held in Europe. Spanning 32 days, it is the longest World Cup tournament ever held.
The France national football team represents France in men's international football and is controlled by the French Football Federation, also known as FFF. The team's colours are blue, white, and red, and the coq gaulois its symbol. France are colloquially known as Les Bleus. They are the reigning world champions, having won the most recent World Cup final in 2018.
Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in the Balearic Islands. Founded on 5 March 1916, they currently compete in La Liga, holding home games at the Visit Mallorca Stadium with a 23,142-seat capacity.
Brentford Football Club is a professional football club based in Brentford, West London, England. They currently compete in the Premier League, the highest tier of English football, having gained promotion via the playoffs at the end of the 2020–21 Championship season. Nicknamed "the Bees", the club was founded in 1889 and played home matches at Griffin Park from 1904 before moving to Brentford Community Stadium in 2020. Their main rivals are fellow West London based clubs Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.
Karl Anthony Malone is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Mailman", he is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Malone spent his first 18 seasons (1985–2003) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Utah Jazz and formed a formidable duo with his teammate John Stockton. He was a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, a 14-time NBA All-Star, and an 11-time member of the All-NBA first team. His 36,928 career points scored rank third all-time in NBA history behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James, and he holds the records for most free throws attempted and made, in addition to being tied for the second-most first-team All-NBA selections with Kobe Bryant and behind LeBron James.
The Cameroon national football team represents Cameroon in men's international football and It is controlled by the Fédération Camerounaise de Football. The team has qualified eight times for the FIFA World Cup, more than any other African team (in 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 However, the team has only made it once out of the group stage. They were the first African team to reach the quarter-final of the FIFA World Cup in 1990, losing to England in extra time. They have also won five Africa Cup of Nations and Olympic gold in 2000. The team represents Cameroon both in FIFA and Confederation of African Football.
The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), which is a member of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), and the global jurisdiction of FIFA. Jamaica's home matches have been played at Independence Park since its opening in 1962.
The Morocco national football team, nicknamed "the Atlas Lions", represents Morocco in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, also known as FRMF. The team's colours are red and green. The team is a member of both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The Qatar national football team represents Qatar in international football, and is controlled by the Qatar Football Association and AFC.
The 1998 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1998 playoffs of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the conclusion of the 1997–98 NBA season. The two-time defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls played against the Western Conference champion Utah Jazz, with the Jazz holding home-court advantage for the first 2 games in Salt Lake City. In a repeat of the previous year's Finals, the Bulls won the series 4 games to 2 for their third consecutive NBA title and their sixth in eight seasons.
The 1998–99 UEFA Champions League was the 44th season of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club football tournament, and the seventh since it was renamed from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competition was won by Manchester United, coming back from a goal down in the last two minutes of injury time to defeat Bayern Munich 2–1 in the final. Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored United's goals after Bayern had hit the post and the bar. They were the first English club to win Europe's premier club football tournament since 1984 and were also the first English club to reach a Champions League final since the Heysel Stadium disaster and the subsequent banning of English clubs from all UEFA competitions between 1985 and 1990. It was the first time since 1968 that Manchester United won the Champions League giving them their second title.
The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the final tournament of the FIFA World Cup. The qualification reduces the field of eligible entrants from 211 to 32 for the finals as of the 2022 edition.
The 1998 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1998, and ended with the championship game on March 30 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. A total of 63 games were played.
The 1998 FIFA World Cup Final was the final match of the 1998 World Cup, the 16th edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on 12 July 1998, and was contested by Brazil and France. The tournament comprised France as the hosts, Brazil as the holders and 30 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Brazil finished first in Group A, with two wins and one defeat, after which they defeated Chile in the round of 16, Denmark in the quarter-finals and the Netherlands in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals. France finished top of Group C with three wins, before defeating Paraguay in the round of 16, Italy in the quarter-final, and Croatia in the semi-final. The final took place in front of 75,000 supporters, with an estimated 1.7 billion watching on television, and was refereed by Said Belqola from Morocco.
The Netherlands national football team has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The national team is controlled by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), the governing body for football in the Netherlands, which is a part of UEFA, and under the jurisdiction of FIFA. They are widely considered one of the best national teams in world football and widely regarded as one of the greatest national teams of all time. Most of the Netherlands' home matches are played at the Johan Cruyff Arena and the Stadion Feijenoord.
