Group 5 consisted of five of the 50 teams entered into the European zone: [a] Bulgaria, Cyprus, Israel, Luxembourg, and Russia. These five teams competed on a home-and-away basis for two of the 15 spots in the final tournament allocated to the European zone, with the group's winner and runner-up claiming those spots.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulgaria | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 18 | Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup | — | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–0 | |
| 2 | Russia | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 5 | +14 | 17 | Advance to second round | 4–2 | — | 2–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | |
| 3 | Israel | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 13 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Cyprus | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 10 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 5 | Luxembourg | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 22 | −20 | 0 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 1–3 | — |
| Luxembourg | 1–2 | Bulgaria |
|---|---|---|
Langers  20' | Report | Balakov 14' (pen.) Kostadinov 37' |
| Luxembourg | 0–4 | Russia |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Tikhonov 34' Kanchelskis 38'Beschastnykh 50'Karpin 77' |
| Israel | 1–0 | Luxembourg |
|---|---|---|
| Ohana 39' | Report |
| Cyprus | 1–1 | Russia |
|---|---|---|
| Gogić 31' | Report | Simutenkov 32' |
| Russia | 3–0 | Luxembourg |
|---|---|---|
| Kechinov 20' Grishin 55'Simutenkov 58' | Report |
| Bulgaria | 4–0 | Luxembourg |
|---|---|---|
| Stoichkov 43' (pen.) Kostadinov 47'Balakov 50' (pen.)Lechkov 81' | Report |
| Luxembourg | 1–3 | Cyprus |
|---|---|---|
| Amodio 14' | Report | Papavasiliou 6' Ioannou 55', 79' |
| Cyprus | 2–0 | Luxembourg |
|---|---|---|
| Papavasiliou 79' Spoljaric 85' | Report |
There were 58 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 2.9 goals per match.
6 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Daniel Borimirov Ilia Gruev Ilian Iliev Trifon Ivanov Yordan Lechkov Luboslav Penev Hristo Stoichkov Ivaylo Yordanov Ioannis Okkas Charalambos Pittas Milenko Špoljarić Gadi Brumer Ronen Harazi Paolo Amodio Robby Langers Sergey Grishin Andrei Kanchelskis Valeri Karpin Valery Kechinov Alexei Kosolapov Vladislav Radimov Andrey Tikhonov Sergei Yuran