Group 5 consisted of five of the 50 teams entered into the European zone:[1] 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.
Standings edit
| 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 | — |
Source: [citation needed]
Results edit
| 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 |
Notes edit
- ^ Only 49 of the entered teams actually competed in the qualification tournament: France qualified for the World Cup automatically as host.