World Cup 1998 - Host Nation France

One name sums up the 1998 World Cup and that is Zidane who was the master of this tournament and scored the two goals in the final which put the country into full celebration mode.

FIFA allowed 32 nations to line up to take their chance and as such only the top two teams in the eight groups would go through to the last 16.

The French were playing in their first finals since 1986 and their was not a lot of confidence from their supporters but after three comfortable wins in the first round the French public all of a sudden became believers and the whole atmosphere in the country changed and really made for a very special World Cup.

Croatia were the surprise team of the tournament with topscorer Davor Suker getting the golden boot award with a very impressive six goals in six different matches was the kind of consistency Croatia needed from their marksman.

Argentina, Netherlands and Denmark played great football and some of their stars were Gabriel Batistuta with powerful finishing, Dennis Bergkamp with elegant ball controll and two the Laudrups gave strong performances throughout the tournament.

England and Italy yet again failed from the penalty-spot and were left with memories of what could have been. 18 year-old Michael Owen scored his classic solo-goal against Argentina in the tournament's most memorable match which also saw David Beckham being sent off.

France captured their first ever World Cup title with a convincing 3-0 win over Brazil in the final. Zidane stepped up and wrote his name in with golden letters in World Cup history with two headed goals in the final - which was the heaviest defeat Brazil has suffered in World Cup history.

The final will also be remembered for the farce about Ronaldo who was clearly not with it and while he played he should never have done so and the French took full advantage.