1998 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 3

Group 3 consisted of five of the 50 teams entered into the European zone:^[a] Azerbaijan, Finland, Hungary, Norway, and Switzerland. 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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	8	6	2	0	21	2	+19	20	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup		—	3–0	1–1	5–0	5–0
2	Hungary	8	3	3	2	10	8	+2	12	Advance to second round		1–1	—	1–0	1–1	3–1
3	Finland	8	3	2	3	11	12	−1	11			0–4	1–1	—	2–3	3–0
4	Switzerland	8	3	1	4	11	12	−1	10			0–1	1–0	1–2	—	5–0
5	Azerbaijan	8	1	0	7	3	22	−19	3			0–1	0–3	1–2	1–0	—

Source: ^[1]

Matches

2 June 1996

20:00 UTC+2

Norway	5–0	Azerbaijan
Solbakken 7', 46' Solskjær 37', 89' Strandli 59'	Report

Ullevaal, Oslo

Attendance: 14,012

Referee: Alan Snoddy (Northern Ireland)

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31 August 1996

20:00 UTC+5

Azerbaijan	1–0	Switzerland
Rzayev 28'	Report

Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Ryszard Wójcik (Poland)

1 September 1996

18:30 UTC+2

Hungary	1–0	Finland
Orosz 15'	Report

Nepstadion, Budapest

Attendance: 14,500

Referee: Hartmut Strampe (Germany)

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6 October 1996

19:00 UTC+3

Finland	2–3	Switzerland
Sumiala 41' (pen.) Kolkka 77'	Report	Lombardo 14' Sforza 34' Yakin 54'

Olympiastadion, Helsinki

Attendance: 7,217

Referee: Gylfi Thor Orrason (Iceland)

9 October 1996

20:00 UTC+2

Norway	3–0	Hungary
Rekdal 83', 89', 90' (pen.)	Report

Ullevaal, Oslo

Attendance: 22,480

Referee: Hugh Dallas (Scotland)

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10 November 1996

14:30 UTC+1

Switzerland	0–1	Norway
	Report	Leonhardsen 32'

Wankdorf Stadion, Bern

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Manuel Díaz Vega (Spain)

10 November 1996

16:00 UTC+4

Azerbaijan	0–3	Hungary
	Report	Nyilas 42', 67' (pen.) Urbán 77'

Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Dragutin Poljak (Croatia)

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2 April 1997

20:00 UTC+5

Azerbaijan	1–2	Finland
Suleymanov 83' (pen.)	Report	Litmanen 26' Paatelainen 64'

Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 19,000

Referee: Graham Poll (England)

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30 April 1997

20:00 UTC+2

Norway	1–1	Finland
Solskjær 83'	Report	Sumiala 60'

Ullevaal, Oslo

Attendance: 22,782

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

30 April 1997

20:15 UTC+2

Switzerland	1–0	Hungary
Türkyilmaz 83'	Report

Hardturm, Zürich

Attendance: 17,300

Referee: Leif Sundell (Sweden)

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8 June 1997

20:00 UTC+2

Hungary	1–1	Norway
Kovács 22'	Report	Rudi 9'

Nepstadion, Budapest

Attendance: 25,300

Referee: David Elleray (England)

8 June 1997

19:00 UTC+3

Finland	3–0	Azerbaijan
Vanhala 60' Litmanen 65' Sumiala 82'	Report

Olympiastadion, Helsinki

Attendance: 13,417

Referee: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)

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20 August 1997

19:00 UTC+3

Finland	0–4	Norway
	Report	Solbakken 9' Rudi 12' J.Flo 48' T.A.Flo 84'

Olympiastadion, Helsinki

Attendance: 35,520

Referee: Vadim Zhuk (Belarus)

20 August 1997

18:30 UTC+2

Hungary	1–1	Switzerland
Klausz 52'	Report	Chapuisat 90+1'

Nepstadion, Budapest

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Michel Piraux (Belgium)

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6 September 1997

20:00 UTC+5

Azerbaijan	0–1	Norway
	Report	T.A.Flo 42'

Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Günter Benkö (Austria)

6 September 1997

21:15 UTC+2

Switzerland	1–2	Finland
Kunz 90+1'	Report	Litmanen 16' Sumiala 79'

Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Stefano Braschi (Italy)

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10 September 1997

20:00 UTC+2

Norway	5–0	Switzerland
Jakobsen 46' Solbakken 51' Eggen 65' Østenstad 75' T.A.Flo 85'	Report

Ullevaal, Oslo

Attendance: 22,603

Referee: Hellmut Krug (Germany)

10 September 1997

19:30 UTC+2

Hungary	3–1	Azerbaijan
Klausz 8' Halmai 44' Illés 89'	Report	Lychkin 71'

Nepstadion, Budapest

Attendance: 8,112

Referee: Atanas Uzunov (Bulgaria)

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11 October 1997

19:00 UTC+3

Finland	1–1	Hungary
Sumiala 63'	Report	Moilanen 90+1' (o.g.)

Olympiastadion, Helsinki

Attendance: 31,617

Referee: Bernd Heynemann (Germany)

11 October 1997

20:15 UTC+2

Switzerland	5–0	Azerbaijan
Türkyilmaz 13', 23', 69' (pen.) Yakin 43' Chapuisat 51'	Report

Hardturm, Zürich

Attendance: 7,600

Referee: John Rowbotham (Scotland)

Goalscorers

There were 56 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 2.8 goals per match.

5 goals

• Antti Sumiala

4 goals

• Ståle Solbakken
• Kubilay Türkyilmaz

3 goals

• Jari Litmanen
• Tore André Flo
• Kjetil Rekdal
• Ole Gunnar Solskjær

2 goals

• László Klausz
• Elek Nyilas
• Petter Rudi
• Stéphane Chapuisat
• Murat Yakin

1 goal

• Vyacheslav Lychkin
• Vidadi Rzayev
• Nazim Suleymanov
• Joonas Kolkka
• Mika-Matti Paatelainen
• Jari Vanhala
• Gábor Halmai
• Béla Illés
• Zoltán Kovács
• Ferenc Orosz
• Flórián Urbán
• Dan Eggen
• Jostein Flo
• Jahn Ivar Jakobsen
• Øyvind Leonhardsen
• Frank Strandli
• Egil Østenstad
• Adrian Kunz
• Massimo Lombardo
• Ciriaco Sforza

1 own goal

• Teuvo Moilanen (against Hungary)

Notes

1. Only 49 of the entered teams actually competed in the qualification tournament: France qualified for the World Cup automatically as host.