1998 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 8

Group 8 consisted of six of the 50 teams entered into the European zone:^[a] Iceland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Republic of Ireland, and Romania. These six 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	Romania	10	9	1	0	37	4	+33	28	Qualification to 1998 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	3–0	4–2	4–0	8–0
2	Republic of Ireland	10	5	3	2	22	8	+14	18	Advance to second round		1–1	—	0–0	3–0	0–0	5–0
3	Lithuania	10	5	2	3	11	8	+3	17			0–1	1–2	—	2–0	2–0	2–1
4	Macedonia	10	4	1	5	22	18	+4	13			0–3	3–2	1–2	—	1–0	3–0
5	Iceland	10	2	3	5	11	16	−5	9			0–4	2–4	0–0	1–1	—	4–0
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	0	10	3	52	−49	0			1–8	0–5	0–2	1–11	0–4	—

Source: ^[1]

Matches

24 April 1996

19:00 UTC+2

Macedonia	3–0	Liechtenstein
Milosevski 6' Babunski 49' (pen.) Zaharievski 78'	Report

Gradski, Skopje

Attendance: 11,500

Referee: Loizos Loizou (Cyprus)

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1 June 1996

19:00 UTC

Iceland	1–1	Macedonia
A. Gudjónsson 63'	Report	Memedi 60'

Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík

Attendance: 3,051

Referee: Roelof Luinge (Netherlands)

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31 August 1996

20:00 UTC+3

Romania	3–0	Lithuania
Moldovan 20' Petrescu 65' Gâlcă 77'	Report

Steaua, Bucharest

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Vasyl Melnychuk (Ukraine)

31 August 1996

18:00 UTC+2

Liechtenstein	0–5	Republic of Ireland
	Report	Townsend 5' O'Neill 9' Quinn 12', 61' Harte 20'

Sportpark Eschen-Mauren, Eschen

Attendance: 3,900

Referee: Sergei Shmolik (Belarus)

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5 October 1996

18:30 UTC+3

Lithuania	2–0	Iceland
Jankauskas 22' (pen.) Šlekys 74'	Report

Zalgiris, Vilnius

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Marnix Sandra (Belgium)

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9 October 1996

19:00 UTC

Iceland	0–4	Romania
	Report	D. Munteanu 21' Hagi 60' Gh. Popescu 75' Petrescu 81'

Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík

Attendance: 3,064

Referee: Claude Détruche (Switzerland)

9 October 1996

19:30 UTC+1

Republic of Ireland	3–0	Macedonia
McAteer 8' Cascarino 46', 70'	Report

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Attendance: 31,671

Referee: Knud Erik Fisker (Denmark)

9 October 1996

18:30 UTC+3

Lithuania	2–1	Liechtenstein
Jankauskas 43' Narbekovas 55'	Report	H.Zech 53'

Zalgiris, Vilnius

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Xaqani Memmedov (Azerbaijan)

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9 November 1996

13:30 UTC+1

Liechtenstein	1–11	Macedonia
F. Schädler 78'	Report	Glavevski 8', 12', 60' Hristov 23' Stojkovski 30', 43' T.Micevski 45', 49' Ćirić 53', 87' V.Micevski 90'

Sportpark Eschen-Mauren, Eschen

Attendance: 2,700

Referee: Haim Lipkovitz (Israel)

10 November 1996

15:00 UTC

Republic of Ireland	0–0	Iceland
	Report

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Attendance: 32,620

Referee: Stefan Ormandzhiev (Bulgaria)

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14 December 1996

13:00 UTC+1

Macedonia	0–3	Romania
	Report	Popescu 36', 45', 90' (pen.)

Gradski, Skopje

Attendance: 14,000

Referee: Roger Philippi (Luxembourg)

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29 March 1997

18:00 UTC+2

Romania	8–0	Liechtenstein
V. Moldovan 10' Popescu 28', 30', 68', 88' Hagi 47' Petrescu 48' Craioveanu 71'	Report

Steaua, Bucharest

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Romans Lajuks (Latvia)

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2 April 1997

18:30 UTC+3

Lithuania	0–1	Romania
	Report	V. Moldovan 73'

Zalgiris, Vilnius

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Edgar Steinborn (Germany)

2 April 1997

17:00 UTC+2

Macedonia	3–2	Republic of Ireland
Stojkovski 28', 44' (pen.) Hristov 59'	Report	McLoughlin 8' Kelly 78'

Gradski, Skopje

Attendance: 11,000

Referee: Alfredo Trentalange (Italy)

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30 April 1997

20:00 UTC+3

Romania	1–0	Republic of Ireland
A.Ilie 33'	Report

Ghencea, Bucharest

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Mario van der Ende (Netherlands)

30 April 1997

17:00 UTC+2

Liechtenstein	0–2	Lithuania
	Report	Jankauskas 66' Ražanauskas 89'

Sportpark Eschen-Mauren, Eschen

Attendance: 812

Referee: Bujar Pregja (Albania)

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21 May 1997

19:30 UTC+1

Republic of Ireland	5–0	Liechtenstein
Connolly 28', 34', 41' Cascarino 61', 80'	Report

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Attendance: 33,200

Referee: Andrei Butenko (Russia)

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7 June 1997

20:00 UTC+2

Macedonia	1–0	Iceland
Hristov 54'	Report

Gradski, Skopje

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Vadim Zhuk (Belarus)

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11 June 1997

15:00 UTC

Iceland	0–0	Lithuania
	Report

Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík

Attendance: 4,025

Referee: Leslie Irvine (Northern Ireland)

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20 August 1997

20:45 UTC+3

Romania	4–2	Macedonia
V. Moldovan 36', 68' Gâlcă 40' Dumitrescu 66'	Report	Djokic 52', 90'

Ghencea, Bucharest

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Metin Tokat (Turkey)

20 August 1997

19:30 UTC+1

Republic of Ireland	0–0	Lithuania
	Report

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Attendance: 32,620

Referee: Jorge Monteiro Coroado (Portugal)

20 August 1997

17:30 UTC+2

Liechtenstein	0–4	Iceland
	Report	Daníelsson 28' Gunnarsson 40' Sg. Jónsson 62' T. Gudmundsson 63'

Sportpark Eschen-Mauren, Eschen

Attendance: 1,651

Referee: Oleg Timofejev (Estonia)

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6 September 1997

15:30 UTC+2

Liechtenstein	1–8	Romania
M.Frick 62'	Report	V. Moldovan 5' Craioveanu 10', 32' Doboş 35' D. Munteanu 43', 45', 67' Barbu 53'

Sportpark Eschen-Mauren, Eschen

Attendance: 5,100

Referee: Alfred Micallef (Malta)

6 September 1997

14:00 UTC

Iceland	2–4	Republic of Ireland
B. Gunnarsson 45' H. Sigurdsson 47'	Report	Connolly 13' Keane 55', 65' Kennedy 79'

Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík

Attendance: 3,981

Referee: Ante Kulusic (Croatia)

6 September 1997

18:30 UTC+3

Lithuania	2–0	Macedonia
Ivanauskas 27' Preikšaitis 88'	Report

Zalgiris, Vilnius

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Lucílio Batista (Portugal)

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10 September 1997

19:30 UTC+3

Romania	4–0	Iceland
Hagi 9', 82' Petrescu 41' Gâlcă 65'	Report

Ghencea, Bucharest

Attendance: 5,256

Referee: David Elleray (England)

10 September 1997

21:00 UTC+3

Lithuania	1–2	Republic of Ireland
Žiukas 51'	Report	Cascarino 17', 72'

Zalgiris, Vilnius

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Giorgos Bikas (Greece)

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11 October 1997

15:00 UTC+1

Republic of Ireland	1–1	Romania
Cascarino 83'	Report	Hagi 53'

Lansdowne Road, Dublin

Attendance: 34,500

Referee: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia)

11 October 1997

16:00 UTC+2

Macedonia	1–2	Lithuania
Sakiri 45'	Report	Buitkus 70', 81'

Gradski, Skopje

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Miroslav Liba (Czech Republic)

11 October 1997

14:00 UTC

Iceland	4–0	Liechtenstein
Th. Gudjonsson 58' T. Gudmundsson 60' A. Gudjónsson 66' B. Gudjónsson 73'	Report

Laugardalsvollur, Reykjavík

Attendance: 550

Referee: Alan Howells (Wales)

Goalscorers

There were 106 goals scored in 30 matches, for an average of 3.53 goals per match.

8 goals

• Gheorghe Popescu

7 goals

• Tony Cascarino

6 goals

• Viorel Moldovan

5 goals

• Gheorghe Hagi

4 goals

• David Connolly
• Mitko Stojkovski
• Dorinel Munteanu
• Dan Petrescu

3 goals

• Edgaras Jankauskas
• Dejvi Glavevski
• Georgi Hristov
• Gheorghe Craioveanu
• Constantin Gâlcă

2 goals

• Arnór Guðjohnsen
• Tryggvi Guðmundsson
• Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson
• Roy Keane
• Niall Quinn
• Orestas Buitkus
• Saša Ćirić
• Miroslav Gjokić
• Toni Micevski

1 goal

• Einar Daníelsson
• Bjarni Guðjónsson
• Þórður Guðjónsson
• Sigurður Jónsson
• Helgi Sigurðsson
• Ian Harte
• David Kelly
• Mark Kennedy
• Jason McAteer
• Alan McLoughlin
• Keith O'Neill
• Andy Townsend
• Mario Frick
• Franz Schädler
• Harry Zech
• Valdas Ivanauskas
• Arminas Narbekovas
• Aidas Preikšaitis
• Tomas Ražanauskas
• Vaidotas Šlekys
• Tomas Žiukas
• Boban Babunski
• Nedžmedin Memedi
• Vančo Micevski
• Sašo Miloševski
• Artim Šakiri
• Srgjan Zaharievski
• Constantin Barbu
• Anton Doboş
• Ilie Dumitrescu
• Adrian Ilie

Notes

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