Listed below are the dates and results for the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds for the South American zone (CONMEBOL). For an overview of the qualification rounds, see the article 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Quick Facts Tournament details, Dates ...

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

Tournament details
Dates	24 April 1996 – 16 November 1997
Teams	9 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	72
Goals scored	186 (2.58 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Iván Zamorano (12 goals)
← 1994 2002 →

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A total of 10 CONMEBOL teams entered the competition. The South American zone was allocated 5 places (out of 32) in the final tournament. Brazil, the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 4 spots open for competition between 9 teams.

This was the first World Cup qualifying competition to involve all of the yet-unqualified teams in the confederation playing against each other home and away to decide places in the tournament, a format that was replicated for subsequent World Cup qualifying competitions between CONMEBOL members.

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Argentina	16	8	6	2	23	13	+10	30
2	Paraguay	16	9	2	5	21	14	+7	29
3	Colombia	16	8	4	4	23	15	+8	28
4	Chile	16	7	4	5	32	18	+14	25
5	Peru	16	7	4	5	19	20	−1	25
6	Ecuador	16	6	3	7	22	21	+1	21
7	Uruguay	16	6	3	7	18	21	−3	21
8	Bolivia	16	4	5	7	18	21	−3	17
9	Venezuela	16	0	3	13	8	41	−33	3

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Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia and Chile qualified.

The following five teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament.

More information Team, Qualified as ...

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup1
Brazil	Defending champions	17 July 1994	15 (all) (1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994)
Argentina	Winners	10 September 1997	11 (1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994)
Paraguay	Runners-up	10 September 1997	4 (1930, 1950, 1958, 1986)
Colombia	Third place	10 September 1997	3 (1962, 1990, 1994)
Chile	Fourth place	16 November 1997	6 (1930, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1982)

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¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

There were 184 goals scored in 72 matches, for an average of 2.56 goals per match.

12 goals

11 goals

7 goals

6 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal