1997 FIFA Confederations Cup

1997 FIFA Confederations Cup

1997 السعودية
1997 FIFA Confederations Cup official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Saudi Arabia
City	Riyadh
Dates	12–21 December
Teams	8 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Brazil (1st title)
Runners-up	Australia
Third place	Czech Republic
Fourth place	Uruguay
Tournament statistics
Matches played	16
Goals scored	52 (3.25 per match)
Attendance	333,500 (20,844 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Romário (7 goals)
Best player(s)	Denílson
Fair play award	South Africa
← 1995 1999 →

The 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup was the first Confederations Cup to be organized by FIFA. The tournament had previously been played in 1992 and 1995 as the King Fahd Cup. This edition of the tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia, as with the previous editions, in December 1997 and was the first to feature representatives from all of the FIFA confederations.

It was won by Brazil, who, in a rematch of their goalless group stage encounter, beat Australia 6–0 in the final. After winning the 1997 tournament, Brazil became the first country to be the reigning champion of both major FIFA tournaments (the World Cup and the Confederations Cup), as well as champion of their respective confederation by winning the 1997 Copa América. This feat has since been accomplished once by France, victorious in the 1998 World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000 and the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Qualified teams[edit]

Team	Confederation	Qualification method	Date qualification secured	Participation no.
Saudi Arabia	AFC	Hosts and 1996 AFC Asian Cup winners	n/a	3rd
Brazil	CONMEBOL	1994 FIFA World Cup winners	17 July 1994	1st
Uruguay	CONMEBOL	1995 Copa América winners	22 July 1995	1st
Mexico	CONCACAF	1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners	20 January 1996	2nd
South Africa	CAF	1996 African Cup of Nations winners	3 February 1996	1st
Czech Republic	UEFA	UEFA Euro 1996 runners-up1	30 June 1996	1st
Australia	OFC	1996 OFC Nations Cup winners	1 November 1996	1st
United Arab Emirates	AFC	1996 AFC Asian Cup runners-up2	21 December 1996	1st

¹Germany, the UEFA Euro 1996 winner, declined to participate. Czech Republic, the runners-up, were invited to their place.

²The United Arab Emirates was awarded a spot in the competition because Saudi Arabia had won the 1996 AFC Asian Cup.

Venue[edit]

All matches were played in 67,000-seat King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.^{[citation needed]}

Match referees[edit]

Squads[edit]

Group stage[edit]

Group A[edit]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
Australia	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
Mexico	3	1	0	2	8	6	+2	3
Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	1	8	−7	3

12 December 1997

16:15 AST

Saudi Arabia	0–3	Brazil
	Report	César Sampaio 65' Romário 73', 80'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 80,000

Referee: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia)

12 December 1997

19:00 AST

Mexico	1–3	Australia
Hernández 80' (pen.)	Report	Viduka 45' Aloisi 59' Mori 90'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Pirom Un-Prasert (Thailand)

14 December 1997

17:50 AST

Saudi Arabia	0–5	Mexico
	Report	Palencia 20', 62' Blanco 68', 76' Luna 75'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Ian McLeod (South Africa)

14 December 1997

20:00 AST

Australia	0–0	Brazil
	Report

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)

16 December 1997

17:50 AST

Saudi Arabia	1–0	Australia
Al-Khilaiwi 40'	Report

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 55,450

Referee: Javier Castrilli (Argentina)

16 December 1997

20:00 AST

Brazil	3–2	Mexico
Romário 41' (pen.) Denílson 61' Júnior Baiano 66'	Report	Blanco 51' Ramírez 90'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Ian McLeod (South Africa)

Group B[edit]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Uruguay	3	3	0	0	8	4	+4	9
Czech Republic	3	1	1	1	9	5	+4	4
United Arab Emirates	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
South Africa	3	0	1	2	5	7	−2	1

13 December 1997

17:50 AST

United Arab Emirates	0–2	Uruguay
	Report	Olivera 45+2' Pacheco 90+2'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 13,000

Referee: Ramesh Ramdhan (Trinidad and Tobago)

13 December 1997

20:00 AST

South Africa	2–2	Czech Republic
Augustine 39' Mkhalele 86'	Report	Šmicer 19', 40'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Javier Castrilli (Argentina)

15 December 1997

17:50 AST

United Arab Emirates	1–0	South Africa
H. Mubarak 1'	Report

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 11,000

Referee: René Ortubé (Bolivia)

15 December 1997

20:00 AST

Czech Republic	1–2	Uruguay
Siegl 89'	Report	Olivera 26' Zalayeta 88'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Saad Mane (Kuwait)

17 December 1997

17:50 AST

United Arab Emirates	1–6	Czech Republic
Al Talyani 78'	Report	Obaid 11' (o.g.) Nedvěd 22', 31' Šmicer 42', 68', 71'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: René Ortubé (Bolivia)

17 December 1997

20:00 AST

Uruguay	4–3	South Africa
Silva 12', 66' Recoba 42' Callejas 90'	Report	Radebe 11' Mkhalele 69' Ndlanya 77'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Ramesh Ramdhan (Trinidad and Tobago)

Knockout stage[edit]

	Semi-finals				Final
	December 19 - Riyadh
	Brazil	2
					December 21 - Riyadh
	Czech Republic	0
					Brazil	6
	December 19 - Riyadh
					Australia	0
	Uruguay	0
	Australia (a.e.t.)	1
					Third place
					December 21 - Riyadh
					Czech Republic	1
					Uruguay	0

Semi-finals[edit]

19 December 1997

15:15 AST

Brazil	2–0	Czech Republic
Romário 54' Ronaldo 83'	Report

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 28,000

Referee: Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)

19 December 1997

19:00 AST

Uruguay	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Australia
	Report	Kewell  92'

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia)

Third place play-off[edit]

21 December 1997

17:50 AST

Czech Republic	1–0	Uruguay
Lasota 63'	Report

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 27,000

Referee: Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)

Final[edit]

21 December 1997

21:00 AST

Brazil	6–0	Australia
Ronaldo 15', 27', 59' Romário 38', 53', 75' (pen.)	Report

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Pirom Un-Prasert (Thailand)

Awards[edit]

Golden Ball	Golden Shoe	FIFA Fair Play Trophy
Denílson	Romário	South Africa
Silver Ball	Silver Shoe
Romário	Vladimír Šmicer
Bronze Ball	Bronze Shoe
Vladimír Šmicer	Ronaldo

Source: FIFA^[1]

Statistics[edit]

Goalscorers[edit]

Romário received the Golden Shoe award for scoring seven goals. In total, 52 goals were scored by 32 different players, with only one of them credited as own goal.

7 goals

• Romário

5 goals

• Vladimír Šmicer

4 goals

• Ronaldo

3 goals

• Cuauhtémoc Blanco

2 goals

1 goal

Own goal

• Mohamed Obaid (against Czech Republic)

Tournament ranking[edit]

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final result
1	A	Brazil	5	4	1	0	14	2	+12	13	Champions
2	A	Australia	5	2	1	2	4	8	−4	7	Runners-up
3	B	Czech Republic	5	2	1	2	10	7	+3	7	Third place
4	B	Uruguay	5	3	0	2	8	6	+2	9	Fourth place
5	A	Mexico	3	1	0	2	8	6	+2	3	Eliminated in group stage
6	B	United Arab Emirates	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
7	A	Saudi Arabia (H)	3	1	0	2	1	8	−7	3
8	B	South Africa	3	0	1	2	5	7	−2	1

Team of the Tournament[edit]

^[3]

See also[edit]

• 1997 Tournoi de France

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup.

• FIFA Confederations Cup Saudi Arabia 1997, FIFA.com
• FIFA Technical Report (Part 1), (Part 2) and (Part 3)