Was The 1998 World Cup Fixed???

Op-Ed Written by Branko Tomasović

With the World Cup in Russia now just weeks away, the soccer world has been stunned by the recent revelations of former UEFA president Michel Platini, in which he confessed to fixing the draw for the 1998 World Cup held in France.

“We didn’t bust our balls organizing a World Cup for six years to not be able to do a little trickery. You don’t think the others didn’t do that at other World Cups? Really?” Platini revealed. The main aim of this draw was to ensure that Brazil and France would meet in the final for what he described as a “dream final.”

The draw is very important for a team’s success at any major tournament. If one is drawn into an easy group and can avoid a “group of death”, one theoretically has a better chance of progressing further in a tournament. Furthermore, if the brackets work out that one doesn’t have to face a difficult opponent until the semifinals, one’s chances of winning a tournament increases exponentially.

Interestingly, Emmanuel Petit, a member of the French team that won the World Cup in 1998, questioned publically whether or not that tournament was fixed.

“Did we really win the World Cup? I ask myself that question today. Was it fixed? I have no idea. On the pitch we gave it everything. We truly gave it everything against our opponents, we did everything to win. Weren’t we puppets? Haven’t we always only and solely been puppets, keeping the economy moving, and don’t worry about anything else. Today I ask myself that question, did we really win the World Cup in 1998? Myself, I believe we did. In any case us, the players, we did everything for that. Beyond that, if there was anything else or not, I don’t know – but I do ask myself the question. It’s been 17 years since we won the World Cup, and for the last few weeks I do ask myself that question.”

Interestingly, Petit also mentioned Croatia’s loss to Brazil in 2014 and the controversial penalty that Brazil was awarded. He believes this match was likely fixed.

From the perspective of Croatia, the 1998 World Cup saw the team finish third- its best performance at a major tournament. Was Croatia’s performance assisted by “trickery” to help France to the final? Croatia was placed in Group H- a relatively easy group to progress from with the likes of Jamaica, Japan and Argentina joining their ranks. Croatia predictably finished second in that group and faced Romania in the round of 16.

In that game Croatia played well but struggled to score due to the brilliant play of Romanian keeper Bogdan Stelea. Croatia was awarded a questionable penalty shot, which Davor Šuker converted to win the game for Croatia. One can argue that Croatia was the superior team on that day but one cannot deny that the penalty call helped Croatia progress. How many times have we seen teams dominate possession and still lose to a late goal or penalties?

Croatia then went on to play Germany, the defending European champions at that time, and one of the favorites to win the World Cup that year in France. Croatia scored a stunning upset beating Germany 3-0, propelling them to the semifinal of the World Cup. However, if one examines that game closely, it was a controversial red card to Christian Worns in the 40th minute that enabled Croatia to take control of the game.

Now many in the Croatian community agree with the red card call against Germany, but if one is to objectively look at this call, one has to consider how many times we have seen fouls like that one given just a yellow card- or no card at all. If one recalls the last Euro tournament, Croatia had two players stamped in that game and no card was given- never mind a game changing red card.

The fact that Croatia received that favorable call against such a big soccer power is highly unusual; they certainly haven’t received one since. Small countries generally do not receive the game changing calls against the soccer powers. This can largely be attributed to a few factors:

Firstly, professional soccer is a business which generates billions of dollars in revenue, the bulk of which comes from its broadcasting rights, which are largely influenced by television ratings.  The more people who watch these tournaments, the more FIFA can charge for the rights to broadcast the games and acquire lucrative sponsorships deals, and the more revenue they create. As a result, FIFA have a financial interest in having teams with large national populations and massive fan bases; in order to drive ratings advance further in tournaments than their play may warrant.

Keeping these big teams in tournaments longer is done in a variety of ways.  One way, as suggested by Platini (the former disgraced President of UEFA) is to manipulate the draw, giving certain teams easier groups and an easier path to the final. Another way is to have referees manipulate the outcome of games by the calls they make, or don’t make. Games are manipulated by referees to keep games close in order to keep viewers watching while also giving the big soccer nations: Brazil, Argentina, England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, officiating favoritism to increase their odds of progression. 

These favored nations are typically given soft or nonexistent penalty shot fouls when they are not playing well, to help them in the game, while smaller nations do not receive these calls-even when they are warranted. Furthermore, favored nations do not typically get punished for aggressive fouls, while smaller nations do. This fact is not lost on players playing for the favored nations and as such empowers them to play in a manner other teams cannot- giving them an unfair advantage. Also, a smaller nation with a superstar player with a global following such as Cristiano Ronaldo, can level the playing field against the bigger nations in that viewers are fascinated by what they will do on the pitch and thus, tune in to watch. Finally, compelling storylines also drive viewership and for the 1998 World Cup Croatia had a star player in Real Madrid’s Davor Šuker and an attractive storyline- a war torn country making its debut at a World Cup.

When one understands these dynamics, one must then ask was this red card against Germany aided by what Platini describes as “trickery?” If the World Cup draw can be fixed, well, why wouldn’t games be fixed as well? Ask yourself, if you were France, would you prefer to face Croatia or Germany in the semifinals? I think the answer is obvious to any objective soccer observer.

In the semi-final match, Lilian Thuram, a defender, scored the only two goals of his career against Croatia that day- beating them 2-1- and propelling France to the final to face Brazil. Many questions remain in the minds of Croatian fans about that game. For starters, why did coach Čiro Blažević keep Zvonimir Boban on the field that day, after Croatia scored the go ahead goal by Davor Šuker? It was well known that Boban was playing with an ankle injury that day. Why did Boban seemingly play very casually with the ball in front of his net, which led to France tying the game? Why wasn’t there a foul called on Thuram when he shoved Robert Jarni off the ball and then proceeded to score off the turnover? Finally, why was Robert Prošinečki left on the bench when Croatia was down 2-1 chasing the match while France was also down a man? Did those moves really seem to anyone that coach Čiro Blažević was doing everything he could to get a win?

Croatia would go on to beat Holland and capture the bronze medal and Davor Šuker won the golden boot. Meanwhile France won their first World Cup against Brazil 3-0, after Ronaldo, Brazil’s star striker, without explanation came down with an illness just hours before the game. Questions of whether Ronaldo was poisoned continue to fuel speculation as to the cause of his mysterious illness.

Faced with Michel Platini’s recent admission, one has to question: Was the entire 1998 World Cup fixed in favor of France to win on home soil? Furthermore, was Croatia a key player in France ultimately achieving Platini’s “dream final?”