1997 FIFA Confederations Cup

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.

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 →

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

Team	Confederation	Qualification method	Date qualification secured	Participation no.
Saudi Arabia	AFC	Hosts and 1996 AFC Asian Cup winners	—	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

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

Match referees

Africa Lucien Bouchardeau Ian McLeod Asia Saad Mane Pirom Un-Prasert Europe Nikolai Levnikov

North America, Central America and Caribbean Ramesh Ramdhan South America Javier Castrilli René Ortubé

Squads

Main article: 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup squads

Group stage

1997 FIFA Confederations Cup participating teams

Group A

Main article: 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup Group A

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 (H)	3	1	0	2	1	8	−7	3

(H) Hosts

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

12 December 1997

16:15 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 80,000

Referee: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia)

---

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

12 December 1997

19:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Pirom Un-Prasert (Thailand)

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

14 December 1997

17:50 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Ian McLeod (South Africa)

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Australia	0–0	Brazil
	Report

14 December 1997

20:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)

---

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

16 December 1997

17:50 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 55,450

Referee: Javier Castrilli (Argentina)

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

16 December 1997

20:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Ian McLeod (South Africa)

Group B

Main article: 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup Group B

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

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

13 December 1997

17:50 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 13,000

Referee: Ramesh Ramdhan (Trinidad and Tobago)

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

13 December 1997

20:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Javier Castrilli (Argentina)

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

15 December 1997

17:50 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 11,000

Referee: René Ortubé (Bolivia)

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

15 December 1997

20:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 9,000

Referee: Saad Mane (Kuwait)

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

17 December 1997

17:50 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: René Ortubé (Bolivia)

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

17 December 1997

20:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Ramesh Ramdhan (Trinidad and Tobago)

Knockout stage

Main article: 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup knockout stage

	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

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

19 December 1997

15:15 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 28,000

Referee: Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)

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

19 December 1997

19:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Nikolai Levnikov (Russia)

Third place play-off

Czech Republic	1–0	Uruguay
Lasota 63'	Report

21 December 1997

17:50 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 27,000

Referee: Lucien Bouchardeau (Niger)

Final

Main article: 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup final

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

21 December 1997

21:00 AST

King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Pirom Un-Prasert (Thailand)

Awards

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

Goalscorers

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

• Pavel Nedvěd
• Francisco Palencia
• Helman Mkhalele
• Nicolás Olivera
• Darío Silva

1 goal

• Mark Viduka
• John Aloisi
• Damian Mori
• Harry Kewell
• César Sampaio
• Denílson
• Júnior Baiano
• Horst Siegl
• Edvard Lasota
• Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi
• Luis Hernández
• Braulio Luna
• Ramón Ramírez
• Pollen Ndlanya
• Lucas Radebe
• Brendan Augustine
• Hassan Mubarak
• Adnan Al Talyani
• Antonio Pacheco
• Marcelo Zalayeta
• Christian Callejas
• Álvaro Recoba

Own goal

• Mohamed Obaid (against Czech Republic)

Tournament ranking

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

Source: FIFA^[2]
(H) Hosts

Team of the Tournament

^[3]

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Mohamed Al-Deayea	Michal Horňák Mark Fish Júnior Baiano David Nyathi	Ned Zelic Dunga Roberto Carlos Nicolás Olivera	Vladimír Šmicer Romário

See also

• 1997 Tournoi de France

References

1. "FIFA Confederations Cup Saudi Arabia 1997 | Awards". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
2. "Statistical Kit: FIFA Confederations Cup (FCC 2017 post-event edition) – Ranking by tournament" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 10 July 2017. p. 21. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
3. "Soccer Nostalgia: FIFA Confederations Cup-Part Five (1997 FIFA Confederations Cup)". 3 February 2018.

External links

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