The following are the association football events of the year 1998 throughout the world.

Events

• 1998 FIFA World Cup – France wins 3–0 over Brazil in Saint-Denis, France, winning their first cup. More than one million delirious fans jammed the Champs-Élysées, dancing through the night.
• UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid won 1–0 in the final against Juventus. This was Real Madrid's seventh European Cup title.
• Copa Libertadores 1998: Won by Vasco da Gama after defeating Barcelona SC on an aggregate score of 4–1.
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Chelsea beat VfB Stuttgart 1–0 in the final, winning the Cup for the second time.
• UEFA Cup: Inter Milan won 3–0 in the final against Lazio. This was Inter's third UEFA Cup title.
• UEFA Super Cup: Chelsea beat Real Madrid 1–0, winning the cup for the first time.
• England:
  • FA Premier League Champions: Arsenal.
• February 17 – Manchester City fires manager Frank Clark and appoints Joe Royle as his successor.
• May 16 – Arsenal beats Newcastle United 2–0 to win the FA Cup, achieving The Double.
• August 16 – PSV wins the Johan Cruyff Shield, the annual opening of the new season in the Eredivisie, by a 2–0 win over Ajax in the Amsterdam Arena.
• September 17 – Heerenveen makes a winning European debut after defeating Poland's Amica Wronki (3–1) in the first round of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
• October 8 – Manager Artur Jorge resigns at Dutch club Vitesse and is succeeded by Herbert Neumann.
• October 10 – Frank Rijkaard makes his debut as the manager of the Netherlands national team, as the successor of Guus Hiddink, with a 2–0 friendly win over Peru in Eindhoven. One player makes his debut as well: striker Jeffrey Talan from Heerenveen.
• December 1 – Real Madrid wins the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo by defeating Brazil's Vasco da Gama: 2–1. The winning goal for the Spaniards is scored by Raúl in the 83rd minute.
• December 7 – Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam fires manager Hans van der Zee. He is replaced by Jan Everse on December 24.

Winner national club championships

Asia

•  Iran – Esteghlal FC
•  Japan – Kashima Antlers
•  Qatar – Al-Ittihad
•  South Korea - Suwon Bluewings
•  Thailand - Sinthana F.C.

Europe

• Croatia – Croatia Zagreb
•  England – Arsenal
•  France – Lens
•  Germany – 1. FC Kaiserslautern
•  Hungary – Újpest
•  Italy – Juventus
•  Netherlands
  • Eredivisie – Ajax
  • Eerste Divisie – AZ
•  Poland – ŁKS Łódź
•  Portugal – Porto
•  Scotland – Celtic
•  Spain – Barcelona
•  Sweden – AIK
•  Turkey – Galatasaray
• FR Yugoslavia – Obilić

North America

•  Canada – St. Catharines Wolves (CPSL)
•  Mexico
  • Verano – Toluca
  • Invierno – Necaxa
•  United States – Chicago Fire (MLS)

South America

•  Argentina
  • Clausura – Vélez Sársfield
  • Apertura – Boca Juniors
•  Bolivia – Blooming
•  Brazil – Corinthians
•  Chile – Colo-Colo
•  Ecuador – LDU Quito
•  Paraguay – Olimpia Asunción
•  Peru – Universitario de Deportes

International tournaments

• African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso (February 7 – 28 1998)
  1.  Egypt
  2.  South Africa
  3.  DR Congo
• Baltic Cup (April 21 – June 25, 1998)
  1.  Lithuania
  2.  Latvia
  3.  Estonia
• FIFA World Cup in France (June 10 – July 12, 1998)
  1.  France
  2.  Brazil
  3.  Croatia

National team results

Europe

 Estonia

South America

 Bolivia

The men's national senior squad didn't play any matches in 1998

 Chile

 Ecuador

Births

• January 2 – Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
• January 3 – Patrick Cutrone, Italian footballer^[1]
• January 5 – Carles Aleñá, Spanish footballer
• January 8 – Manuel Locatelli, Italian footballer
• January 10 – Mohamed Abukar, Somali footballer^[2]
• January 11 – Salih Özcan, German midfielder
• January 16 – Odsonne Édouard, French footballer
• January 21 – Borna Sosa, Croatian youth international
• February 3 – Blás Riveros, Paraguayan footballer
• February 10 – Aitor Buñuel, Spanish footballer
• February 17 – Todd Cantwell, English footballer
• March 10 – Matías Zaracho, Argentinian footballer
• March 28 – Sandi Lovric, Austrian footballer
• March 31
  • Lucian Oprea, Romanian soccer player
  • Hristiyan Iliev, Bulgarian soccer player
• April 10 – Jacob Brown, Scottish footballer
• May 7 – Dani Olmo, Spanish footballer
• May 8 – Johannes Eggestein, German footballer
• May 11 – Fran Villalba, Spanish footballer
• May 23
  • Ross Cunningham, Scottish footballer
  • Luca De La Torre, American footballer
  • Berat Özdemir, Turkish footballer
• June 1 – Branimir Kalaica, Croatian footballer
• June 22 – Javairô Dilrosun, Dutch footballer
• June 28 – Óscar Rodríguez Arnaiz, Spanish footballer
• June 30
  • Tom Davies, English footballer
  • Houssem Aouar, French footballer
• July 8 – Yann Karamoh, French footballer
• September 1 – Emily Condon, Australian footballer
• September 18 – Christian Pulisic, American soccer player
• September 19 – Jacob Bruun Larsen, Danish footballer
• October 21 – Benjamin Cull, English former professional footballer (died 2023)^[3]
• October 27 – Dayot Upamecano, French footballer
• November 12 – Jules Koundé, French footballer
• November 24 – Muhammad Rafli, Indonesian footballer
• December 17 – Martin Ødegaard, Norwegian footballer
• December 18 – Calvin Stengs, Dutch footballer
• December 20 – Kylian Mbappé, French footballer
• December 24 – Alexis Mac Allister, Argentine footballer
• December 29 – Victor Osimhen, Nigerian footballer

Deaths

May

• May 2 – Justin Fashanu (38), English footballer and the first professional footballer to come out as gay

June

• June 4 – Miguel Montuori (65), Argentinian-Chilean footballer
• June 13 – Fernand Sastre (74), French footballer

July

• July 13 – Pierre Garonnaire (82), French footballer

August

• August 6 – Henk Bosveld (57), Dutch footballer

September

• September 2 – Jackie Blanchflower (65), Northern Irish footballer
• September 23 – Héctor Vilches, Uruguayan defender, winner of the 1950 World Cup. (88)