The 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup was the fourth FIFA Confederations Cup, and the second organised by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Mexico between 24 July and 4 August 1999.
It was won by Mexico, who beat Brazil 4–3 in the final. Mexico became the first host nation to win the FIFA Confederations Cup. The competition was to originally be held in three stadiums, in three cities in the country. However, since the stadiums in Monterrey were sponsored by a competing beer company other than the official advertiser, the city was left out of the tournament altogether. The tournament was originally scheduled for 8–20 January 1999, but was rescheduled by FIFA on 17 November 1998 to accommodate the scheduling of the participating European teams.[1]
The tournament was organized in two groups of four teams, in which two teams from both groups advanced to the semi-finals.
Venues
Matches were played at two venues: the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City served as the venue for matches in Group A, while the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara hosted matches in Group B. Each of the venues also hosted one of the semi-finals; the final was played at the Azteca and the third place play-off was played at the Jalisco.
The tournament featured eight teams, representing the six continental confederations. Mexico qualified as both the host nation and the winners of the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup, so the CONCACAF berth was given to the United States. France also qualified automatically as winners of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but they declined to participate; World Cup runners-up Brazil took their place, which meant Bolivia replaced Brazil as the CONMEBOL representatives, having finished as runners-up in the 1997 Copa América. The other four places went to the winners of the most recent continental competitions: Germany (UEFA), Saudi Arabia (AFC), Egypt (CAF) and New Zealand (OFC).
In the knockout stage, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each). If still tied after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.
Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Marzouk Al-Otaibi and Ronaldinho are the top scorers in the tournament with six goals each. Ronaldinho won the Golden Shoe award by having more assists than Blanco and Al-Otaibi. In total, 55 goals were scored by 29 different players, with none of them credited as own goal.
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.
The following Confederations Cup awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament: the Golden Boot (top scorer),
and Golden Ball (best overall player).[7]
Mexico (1st title)
Brazil
United States
Saudi Arabia
