World Cup FRANCE 98 – Press Releases

10 December 1995

Adoption of the schedule for the Finals

The schedule for the Finals of the XVIth World Cup proposed by the French Organising Committee has been accepted by the FIFA Organisation Commission at its meeting on December 10, 1995. Designed to reconcile viewing and sporting interests, the schedule will span a 33 day period, from Wednesday 10 June, date of the opening match to Sunday 12 July, date of the final. These two matches will be played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

For comparison, the last two World Cups, Italia 90 and World Cup US’94, took place over 31 days, but the programme included only 52 matches (for 24 competing nations). FRANCE 98, in agreement with FIFA, did not want to stretch the competition out any further despite the 12 additional matches (a total of 64 for 32 teams).

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