En route to the final, Brazil finished first in Group A, with two wins and one defeat, after which they beat Chile in the round of 16, Denmark in the quarter-finals and the Netherlands in a penalty shoot-out in the semi-finals.

Before the match, speculation surrounded the fitness of striker Ronaldo, who was initially left out of Brazil's starting line-up, only to be restored to the team before kick-off.

France took the lead shortly before the half-hour mark, when Zinedine Zidane outjumped Leonardo to connect with a header from an in-swinging corner from the right taken by Emmanuel Petit.

Petit then added a third goal in second-half injury time, striking the ball low into the net following a pass by Patrick Vieira, to complete a 3–0 win for France.

[6] The game was played at the Stade de France, in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, an 80,000-capacity stadium which was purpose-built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup because there were no previously existing venues large enough to accommodate the final.

Norway responded with two goals in the last ten minutes – Tore André Flo scoring the equaliser and then winning a penalty when he was fouled by Gonçalves.

[24] Brazil took the lead on 11 minutes when a Dunga free kick was met by Sampaio, who was unmarked and headed the ball past goalkeeper Nelson Tapia.

[33] With progression to the knockout stage assured, Jacquet made eight changes to his team for the final game against Denmark at the Stade Gerland in Lyon on 24 June.

With six minutes remaining, France broke the deadlock, Laurent Blanc scoring the FIFA World Cup's first ever golden goal to seal a 1–0 win and a place in the quarter-finals.

After a goalless first half, there were two goals in quick succession shortly after half-time as Davor Šuker gave Croatia the lead before Lilian Thuram equalised for France.

[48][49] The assistant referees were Mark Warren of England and Achmat Salie of South Africa, while Saudi Arabia's Abdul Rahman Al-Zaid was the fourth official.

[50] In what was later described by writers for BBC Sport as the "great World Cup final mystery",[51] Ronaldo was omitted from the official teamsheet which Zagallo presented to FIFA at 7:48 p.m. local time (5:48 p.m. UTC), 72 minutes before kick off, with Edmundo named in his place.

Reporters for the BBC and other media received the news shortly after 8 p.m. and had not expected this development, with John Motson describing scenes of "absolute mayhem and chaos" in the commentary box.

[52] It was revealed several years later that Ronaldo had suffered a convulsive fit on the afternoon of the final, had lost consciousness and spent three hours in hospital, but decided shortly before the match began that he still wished to play.

[56][19][54][57][58] The weather at Charles de Gaulle Airport, 17 kilometres (11 mi) from the stadium,[b] was recorded as fair at the time of kick-off, with a temperature of 23 °C (73 °F) and 50% humidity.

[61] France had a chance to score in the opening minute, when the ball was passed upfield towards Stéphane Guivarc'h, who attempted a bicycle kick which went over the cross bar and landed on the top of the Brazilian net.

[62] Guivarc'h had another opportunity three minutes later, when he received a pass from Zidane on the edge of the penalty area and was one-on-one with Taffarel, but his shot under pressure from Júnior Baiano was stopped by the goalkeeper.

[72] On 41 minutes, Petit had a chance to score from 12 yards (11 m) when a pass forward by Christian Karembeu rebounded to him in space after hitting the back of Baiano's feet.

[62][73] Shortly before first-half injury time, Thuram sent the ball upfield from deep within his own half, which was missed by the Brazilian defenders and reached Guivarc'h, one-on-one with Taffarel.

[62][78][79] On 51 minutes, Bebeto took a corner from the right-hand side which reached Denílson, who fell down as his attempted shot went wide of the goal while Deschamps was also challenging for the ball.

[82] Rivaldo took the resulting free-kick short towards Roberto Carlos, who ran to the left edge of the penalty area before crossing it in, where it reached Ronaldo.

[84] Three minutes later, Roberto Carlos took a long throw-in from the left-hand side, which Barthez failed to catch near the edge of his penalty area, allowing Bebeto to take a shot, but Desailly blocked it.

[85] On 63 minutes, Guivarc'h was one-on-one with Taffarel following what FIFA commentators described as a "mistake" by the Brazilian defence, but he fired his shot wide of the goal.

Desailly was just the third player to be sent off in a World Cup final after Argentina's Pedro Monzón and Gustavo Dezotti, both in 1990 in Rome against West Germany.

[91] Two minutes later, France created a final chance on the counterattack when Dugarry cleared Denílson's corner kick and found Vieira open on the left.

[104] A political cartoon by Plantu published in L'Express after the final illustrated the issues that a multicultural French team winning the World Cup had posed to the French far-right, reading: Pendant que l'équipe de France black-blanc-beur chante la Marseillaise et que le peuple français acclame Thuram, Zidane et Karembeu, un collaborateur console (Jean-Marie) Le Pen en disant: "Ne pleure pas, Jean-Marie!

Following France's victory, the song enjoyed immense popular enthusiasm amongst younger generations in the country 20 years after its original release in 1978.

[106] In 2018, France 2 aired a documentary in honor of the 20th anniversary of the final titled 12 juillet 1998, le jour parfait (12 July 1998, The Perfect Day) with Jean-Pierre Devillers as director and Valérie Amarou as writer.

[1] The 3–0 scoreline was also Brazil's largest loss in the World Cup until their 7–1 defeat to Germany as hosts in the 2014 semi-final at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, subsequently dubbed the Mineiraço.

[111] A number of conspiracy theories regarding the incident emerged, including an allegation by striker Edmundo (who had been set to play in Ronaldo's place) that Brazil's team sponsor Nike had pressured Zagallo to reinstate the player.