1997 FIFA Confederations Cup

Also known as FIFA Confederations Cup 1997

3rd FIFA Confederations Cup, held in Saudi Arabia

Key facts

Host country: Saudi Arabia
Dates: 12–21 December
Teams: 8 (from 6 confederations)
Venue: 1 (in 1 host city)
Champions: Brazil (1st title)
Runners up: Australia
Third place: Czech Republic
Fourth place: Uruguay
Goals scored: 52 (3.25 per match)
Attendance: 333,500 (20,844 per match)
Top scorer: Romário (7 goals)
Best player: Denílson
Fair play award

Article

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.

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 along with the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1997 Copa América, Brazil became the first country to be the reigning champion of both major FIFA tournaments (the World Cup and the Confederations Cup), and champion of their respective confederation. This feat has since been accomplished once by France, victorious in the 1998 World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000, and the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup. Brazil repeated this feat again in 2005.