1998 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship qualification

The 1998 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship qualification was a qualification event, played in 1997 and 1998, for the thirteenth edition of Men's World Championship, which was held in Japan. The event was split into several groups divided by continent.

Confederation qualification processes
The distribution by confederation for the 1998 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship was:


 * Asia and Oceania (AVC): 5 places (+ Japan qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 6 places)
 * Africa (CAVB): 2 places
 * Europe (CEV): 11 places
 * South America (CSV) 2 places
 * North America (NORCECA): 3 places

Africa
8 national teams originally entered qualification but Malawi, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire withdrew, Cameroon was later added to Pool B.

Pool A

 * Venue: 🇹🇳 Tunis, Tunisia
 * Dates: November 14–16, 1997

Pool B

 * Venue: Kano, Nigeria
 * Dates: September 26–28, 1997

Asia-Pacific
12 national teams entered qualification but Bahrain and Philippines withdrew. Top two teams from Pool C and D and Pool E winner qualified to the World Championship.

Pool C

 * Venue: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
 * Dates: October 3–5, 1997

Pool D

 * Venue: Tehran, Iran
 * Dates: December 17–19, 1997

Pool E

 * Venue: 🇺🇿 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
 * Dates: December 12–14, 1997

Europe
28 national teams entered qualification. The teams were distributed according to their position in the FIVB Senior Men's Rankings. Teams ranked 1–15 automatically qualified for the second round.

Sub Pool a

 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: April 26 – June 12, 1997

Sub Pool b

 * Venue: 🇫🇷 Lille, France
 * Dates: June 27–29, 1997

Sub Pool c

 * Venue: 🇹🇷 Istanbul, Turkey
 * Dates: April 30 – May 2, 1997

Sub Pool d

 * Venue: 🇭🇺 Debrecen, Hungary
 * Dates: June 6–8, 1997

Pool F

 * Venue: 🇮🇹 Montecatini Terme, Italy
 * Dates: August 8–10, 1997

Pool G

 * Venue: Groningen, Netherlands
 * Dates: August 22–24, 1997

Pool H

 * Venue: 🇵🇱 Olsztyn, Poland
 * Dates: August 15–17, 1997

Pool I

 * Venue: 🇧🇬 Sofia, Bulgaria
 * Dates: August 22–24, 1997

Pool J

 * Venue: Athens, Greece
 * Dates: December 20–22, 1997

Pool K

 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: June 14 – December 28, 1997

Pool L

 * Venue: 🇨🇺 Havana, Cuba
 * Dates: February 6–8, 1998

Pool M

 * Venue: 🇺🇸 San Antonio, United States
 * Dates: January 29 – February 1, 1998

Playoff

 * Venue: 🇲🇽 Mexico City, Mexico
 * Dates: February 28 – March 1, 1998

South America
4 national teams entered qualification.

Pool N

 * Venue: 🇦🇷 Santa Fe, Argentina and 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
 * Dates: September 5–21, 1997