1998 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship qualification

The 1998 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship qualification was a qualification event, played in 1997 and 1998, for the thirteenth edition of FIVB Women's World Championship, which was held in Japan from November 3 to November 12, 1998. The event was split into several groups divided by continent.

Qualified teams

 * 1.Competed as Soviet Union from 1952 to 1990; 2nd appearance as Russia.
 * 2.Competed as West Germany from 1956 to 1990; 2nd appearance as Germany.

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


 * Asia and Oceania (AVC): 3.5 places (+ Japan qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 4.5 places)
 * Africa (CAVB): 1 place
 * Europe (CEV): 5.5 places
 * South America (CSV) 2 places
 * North, Central America and Caribbean (NORCECA): 3 places

Africa
6 national teams entered qualification. (Malawi later withdrew) The teams were distributed according to their position in the FIVB Senior Women's Rankings. Teams ranked 1–2 automatically qualified for the second round.

Sub Pool a

 * Venue: 🇹🇳 Tunis, Tunisia
 * Dates: April 10–12, 1997

Pool A

 * Venue: 🇰🇪 Nairobi, Kenya
 * Dates: February 27 – March 1, 1998

Asia and Oceania
9 national teams entered qualification. The teams were distributed according to their position in the FIVB Senior Women's Rankings. Teams ranked 1–7 automatically qualified for the second round.

Sub Pool b

 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: June 8–15, 1997

Pool B

 * Venue: 🇨🇳 Chengdu, China
 * Dates: June 27–29, 1997

Pool C

 * Venue: 🇰🇷 Suwon, South Korea
 * Dates: July 4–6, 1997

Playoff

 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: September 12–18, 1997


 * Chinese Taipei advanced to the Asia-Europe playoff but later withdrew.

Europe
23 national teams entered qualification. The teams were distributed according to their position in the FIVB Senior Women's Rankings. Teams ranked 1–17 automatically qualified for the second round.

Sub Pool c

 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: May 23 – June 14, 1997

Sub Pool d

 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: May 17 – June 7, 1997

Sub Pool e

 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: May 3–25, 1997

Pool D

 * Venue: 🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia
 * Dates: September 12–14, 1997

Pool E

 * Venue: Amsterdam, Netherlands
 * Dates: September 19–21, 1997

Pool F

 * Venue: 🇮🇹 Vicenza, Italy
 * Dates: January 9–11, 1998

Pool G

 * Venue: 🇩🇪 Bremen, Germany
 * Dates: January 2–4, 1998

Pool H

 * Venue: 🇧🇬 Sofia, Bulgaria
 * Dates: September 12–14, 1997

Playoff

 * Two runner-up teams having best rank in FIVB World Ranking advance to CEV playoff.
 * Venue: Home and Away
 * Dates: January 25 – February 1, 1998


 * Italy advanced to the Asia-Europe playoff but Chinese Taipei withdrew and Italy qualified directly to the World Championship.

North, Central America and Caribbean
7 national teams entered qualification.

Pool I

 * Venue: 🇩🇴 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
 * Dates: November 7–9, 1997

Pool J

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

Playoff

 * Venue: 🇩🇴 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
 * Dates: March 12–14, 1998

South America
4 national teams entered qualification.

Pool K

 * Venue: 🇦🇷 Buenos Aires, Argentina and 🇵🇪 Arequipa, Peru
 * Dates: October 23 – November 2, 1997