ABSTRACT
Jacques Lambert, chief executive of the Comit franais dorganisation de la Coupe du monde (CFO), the organisation of the CFO had been professional, detailed and worthy of the image of France. In provisional evaluation given the day of the Final, the Youth and Sports Ministry saw the World Cup as a triple success in terms of sport, spectating and popular impact. Firstly, France 98 had been a sporting success because not only had the French team performed well, and indeed surpassed expectations, but all the matches had generally been played in a good spirit. Secondly, the competition had been a success as far as spectators were concerned because the stadiums had been practically filled to capacity, and the ticketing policy had offered inexpensive tickets to many fans. And finally, the World Cup had been a popular success within France itself as the event had been appropriated by the people outside the stadiums, helped by free transmissions on big screens.
