Deep inside the Rasunda Stadium in Stockholm, the celebrations had barely died down when Roberto Di Matteo offered his compatriot Gianfranco Zola a hug.

‘Spero davvero di vederti li.’

As he left the dressing room bound for Rome, Di Matteo expressed a sentiment many Italians – and Chelsea fans – were feeling.

‘I really hope to see you there.’

Zola had just scored the winning goal in a showpiece European final, but his place in Cesare Maldini’s Italy squad for the forthcoming 1998 World Cup was in serious doubt. In contrast, Di Matteo was assured of his spot and, like Tore Andre Flo of Norway and Romania’s Dan Petrescu, flew straight from Stockholm to meet up with his international team-mates. Zola would have to wait a week to learn his fate.

‘I wish I go,’ said Zola after his star turn in Stockholm.

‘The season hasn’t been fantastic for me, but in the last two months I’ve done very well in crucial games. I think I turned a bad season into a good season, I’m happy for it, I’m in form.

‘I wish I go, otherwise…’ he laughed nervously… ‘I watch the games on television!’

Zola was excused Chelsea’s post-season trip to Martinique, which would continue after Maldini’s announcement of his World Cup squad. When it came, on Thursday 21 May, Zola received the bad news he feared. He hadn’t made the final cut. Worse, he wasn’t even named as a standby.

Despite scoring the winning goal against England in a big Wembley qualifier, Maldini senior favoured an attacking quintet of Alessandro Del Piero, Enrico Chiesa, Roberto Baggio, Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi. Vieri, of Atletico Madrid, and Di Matteo were the only members of the group who didn’t ply their trade in Serie A.

‘I thought I would go,’ Zola lamented after the tournament.

‘Even though there was speculation over me I felt I had done enough and I thought I deserved to be picked. It was a great shock to me. I feel I have been treated badly.’

Zola would never play for Italy again.

Rewriting the history books

From a Chelsea perspective, Zola’s omission bucked the trend. Where he felt despair, others did not. A remarkable 11 different Blues were selected to represent their nations at France ’98, a sure sign of the squad’s cosmopolitan make-up – and of its high class.

A glance at some of Europe’s biggest clubs at that time puts that number into perspective. Only Barcelona (13) had more players on show; Champions League winners Real Madrid had nine, Manchester United and Juventus eight. Indeed, only nine Chelsea players had ever featured at a World Cup prior to 1998, dating back to Roy Bentley’s selection for England in Brazil 48 years earlier.

As well as Di Matteo, Flo and Petrescu, two other starters in Stockholm were called up: Frank Leboeuf and Ed De Goey. Full-backs Graeme Le Saux, Celestine Babayaro and Frank Sinclair all missed that final through injury, but were deemed fit enough to be named in England, Nigeria and Jamaica’s squads respectively.

Chelsea captain Dennis Wise was not selected by his former Blues team-mate and manager Glenn Hoddle - in fact he never was at international level. So that leaves three more Chelsea players who featured on the biggest stage. They all finished the domestic season at other clubs, but signed before the first ball was kicked at the newly-opened Stade de France on 10 June.

'We shook hands on a deal late into the night'

Fresh from winning the FA Cup in 1997, Chelsea’s first piece of major silverware in a generation, Ruud Gullit dreamed big. His acquisition from AC Milan two summers prior heralded the dawn of a new era at Stamford Bridge. Further big names would soon follow: Leboeuf, Di Matteo, Zola, Gianluca Vialli. In the summer of ’97, Gullit had his eye on a defensive rock to complete the puzzle.

AC Milan were adamant. Marcel Desailly was not for sale. An imposing central defender, Desailly’s technical ability and reading of the game meant he had proven equally adept in midfield in the great Milanese teams of the 1990s.

By May 1998, with Desailly’s contract running down, Milan’s stance changed. They were willing to listen to offers for the 29-year-old. Chelsea managing director Colin Hutchinson moved quickly to meet representatives from the Italian giants in the Chelsea Village Hotel, now the Copthorne Hotel.

‘We had long negotiations, broke off for a meal in Arkle’s halfway through, and shook hands on the deal late into the night,’ Hutchinson explained. The fee was £4.8 million.

Milan did not want Chelsea to approach their player until the Serie A campaign had concluded, so Hutchinson had to wait until Saturday 30 May (24 hours after signing Pierluigi Casiraghi, like Zola omitted from the Italy squad) before flying to Paris to meet Desailly and negotiate. His agent informed Hutchinson there was concrete interest from Real Madrid, Manchester United, Lazio, Liverpool, and Atletico Madrid.

A three-hour meeting followed. With a home World Cup coming up, Desailly had little time to make decisions. France had just come back from a warm-up tournament in Morocco and were about to fly to Finland for a friendly. A financial deal was agreed, but Desailly asked for a week to think about it. He wanted his future resolved before the World Cup.

‘It was a big decision as to whether he really wanted to leave Milan,’ said Hutchinson. ‘Even though they had a bad season, they are one of the biggest clubs in Europe.’

That was what we aspired to, and a significant step in that direction was taken five days later when Desailly decided his next club would be Chelsea.

Another great comes in

Hutchinson and Chelsea’s transfer ambitions didn’t stop at Desailly. At the end of a week in which we had secured the services of a bona fide European great, another walked through the door.

‘In Denmark he is looked upon in the team as Maradona was in Argentina in his halcyon days,’ remarked Hutchinson of Brian Laudrup.

The Rangers winger, once of Bayern Munich and Fiorentina, signed without fuss on Saturday 6 June in Copenhagen, shortly after becoming a free agent. The fee was disputed at the European Commission, but Laudrup was ours. He would get his first taste of a World Cup the following week as a Chelsea player.

Nobody saw this transfer coming...

Remarkably, there was still time before the tournament started for Hutchinson to complete the transfer of someone preparing to compete at it. He flew to Spain on Monday 8 June and spent six hours at the Nou Camp negotiating with Barcelona for experienced right-back Albert Ferrer. Eventually a fee of £2.2 million was agreed.

Hutchinson flew straight from Barcelona to Paris, before travelling on to Chantilly, some 35 miles north of the French capital. It was the home of Spain’s training camp, and their head coach Javier Clemente gave Hutchinson permission to speak to Ferrer, a veteran of the 1994 World Cup.

However, Hutchinson was too late to conclude the deal there and then. The players had been training, then needed dinner and to go through some video analysis. Hutchinson met the player after that, at midnight, and a deal was signed.

‘I got Luca on the mobile,’ recalled Hutchinson, referring to Vialli, who by now had replaced Gullit as Chelsea player-manager.

‘Luca spoke in Italian, Ferrer spoke in Spanish, and they seemed to understand each other. He was delighted to be joining.’

Nobody had seen this transfer coming.

Hutchinson’s work wasn’t done. He got straight in a taxi to return to Paris. The formalities of Desailly’s transfer needed completing.

The following morning, Tuesday 9 June, he met with Desailly’s agent, Chelsea physio Mike Banks, and club doctor Hugh Millington. The group travelled to Clairefontaine, France’s national football centre, where Aime Jaquet and his players were finalising their preparations for the home tournament. Their first game against South Africa was just three days away.

Thankfully, Jaquet was as amiable as Clemente had been, letting Hutchinson meet Desailly without fuss. In a huge empty marquee set aside for the French players’ media commitments, the contracts were signed. No meal or even coffee was supplied, but it was a very happy party that returned to London via the Channel Tunnel late that afternoon.

Chelsea here, there and everywhere

Chelsea’s impressive business wrapped up, it was time for Blues fans to turn their attention to the French footballing festival set to unfold with 11 of their players involved, including the three new acquisitions.

Holders Brazil were the pre-tournament favourites, ahead of Germany and the hosts France. Many chose Norway, with Flo in their ranks, as an outside bet to spring to a surprise. Dennis Wise picked France as possible failures ‘because they don’t pick Frank Leboeuf!’ That would change…

The showpiece got underway with Brazil beating Scotland 2-1 at the Stade de France. Later that day, Flo led the line for Norway in a cracking 2-2 draw with Morocco. Roberto Di Matteo was involved as Italy drew by the same scoreline with Chile on day two.

Day three brought Chelsea supporters a chance to see two of our new signings in action. Brian Laudrup provided the assist for the only goal as Denmark edged past Saudi Arabia 1-0, and then Marcel Desailly oozed class as France comfortably beat South Africa 3-0. It was a sign of what was to come from both players.

The Chelsea interest continued on day four as two of our own went head-to-head for the first time. It was Celestine Babayaro and not new boy Albert Ferrer celebrating at the end as Nigeria recorded a famous 3-2 success over Spain.

Ferrer played the first half, his only minutes at the tournament as Spain were dumped out in the group stage. Having been sidelined since suffering a serious injury in our legendary 6-1 win at Tottenham in December 1997, Babayaro performed impressively in only his second game back, even playing the full 90 minutes.

It was a similar story later that day as Frank Sinclair finished a game for the first time since our Coca-Cola Cup victory at Wembley, three months earlier. On their World Cup debut, Jamaica were beaten 3-1 by Croatia, however.

It was then the turn of two more Chelsea defenders to get their tournament underway. Graeme Le Saux was England’s left wing-back of choice, given a squad place by Hoddle ahead of Phil Neville and Andy Hinchcliffe, and a trademark cross was met with a trademark Alan Shearer header to put the Three Lions ahead against Tunisia. It finished 2-0.

Elsewhere in Group G, right wing-back Dan Petrescu helped Romania to a tight 1-0 success over Colombia.

'I didn't know what to say'

Le Saux and Petrescu would provide arguably the most lasting Chelsea memory from that tournament a week later. England's game with Romania in Toulouse was locked at 1-1 as the game entered its final minute. Petrescu found himself in the unfamiliar position of centre-forward and was tracked by the equally out-of-place Graeme Le Saux as he darted onto a through ball placed in between England's centre-backs. Quite how our right-back had ended up in an attacking left position, and our left-back in a right-sided defensive position, remains one of football's tantalising enigmas.

Petrescu, seemingly in one movement, got the better of both Le Saux (above) and David Seaman, craftily and cutely slipping the ball inside the England goalkeeper's near post. It was the first goal by a Chelsea player at a World Cup finals, the second scored by a Chelsea player against England (after Zola), and the second tournament running, after USA ’94, that a Petrescu goal had secured qualification to the knockouts. Coming against the manager who had brought him to Stamford Bridge made it extra sentimental.

‘After the game Glenn came in our coach and congratulated me for my goal,’ Petrescu revealed.

‘Everybody was very surprised, especially my manager. I had a very good relationship with Glenn. For me, he was the best manager I had in my life. I’d wanted to go to him after the match, but didn’t know what to say.’

Two days after Romania stunned England, Norway did likewise to Brazil, in no small part due to the strength and finishing ability Chelsea fans had grown accustomed to seeing Tore Andre Flo produce in his first year at the Bridge.

Trailing 1-0, the Norwegian striker proved too quick and too strong for Junior Baiano, and he converted with trademark aplomb past Taffarel, the Brazil keeper.

‘It’s better for me to get the ball on the ground, not to my head! It’s how I got the goal. And at the end it was the most important goal ever for me.’

Flo then won an 88th-minute penalty, initially in controversial circumstances, until one photograph taken from the perfect angle later proved he had been fouled. ‘I thank the Swedish television who had it all on tape!’ joked Flo. The victory sent Norway, captained by former Blue Frode Grodas, into the last-16, where Italy, without Di Matteo in the side, beat them 1-0.

Romania, England and Nigeria also exited at that stage, with Laudrup outstanding in Denmark’s impressive 4-1 victory over the Super Eagles. He scored one, made one, and hit the bar. His and the Danes' run would end at the quarter-final stage, but not before he had netted his second goal and provided his second assist in as many games, against the brilliant Brazilians.

He announced his international retirement shortly afterwards, stating he wanted his fresh Chelsea contract to be his last. Alas, that would not prove the case!

In the end, on home soil, it was France's tournament. With Desailly imperious they conceded just two goals throughout, while going forward Les Bleus possessed the enviable knack of scoring crucial goals at critical times. Laurent Blanc's golden goal against Paraguay in the last 16, the first such type in World Cup history, was one; another defender, Lilian Thuram, struck an unlikely brace in the semi-finals against the dangerous Croatians, who had briefly held the lead.

Leboeuf had come on in that game immediately after Laurent Blanc was sent off. He also featured in the group stage win over Denmark, but, in his illustrious career, perhaps nothing will equal starting the World Cup final in Paris and producing a defensive masterclass, alongside Desailly, to thwart the danger posed by the world's greatest striker, Ronaldo.

Zinedine Zidane thumped in two perfect headers at the other end and the French, captained by Didier Deschamps, were able to see out the game despite a red card being shown to Desailly. Another future Blue, Emmanuel Petit, wrapped up the scoring and Chelsea supporters could smile at seeing two of their own with the World Cup trophy.

Stopping Ronaldo on the biggest stage

The World Cup had always been an extra incentive for Leboeuf in his first two years in English football. Though he was a regular in Aime Jacquet’s squad since his France debut in September 1995, he was clearly behind Desailly and Blanc in the pecking order.

‘I knew that I was to be a reserve because I spoke to the manager when we played Norway in March, April,’ Leboeuf told Onside, Chelsea’s official newspaper, after the tournament.

‘He asked me if I was ready to do this job if Thuram, Blanc, Desailly were injured. That was no problem because I just wanted to be involved. I knew I had a destiny, and that destiny was to play in the Final.’

Chelsea fans knew Leboeuf oozed self-belief and charisma, so it was no surprise he took the final in his stride despite being given just five days to prepare for the biggest game of his career, and the biggest in French footballing history. His flawless performance defied those critics in the English press who suggested the prospects of a surprise French victory were harmed by his inclusion in place of the suspended Blanc.

It was Ronaldo’s illness that dominated the pre-match talk; it remains one of the most dramatic selections in World Cup history. After suffering a seizure on the day of the final, he was initially named on the bench. Scarcely a quarter-hour before kick-off, Ronaldo was back on the teamsheet after motoring to the Stade de France from a Parisian hospital.

‘They told us half an hour before the warm-up he wasn’t playing, then 15 minutes before they say he now plays,’ Leboeuf recounted.

‘But what we said in the dressing room, it didn’t change. In the French national team we do tactics because of the way we want to play so it doesn’t matter if it is Ronaldo, Michael Owen or a striker from Senegal.

‘When you are playing Brazil and you are against Rivaldo, Bebeto and Edmundo – Ronaldo is just one more difficulty on so many difficulties to sort out. If you are strong, you do your own tactic and you don’t move from that. The opponent has to adapt. He was poor so it doesn’t mean you have to change.’

Desailly continues the story.

‘We were thinking only that they were trying to destabilise us, to worry us over whether he was playing or not. We were ready to play against him and if he didn’t, unlucky for them.

‘Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world but we kept our same four-man defence and we didn’t put any players on him.

‘For us it was more important to change our tactics for Roberto Carlos and that was why we played with three midfielders. Normally we play with two, Petit and Deschamps, but this game we played with three. We had one on Rivaldo who is really dangerous, and Karembeu was going to Roberto Carlos to not give him enough time to run and cross the ball over.’

Desailly explained Carlos was the primary concern, and not his opposite full-back Cafu, because he was the one who supplied Ronaldo with the ball.

The new Chelsea man had complete faith in Leboeuf, who executed one sublime tackle on Ronaldo he would later rate as the best of his career.

‘I play with Frank many games before the World Cup and the only difference here was the pressure,’ said Desailly.

‘It’s not easy if you have played one game only and maybe he had to concentrate a lot more, to relax and to play his game because he knew everybody was looking at him having taken Laurent Blanc’s position.’

As it turned out, Desailly was the centre-back whose day was very slightly dampened, only very slightly, by a red card issued for two bookable offences midway through the second half.

‘I was very upset. The second yellow card was okay, but before he gave me another yellow card and I don’t know why because I didn’t make any foul. If you look at the replay I had the ball.

‘I was sure our players were going to keep the result but I was thinking if they lose the game because I have been sent off then it would be something bad, bad, bad for me.

‘We did not even look like we were playing with 10. Denilson touched the bar but they were not really dangerous. You think if you are playing 10 versus Brazil then maybe Brazil would control it but no – we even scored the third one.’

‘At that moment we said okay, we can win because Marcel is out!’ laughed Leboeuf.

‘Emmanuel Petit went back in defence and we didn’t have any fears. Nobody could have beaten us – we were too strong at that time.’

After the game some cited Ronaldo’s subpar showing as a reason why Brazil performed so poorly, but Leboeuf wasn’t having any of it.

‘I prefer to see that as an excuse for them for why they lost three-nil. I saw Ronaldo smiling on the pitch so he wasn’t so ill. Perhaps he was not totally right, but we have all played with a little illness or injury. I had some stomach pain during the game and I played quite well. It is just an excuse.

‘It is good to play in the World Cup, but only to play in the final,’ Leboeuf continued.

‘In 20 years’ time most games will be forgotten except for one or two. I was in the picture for the first goal, so everyone will remember me!

'It is quite difficult to realise you are a champion of the world I think because there have been so few. I can think about that more when I have retired.’

No doubt Frank does now!

The celebrations continued long into the night. Leboeuf had paid for 16 friends and family to fly to Paris from Marseille. They headed to Les Bains Douches, a legendary Parisian nightclub in the ‘80s and ‘90s, frequented by the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Mick Jagger, Johnny Depp and Kate Moss.

‘I was also with Marcel, Didi Deschamps, [Alain] Boghossian, [Vincent] Candela and some friends of ours, especially a television commentator, one from an entertainment magazine and two singers, Ophelie Winter and also MC Solaar, who’s a rapper.

'It was funny. I finished with, how you say, the champagne bucket on my head.’

Foreign affairs

Chelsea’s World Cup stars would begin pre-season training at our Harlington training base in the weeks that followed. Our players’ involvement and success had shone the spotlight on the demographics of our squad. Several newspapers expressed concern at the relative paucity of Englishmen at Chelsea. By now a starting XI of foreigners was eminently possible.

That would happen within 18 months of France’s triumph, during which time many at Stamford Bridge stuck up for our transfer policy, as the globalisation of the world’s most global sport took hold. The ever-eloquent Graeme Le Saux was one to batten down the hatch in the summer of ’98.

‘It’s the price of being successful,’ he reckoned.

‘We’ve lifted some cups now and got a lot of publicity for it. We’ve brought in more continental players and maybe that and the success is making people a bit envious. The media want to categorise clubs, and they’ve made us the glamour club with all the foreigners.

'That’s what the press does, and while I accept it’s a talking point, I think it is across the board. It’s not just Chelsea.

‘Since the late 1970s there have been foreign players over here making a big impact at clubs like Ipswich, Spurs and Nottingham Forest. There are foreign players in leagues all over Europe. Unfortunately, I think the attitude of some British people is getting a bit xenophobic.’

Back down to earth - with a bump

Desailly and Leboeuf resumed their central defensive partnership on the opening day of the 1998/99 Premiership season. The setting was Highfield Road, then home of Coventry City, and the little-and-large strike partnership of Darren Huckerby and Dion Dublin proved harder to handle than Ronaldo, Rivaldo and co had at the Stade de France a month prior.

We were 2-0 down inside 16 minutes, the pace of Huckerby upsetting Desailly for the first, the aerial prowess of Dublin leaving him and another debutant, Ferrer, on the floor for the second.

It finished 2-1, but remarkably we would lose just twice more in the league that season.

Vialli’s Blues were pipped to the post by Manchester United in what would prove our closest tilt at the title between winning it in 1955 and 2005. It vindicated Arsene Wenger’s pre-season words on Arsenal’s Clubcall channel, a phone service dedicated to providing news from your club, that Chelsea would ‘definitely be the number one challenger for our title’.

Much of that success was down to the formidable Desailly, who got over his Coventry nightmare quickly to become one of the finest defenders in the league and, in 2001, the successor to Wise as Chelsea captain.

Ferrer spent five years at the Bridge, playing 113 times before retiring to Spain in 2003. The Chelsea story of our other two pre-tournament signings did not have a happy ending, though.

Laudrup never settled in west London and was unsatisfied with his lack of game time under Vialli. He returned to his native Denmark to join FC Copenhagen in November ’98, just five months after agreeing terms with Hutchinson on the eve of the World Cup. Curiously, he scored the winning goal against Copenhagen in the Cup Winners’ Cup in his final match in Chelsea colours.

Pierluigi Casiraghi, signed in late May ‘98 to kickstart Chelsea’s pre-tournament spending spree, didn’t make Italy’s World Cup squad. Much worse was to follow 20 minutes into his 13th appearance for us, away to West Ham United, when he broke his anterior cruciate ligament, his posterior cruciate ligament, and the nerves that connected them. Almost two years and 11 surgeries later, Casiraghi had to admit his players days were over.

A landmark summer

If Chelsea had announced ourselves as a force in English football again with the FA Cup triumph of 1997, and the high-profile signings of Gullit, Zola and Vialli that preceded it, then we truly made our mark on the global stage in the summer of 1998.

With the world’s eyes trained on events in France, we had our first goalscorer at a World Cup, our first winners - including one of the stars of the final - and 11 players involved, representing 10 different nations.

These days, as twice European Cup winners and a modern giant of the game, we are accustomed to seeing plenty of our own on display at the World Cup, just as in Qatar this year. But it was not always so, which is why France ’98 represents such a landmark in Chelsea history.