History of the FIFA World Cup as earning the Bronze Ball award. He led Bulgaria to a shock 2-1 win over defending champions Germany in the quarter-finals, before losing 2–1 to Italy and losing the third place play-off to Sweden, 4–0. The 1998 World Cup was held in France, and had an expanded format featuring 32 teams. Iran beat the Maldives in qualification by the widest margin in World Cup history – 17–0. In the finals, the second round match between France and Paraguay witnessed the first golden goal in World Cup history, as Laurent Blanc scored to give the hosts a 1–0 victory. Hosts France
Russia at the FIFA World Cup have won a Golden Boot award each. Salenko is the only player who has ever scored five goals in a single World Cup match, and the only player to win the Golden Boot even though his team has been eliminated in the Group stage. Russia at the FIFA World Cup Russia has participated in 4 FIFA World Cups since its independence in December 1991. The Russian Federation played their first international match against Mexico on 16 August 1992 winning 2-0. Their first participation in a World Cup was the United States of America in 1994 and they achieved 18th place.