Defending champions England , world champions in 1995 and 1997, failed in this year's semi-finals against Wales . The Welsh team had never reached the semi-finals or the final before. In the preliminary round, Wales were previously defeated by both England and Egypt 3-0 each, but still reached the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win against Malaysia. The final opponent Egypt also made it into the final of a World Cup for the first time after defeating the Australian team in the semifinals . The hosts from Egypt finally defeated Wales 3-0 and won their first world title. England was third ahead of Australia.
The participating teams competed in eight groups. These were divided according to the results of the 1997 World Cup , with the 16 best teams being drawn into groups A, B, C and D. Only these 16 teams played for the title. The group runners-up and thirds in groups C and D reached the placement games for places 9 to 16, together with the group fourths of groups A and B and the group winners of groups E and F. Places 17 to 24 were won by group winners of groups G and H, the runners-up and thirds in groups E and F and the last group in groups C and D. The last placed teams in groups E and F and the second, third and fourth in groups G and H played for places 25 to 32. Within the group , the three best-placed teams in groups A and B as well as played in round robin mode the winners of groups C and D made it to the semi-finals. This was carried out in the knockout system . All places were played out.
All teams consisted of a minimum of three and a maximum of four players who had to be reported in the order of their skill level. Three individual games were played per encounter. A team won if its players could win two of the individual games. The order in which the individual games were played was independent of the order in which the players entered.