37 mm diameter, aluminum, ? g, flat edge inscription "ROMANIA", Romanian coat of arms, year 1998, denomination "100 LEI" inside a football goal. The two zeroes from 100 are footballs.	inscriptions FRANTA '98 and CAMPIONATUL MONDIAL DE FOTBAL meaning FRANCE '98 and FOOTBALL WORLD CUP, Eiffel Tower and a phase of play (a player performing a sliding tackle)

The pattern pictures above are present on Romanian coins through the kind permission of Mr C.C. From Germany.

Mr Erwin Schäffer described this pattern as P-435 in his catalog [1], but the aluminum variant is not mentioned.

Inside the paper "Proiecte de monede şi medalii emise de Banca Naţională a României în anii 1997 - 1999” (Projects of coins and medals issued by National Bank of Romania in years 1997 - 1999) [2], published in 2002, Mr Ştefan Ursachi mentioned that he made six 6 drawings for the two faces of the coin dedicated to the France 1998 FIFA World Cup. On this pattern appears the drawing with No. 1, used for the obverse.

Finally the NBR have chosen another design for the 100 lei 1998 coins issued with numismatic purpose. On the obverse of the issued coin the coat of arms of Romania is bigger and for this reason the year 1998 is placed a little lower.

References

1. Schäffer E., România. Proiecte, probe monetare şi catalogul probelor emise. Designs, pattern coins and catalogue of issued coins, 1990 - 2014. vol. II, Guttenbrunn, 2015.

2. Ursachi Ş., Proiecte de monede şi medalii emise de Banca Naţională a României în anii 1997 - 1999, Cercetări Numismatice VIII, 2002, p. 415...432.