The 1997–98 Serie A saw Juventus win their 25th national title, with Internazionale placing second; both teams qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League. Udinese, Roma, Fiorentina, Parma qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup. Lazio qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners Cup courtesy of winning the Coppa Italia. Bologna and Sampdoria qualified for the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Brescia, Atalanta, Lecce and Napoli were relegated to Serie B.
S.S. Lazio finished third in Serie A this season and reached the quarter final of the Coppa Italia and the round of 32 of the UEFA Cup.
During the 1997–98 Italian football season, Società Sportiva Lazio competed in the Serie A, Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup.
Unione Calcio Sampdoria was once again condemned to midfield mediocrity, despite the services of super striker Enrico Chiesa, who netted 22 goals in just 27 appearances. Sven-Göran Eriksson continued with an attacking style of play, leading to Sampdoria scoring 59 goals in 34 matches, only bettered by champions Milan and Lazio. The backside was the many conceded goals it led to, with even relegated Torino having a better defensive record than the Genua team. Playmaker duo Clarence Seedorf and Christian Karembeu had great seasons, both compensating for the losses of Jugović, Lombardo and David Platt in the summer. The duo caught the attention of Real Madrid, and moved to Spain, with Karembeu staying put until the end of the 1996-97 season.
In the 1997–98 season, the Italian football club Inter Milan, managed by Luigi Simoni, won the UEFA Cup and achieved second place in the Serie A league.
A.C. Milan had a second consecutive disastrous season. Fabio Capello returned as coach, following the dismal second half of the 1996–97 league campaign, but failed to turn the corner, and Milan was a shadow of the team he had left the year before. With Capello's reputation seemingly ruined, he was sacked at the end of the season, with Milan finishing a mere 10th in the league.
Juventus Football Club had one of its most successful seasons in the club's history, winning the domestic league competition and reaching the final of the Champions League. There, Juventus stumbled on Real Madrid by Predrag Mijatović' solitary goal, which ensured Juventus lost the final for the second year running. The progress to the final had been much less smooth than in the 1995–96 and 1996–97 European campaigns, prompting fears among supporters that the side was experiencing a decline. Indeed, on their way to the final in Amsterdam, the Italians had lost three games compared to none the previous season. They had needed to win their matchday six fixture against Manchester United to reach the quarter-final, where Dynamo Kyiv held them to a 1–1 draw in Turin in the first leg.
S.S.C. Napoli crashed out of Serie A following a disastrous season. It only clinched 14 points out of 34 matches, despite having the services of several experienced Serie A players. Napoli went through four coaches over the course of the season, and hardly took a point in the second half of the season. Given the disastrous form of the team, Claudio Bellucci's ten goals were impressive, while thought top scorer Igor Protti was one of the largest disappointments of the entire series. The lack of defensive skills cost Napoli many points, and more than two goals were conceded on average. This was despite Roberto Ayala's brilliance, which earned him a transfer to A.C. Milan.
Associazione Sportiva Roma was reinvigorated under new coach Zdeněk Zeman, who recently had been coaching arch rivals Lazio. Zeman brought his attacking 4–3–3 with him, resulting in Roma scoring 67 goals, but also conceding 42, an extreme rarity in defensive-minded Italian football. Roma finished fourth, three places above Lazio in the table. That was the first time it had happened in five years, which delighted the Roma board, and Zeman stayed on for a further season. The season also saw the international breakthrough of former youth-team product Francesco Totti, who at 21 was ready for increased responsibility and captaincy, responding with 13 league goals from a position on the left-wing of the attack. Also noticeable was new signing Cafu's offensive skills as a right-wing back, granting him a reputation among the world's top wing backs.
Bologna Football Club 1909 had a successful season, in which it reached the top half of the standings in Serie A for the second year running. The most notable feature about the Bologna side was the presence of superstar Roberto Baggio, who flourished when getting out of a terrible spell at Milan. He scored 22 out of the teams' 55 goals, before leaving for Inter at the end of the season. Given that fellow strikers Kennet Andersson and Igor Kolyvanov also impressed, Bologna could live with losing Baggio. Other well-performing players included goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli, defender Michele Paramatti and playmaker Carlo Nervo.
Associazione Calcio Fiorentina came off second best in a competitive battle for fourth in Serie A. Under Alberto Malesani's leadership, Fiorentina played an attacking 3–5–2 formation, where goal scoring duo Gabriel Batistuta and Luís Oliveira scored an accumulated 36 goals between them. Following the end of the season, Malesani accepted an offer from Parma, thus departing the club after only one season in charge. Sensationally, Giovanni Trapattoni became his successor, remarking that Fiorentina was serious about winning the league.
During the 1997–98 season, the club's eighth in Serie A, Parma Associazione Calcio competed in Serie A, the Coppa Italia, and the UEFA Champions League. The team had another good season, finishing 6th in the league and thus qualifying for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia. The team's solitary disappointment was a group stage exit in their first-ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League.
Unione Calcio Sampdoria finished ninth in Serie A, despite the absence of club stalwart Roberto Mancini, who had followed coach Sven-Göran Eriksson to Lazio. Former Argentine World Cup-winning coach César Luis Menotti took charge, but failed to match the results of Eriksson, and was replaced by the 1991 championship winning coach Vujadin Boškov, who guided the team to a safe mid-table slot.
Piacenza Calcio did not manage to renew their stay in Serie A, in the club's debut season at the top level of Italian football. The performance from the team was not too poor however, considering it was only a point from the 14th place that would have kept Piacenza up.
Piacenza Calcio managed to secure a penultimate-round survival in their second attempt to establish themselves in Serie A. Much thanks to the presence of 14-times goal scorer Nicola Caccia and creative midfielder Gianpietro Piovani, plus a tight defensive line, Piacenza had five points in hand to the relegated Bari.
Piacenza Calcio once again survived in Serie A, this time being on the brink of relegation, and having to beat Cagliari in Naples in a so-called spareggio to decide which team would stay up. Thanks to a 3-1 victory, Piacenza was able to hang onto their Serie A status, which was all that could be expected from new coach Bortolo Mutti. Despite losing Nicola Caccia to Napoli, Piacenza was able to count on a reliable goal scorer in Pasquale Luiso, who grabbed 14 goals in his debut season in Serie A.
Piacenza Calcio had their most successful season ever, with 41 points in 34 games, albeit just three points above the relegation zone. Much thanks to 15 times goal scorer Simone Inzaghi, Piacenza was able to secure a fifth consecutive season in the top flight. The remarkable finish with seven wins out of the last eleven, was key in determining the survival.
Piacenza Calcio crashed out of Serie A, following a dismal season. With ex-Inter coach Luigi Simoni at the helm, the club was looking to climb into midtable in Serie A, but the absence of Simone Inzaghi and the ageing of several key players rendered disastrous form, and Simoni was soon sacked. In the end, Piacenza finished rock bottom of the table and their five-year stint in the top flight was ended.
