1998 in Russian football

1998 season
1998 season
	← 1997 1999 →

Last updated January 21, 2023

1998 in Russian football was marked by Spartak Moscow's sixth national title.

National team

Russia national football team began their qualification for the Euro 2000.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score¹	Competition	Russia scorers	Match Report
18 February 1998	Olympic Stadium, Athens (A)	Greece	1–1	F	Igor Kolyvanov	RussiaTeam
25 March 1998	Dynamo Stadium, Moscow (H)	France	1–0	F	Sergey Yuran	RussiaTeam
22 April 1998	Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow (H)	Turkey	1–0	F	Vladimir Beschastnykh	RussiaTeam
27 May 1998	Silesia Stadium, Chorzów (A)	Poland	1–3	F	Aleksey Gerasimenko	RussiaTeam
30 May 1998	Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi (A)	Georgia	1–1	F	Igor Simutenkov	RussiaTeam
19 August 1998	Eyravallen, Örebro (A)	Sweden	0–1	F		RussiaTeam
10 October 1998	Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow (H)	France	2–3	ECQ	Igor Yanovskiy, Aleksandr Mostovoi	uefa
14 October 1998	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík (A)	Iceland	0–1	ECQ		uefa
18 November 1998	Estádio Plácido Castelo, Fortaleza (A)	Brazil	1–5	ECQ	Oleg Kornaukhov	RussiaTeam

Russia score given first

Key

H = Home match
A = Away match
F = Friendly
ECQ = 2000 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying, Group 4

Leagues

The Russian league system underwent reorganization for the 1998 season. The "leagues" were renamed "divisions". The Second Division was extended to six zones with 16-22 teams (compared to three zones of the Second League), while the Third League was abolished. These changes reduced the number of levels in Russian professional football to three.

Top Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Spartak Moscow (C)	30	17	8	5	58	27	+31	59	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
2	CSKA Moscow	30	17	5	8	50	22	+28	56	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
3	Lokomotiv Moscow	30	16	7	7	45	28	+17	55	Qualification to UEFA Cup qualifying round
4	Rotor Volgograd	30	12	12	6	52	37	+15	48
5	Zenit St. Petersburg	30	12	11	7	42	25	+17	47	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
6	Rostselmash	30	11	11	8	42	38	+4	44	Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
7	Uralan Elista	30	12	6	12	39	41	−2	42
8	Alania Vladikavkaz	30	11	7	12	46	39	+7	40
9	Dynamo Moscow	30	8	15	7	31	30	+1	39
10	Chernomorets Novorossiysk	30	9	11	10	38	38	0	38
11	Torpedo Moscow ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	30	9	10	11	38	34	+4	37
12	Krylia Sovetov Samara	30	9	8	13	25	37	−12	35
13	Zhemchuzhina Sochi	30	9	8	13	31	48	−17	35
14	Shinnik Yaroslavl	30	9	8	13	30	40	−10	35
15	Baltika Kaliningrad (R)	30	7	11	12	32	43	−11	32	Relegation to First Division
16	Tyumen ^{[lower-alpha 2]}(R)	30	2	2	26	17	89	−72	8	Relegation to First Division

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:

↑ FC Torpedo-Luzhniki Moscow renamed to FC Torpedo
↑ FC Dynamo-Gazovik Tyumen renamed to FC Tyumen

First Division

Saturn won the First Division, winning their first promotion to the Top Division. Runners-up Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod made their return to the top flight.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Saturn Ramenskoye (P)	42	24	12	6	73	34	+39	84	Promotion to Top Division
2	Lokomotiv N.N. (P)	42	23	8	11	65	34	+31	77	Promotion to Top Division
3	Sokol Saratov ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	42	21	13	8	58	32	+26	76
4	Kristall Smolensk ^{[lower-alpha 2]}	42	23	3	16	59	47	+12	72
5	Arsenal Tula	42	18	11	13	65	53	+12	65
6	Lada-Grad Dimitrovgrad	42	19	7	16	65	63	+2	64
7	Rubin Kazan	42	19	6	17	56	50	+6	63
8	Dynamo Stavropol	42	16	15	11	51	37	+14	63
9	Gazovik-Gazprom Izhevsk	42	18	6	18	53	58	−5	60
10	Fakel Voronezh	42	17	9	16	54	45	+9	60
11	Anzhi Makhachkala	42	17	6	19	47	56	−9	57
12	Metallurg Lipetsk	42	16	8	18	41	50	−9	56
13	Lokomotiv Chita	42	16	8	18	57	50	+7	56^{[lower-alpha 3]}
14	Tom Tomsk	42	15	11	16	54	45	+9	56
15	Spartak Nalchik	42	15	11	16	49	52	−3	56
16	Lokomotiv St. Petersburg	42	14	11	17	38	41	−3	53
17	Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (R)	42	15	7	20	44	56	−12	52	Qualification for Promotion play-offs
18	Druzhba Maykop (R)	42	13	11	18	45	55	−10	50	Relegation to Second Division
19	Lada-Togliatti-VAZ Togliatti (R)	42	15	9	18	52	70	−18	48^{[lower-alpha 4]}
20	Kuban Krasnodar (R)	42	10	13	19	42	68	−26	43
21	Irtysh Omsk (R)	42	11	8	23	36	58	−22	41
22	KAMAZ-Chally Naberezhnye Chelny (R)	42	7	5	30	32	82	−50	26

Source: RSSSF
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

↑ FC Sokol-PZhD Saratov renamed to FC Sokol.
↑ FC CSK VVS-Kristall Smolensk renamed to FC Kristall after playing 6 games.
↑ FC Lokomotiv Chita awarded 5 home wins.
↑ FC Lada-Togliatti-VAZ Togliatti deducted 6 points and awarded 1 home win.

Andradina of Arsenal became the top goalscorer with 27 goals.

Second Division

Of six clubs that finished first in their respective Second Division zones, five with the best records were promoted to the First Division, and one went to a promotion/relegation playoff.

The clubs promoted automatically were

FC Spartak-Orekhovo Orekhovo-Zuyevo (Centre)
FC Volgar-Gazprom Astrakhan (South)
FC Torpedo-Victoria Nizhny Novgorod (Povolzhye)
FC Amkar Perm (Ural)
FC Metallurg Krasnoyarsk (East)

Torpedo-ZIL won the play-off and were promoted to the First Division at the expense of Neftekhimik.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
FC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk	1–3	FC Torpedo-ZIL Moscow (West)	1–1	0–2

Cup

The Russian Cup was won by Spartak Moscow, who beat Lokomotiv Moscow 1–0 in the final.

UEFA club competitions

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1997-98

Lokomotiv Moscow reached the semifinal of the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They eliminated AEK Athens in the quarterfinal but were stopped by VfB Stuttgart in the semifinal.

UEFA Cup 1997-98

Spartak Moscow reached the semifinal of the 1997–98 UEFA Cup after beating Ajax Amsterdam in both quarterfinal matches. However, in the semifinal Internazionale Milano F.C. won both matches against Spartak 2–1.

UEFA Intertoto Cup 1998

Two Russian clubs played in the UEFA Intertoto Cup 1998, both being eliminated in the third round. Baltika Kaliningrad recorded victories over PFC Spartak Varna and OD Trencin before facing FK Vojvodina, and Shinnik Yaroslavl, who had a bye to the second round, defeated Turun Palloseura before being knocked out by Valencia CF.

UEFA Champions League 1998-99

Spartak Moscow qualified for the group stage of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League by defeating PFC Litex Lovech with an aggregate score of 11–2. Spartak finished third in Group C with Internazionale Milano F.C., Real Madrid, and SK Sturm Graz.

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1998-99

Lokomotiv Moscow began their way to the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semifinal by eliminating Arsenal Kyiv and SC Braga in the first two rounds.

UEFA Cup 1998-99

Rotor Volgograd were eliminated after the second qualifying round of 1998–99 UEFA Cup, losing twice to Red Star Belgrade. Dynamo Moscow were more successful, winning on aggregate against Polonia Warszawa in the second qualifying round and against Skonto FC in the first round. Their campaign ended after two losses to Real Sociedad in the second round.

Related Research Articles

Yevgeni Aleksandrovich Bushmanov is a Russian football coach and a former player.

2004 in Russian football was marked with Lokomotiv's second championship, Terek's cup victory, and national team playing at Euro 2004.

Sergei Nikolayevich Ignashevich is a Russian professional football coach and a former player who played as central defender. He is the manager of Baltika Kaliningrad.

2000 in Russian football saw the eighth title for FC Spartak Moscow and the third Cup for FC Lokomotiv Moscow. The national team began qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

1999 in Russian football was marked by the national team's failure to qualify for the Euro 2000. Spartak Moscow won the league title, while Zenit were the victors of the Russian Cup.

1997 was the sixth season Russia held its own national football competition since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

1996 in Russian football returned the fifth national title to Spartak Moscow, while the Russian Cup was taken by Lokomotiv Moscow.

The Russian First League 1993 was the 2nd edition of Russian First Division. There were 3 zones with 58 teams in total. The winner of each zone qualified for the promotion tournament to play against the teams that took places 14 to 16 in the 18-team Russian Top League 1993, 3 top teams from the tournament qualified for the Russian Top League 1994. For 1994 the Russian league system was reorganized, with First League reduced to one zone of 22 teams, so most of the 1993 Russian First League teams were relegated at the end of the season.

The Russian Third League 1995 was the 2nd time competition on the fourth level of Russian football was professional. It was the first season when 3 points were awarded for a win. There were 6 zones with 98 teams starting the competition.

The Russian Third League 1996 was the 3rd time competition on the fourth level of Russian football was professional. There were 6 zones with 102 teams starting the competition.

The Russian First Division 1998 was the seventh edition of the Russian First Division. The competition was renamed from Russian First League to Russian First Division this year.

The Russian Second Division 1998 was the seventh edition of the Russian Second Division. The competition was renamed from Russian Second League to Russian Second Division this year. Russian Third League was dissolved this season and Second Division became once again the lowest level of professional football in Russia. There were 6 zones with 119 teams starting the competition.

The Russian Second Division 1999 was the eighth edition of the Russian Second Division. There were 6 zones with 108 teams starting the competition.

The 2015–16 Russian Cup, known as the 2015–16 Pirelli–Russian Football Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of Soviet Union.

The Russian Second Division 2000 was the ninth edition of the Russian Second Division. There were 6 zones with 107 teams starting the competition.

The 2019–20 Russian Cup was the 28th season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The 2020–21 Russian Cup was the 29th season of the Russian football knockout tournament since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The competition started on 5 August 2020 and concluded on 12 May 2021.

References

National team fixtures (in Russian)
League and cup results
League scorers (in Russian)
UEFA Champions League results
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup results: 1997-98 1998-99
UEFA Cup results: 1997-98 1998-99
UEFA Intertoto Cup results

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[table_note_TOR0.94073026717674-1] FC Torpedo-Luzhniki Moscow renamed to FC Torpedo

[table_note_TYU0.94073026717674-2] FC Dynamo-Gazovik Tyumen renamed to FC Tyumen

[table_note_SOK0.41686862540286-3] FC Sokol-PZhD Saratov renamed to FC Sokol.

[table_note_KRI0.41686862540286-4] FC CSK VVS-Kristall Smolensk renamed to FC Kristall after playing 6 games.

[table_hth_CHI0.41686862540286-5] FC Lokomotiv Chita awarded 5 home wins.

[table_hth_LTV0.41686862540286-6] FC Lada-Togliatti-VAZ Togliatti deducted 6 points and awarded 1 home win.

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]