# 1998 Belarusian Premier League

The 1998 Belarusian Premier League was the eighth season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 12 and ended on October 31, 1998. Dinamo Minsk were the defending champions.

## Team changes from 1997 season

Two worst teams of the last season (Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev and Shakhtyor Soligorsk) relegated to the First League. They were replaced by two best clubs of 1996 First League (FC Gomel and BATE Borisov).
In the early days of January it was announced that Transmash Mogilev ceased to exist as an independent club merged with Dnepr Mogilev (with the latter being renamed to Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev). Ataka Minsk, who suffered heavy financial troubles, let go all their senior team players and failed to confirm their participation in the new season by a deadline in early March. A week later BFF announced that Ataka Minsk were excluded from the league and that two vacant places (left by Transmash and Ataka) are being filled by Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev and Shakhtyor Soligorsk, both of whom were spared from relegation.
Before the start of the season, MPKC Mozyr changed their name to Slavia Mozyr.

## Overview

Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev won their 1st champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up BATE Borisov as well as bronze medalists and 1998–99 Cup winners Belshina Bobruisk qualified for UEFA Cup. Kommunalnik Slonim finished on last, 15th place and relegated to First League. Dinamo-93 Minsk dissolved and withdrew from the championship after 15 rounds. They were excluded from the final table and their results were annulled.

## Teams and venues

| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity | Position in 1997 |
| Dinamo Minsk | Minsk | Dinamo Stadium (Minsk) | 40,000 | 1 |
| Belshina | Bobruisk | Spartak Stadium (Bobruisk) | 2,500 | 2 |
| Lokomotiv-96 | Vitebsk | Dinamo Stadium (Vitebsk) | 5,500 | 3 |
| Dnepr-Transmash | Mogilev | Spartak Stadium (Mogilev) | 11,200 | 4 |
| Dinamo-93 | Minsk | Orbita Stadium | 2,000 | 5 |
| Slavia | Mozyr | Yunost Stadium (Mozyr) | 6,500 | 6 |
| Dinamo Brest | Brest | Dinamo Stadium (Brest) | 3,000 | 7 |
| Torpedo | Minsk | Torpedo Stadium (Minsk) | 5,000 | 8 |
| Naftan-Devon | Novopolotsk | Atlant Stadium | 6,500 | 9 |
| Neman | Grodno | Neman Stadium | 15,000 | 10 |
| Kommunalnik | Slonim | Yunost Stadium (Slonim) | 2,000 | 11 |
| Molodechno | Molodechno | City Stadium (Molodechno) | 5,500 | 13 |
| Torpedo-Kadino | Mogilev | Torpedo Stadium (Mogilev) | 7,000 | 15 |
| Shakhtyor | Soligorsk | Stroitel Stadium | 5,000 | 16 |
| Gomel | Gomel | Central Stadium | 10,000 | First league, 1 |
| BATE | Borisov | City Stadium (Borisov) | 3,500 | First league, 2 |
* ^ Three games played at Orbita Stadium.
* ^ Last ten games played at City Stadium in Orsha, after club's own Dinamo Stadium was closed for renovation.
* ^ One game played at Khimvolokno Stadium.
* ^ Before club's withdrawal from the league, they played four games at Orbita Stadium, three games at Kamvolschik Stadium and one at GFC Smena.
* ^ First seven games played at Kamvolschik Stadium.
* ^ One game played at Khimvolokno Stadium.
* ^ One game played at Orbita Stadium in Minsk.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev (C) | 28 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 55 | 14 | +41 | 67 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | BATE Borisov | 28 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 50 | 25 | +25 | 58 | Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | Belshina Bobruisk | 28 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 47 | 17 | +30 | 57 | Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 48 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round |
| 5 | Gomel | 28 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 36 | 30 | +6 | 45 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round |
| 6 | Slavia Mozyr | 28 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 41 | 36 | +5 | 45 | |
| 7 | Torpedo Minsk | 28 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 44 | 22 | +22 | 44 | |
| 8 | Dinamo Minsk | 28 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 39 | |
| 9 | Dinamo Brest | 28 | 12 | 2 | 14 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 38 | |
| 10 | Neman Grodno | 28 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 27 | 44 | −17 | 31 | |
| 11 | Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 28 | 8 | 6 | 14 | 33 | 54 | −21 | 30 | |
| 12 | Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 30 | 40 | −10 | 29 | |
| 13 | Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk | 28 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 33 | 47 | −14 | 25 | |
| 14 | Molodechno | 28 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 21 | 51 | −30 | 16 | |
| 15 | Kommunalnik Slonim (R) | 28 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 14 | 63 | −49 | 14 | Relegation to Belarusian First League |
| D | Dinamo-93 Minsk (D) | 15 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 23 | −4 | 18 | Dissolved |
* ↑ Belshina Bobruisk qualified for the UEFA Cup qualifying round by winning the 1998–99 Belarusian Cup.
* ↑ Dinamo-93 Minsk withdrew after 15 rounds. All their games were annulled and the team was excluded from the final table.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BAT | BSH | DBR | DMI | D93 | DNE | GOM | KOM | LVI | MOL | NAF | NEM | SHA | SLA | TMI | TMO |
| BATE Borisov | | 1–0 | 6–0 | 3–0 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 |
| Belshina Bobruisk | 4–0 | | 2–0 | 4–2 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 4–4 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Dinamo Brest | 0–3 | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 6–3 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 5–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| Dinamo Minsk | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–5 | | | 2–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Dinamo-93 Minsk | 1–1 | 0–0 | | 5–1 | | 0–4 | | 1–1 | | | | | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | |
| Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | | | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| Gomel | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Kommunalnik Slonim | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 0–5 | 0–3 | | 2–3 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Molodechno | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 1–2 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 5–1 | | 5–2 | 4–4 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 3–1 |
| Neman Grodno | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 |
| Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 3–5 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 2–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 |
| Slavia Mozyr | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 4–1 | | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| Torpedo Minsk | 0–1 | 1–1 | 5–0 | 3–4 | | 0–0 | 3–1 | 6–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | | 2–2 |
| Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | |
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Annulled after Dinamo-93 withdrew from competition.
* ↑ Originally awarded as a 3–0 win for Lokomotiv-96, after Dinamo-93 boycotted the game due to significant salary delays. Annulled after Dinamo-93 withdrew from competition.

## Belarusian clubs in European Cups

| Round | Team #1 | Agg. | Team #1 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup ||||||
| First round | Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 2–10 | Debrecen | 2–4 | 0–6 |
| 1998–99 UEFA Cup ||||||
| First qualifying round | Belshina Bobruisk | 1–3 | CSKA Sofia | 0–0 | 1–3 |
| 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup ||||||
| Qualifying round | Levski Sofia | 9–2 | Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk | 8–1 | 1–1 |
| 1998–99 UEFA Champions League ||||||
| First qualifying round | Skonto Riga | 2–1 | Dinamo Minsk | 0–0 | 2–1 |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Name | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Sergey Yaromko | Torpedo Minsk | 19 |
| 2 | Valery Strypeykis | Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk | 18 |
| 2 | Raman Vasilyuk | Dinamo Brest | 18 |
| 4 | Pavel Shavrov | Dinamo-93 Minsk / Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 15 |
| 5 | Dzmitry Balashow | Belshina Bobruisk | 14 |
| 6 | Dzmitry Aharodnik | Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 13 |
| 7 | Ihor Chumachenko | Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 10 |
| 8 | Alyaksandr Baranaw | BATE Borisov | 9 |
| 8 | Sergey Vekhtev | Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk | 9 |
| 8 | Dmitry Denisyuk | Slavia Mozyr | 9 |
| 8 | Yawhen Kazlow | Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev | 9 |
| 8 | Oleg Kononov | Torpedo Minsk | 9 |