# Primera División de Fútbol Profesional – Apertura 1998

The Primera División de Fútbol Profesional Apertura 1998 season (officially "Copa Pilsener Apertura 1999") is one of two short tournaments that take up the entire year to determine the champion(s) of Salvadoran football. The season started on August 28, 1998, and finished on December 27, 1998.
The season saw Alianza win its 7th league title after a 1-0 victory over C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo in the final.

## Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted
* Santa Clara
Teams relegated
* None

### Notable death from middle of 1999 season and end of 1998 season

The following people associated with the Primera Division have died between the middle of 1998 and end of 1998.
* Oscar Armando "tito" Diaz (ex Municipal Limeno and FAS player)

## Table

Apertura 1998
* Firpo 33 puntos
* Alianza 32 puntos
* FAS 29 puntos
* Águila 29 puntos

## Managerial changes
### Before the season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| FAS | Nelson Brizuela | Contract finished, went on to be Limeno coach | July 1998 | Oscar Benitez | July 1998 |
| Sonsonate | Cristo Farfan Velasquez | Contract finished | July 1998 | Ricardo López Tenorio | July 1998 |
| Municipal Limeno | Antonio Carlos Vieira | Contract finished, Went on to be Aguila coach | July 1998 | Nelson Brizuela | July 1998 |
| Aguila | Lazaro Buchilion | Interimship ended | July 1998 | Antonio Carlos Vieira | July 1998 |
| Dragon | Saúl Molina | Contract finished | July 1998 | Moses Alberto Victor Magana | July 1998 |
| Alianza | Jose Mario Figueroa | Contract finished | July 1998 | Rubén Alonso | July 1998 |
| Santa Clara | Rubén Guevara | Contract finished | 1998 | Eduardo Lara Moscote | 1998 |

### During the season

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Aguila | Antonio Carlos Vieira | Sacked | October 1998 | Miloš Miljanić | October 1998 | 7th |
| ADET | Victor Manuel Pacheco | Sacked | October 1998 | Luis Angel Leon | October 1998 | 9th |
| TBD | TBD | Sacked | 1998 | TBD | 1998 | 10th |

## Team information
### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Chairman | Head Coach | Kitmaker | Shirt sponsor |
| ADET | | Victor Manuel Pacheco | TBD | TBD |
| Águila | | Antonio Carlos Vieira | Garcis | Gigante express, Oralite |
| Alianza | Óscar Rodríguez | Ruben Alonso | lanzera | TBD |
| Árabe Marte | Mauricio Vargas | Armando Contreras Palma | TBD | Biggest, Pepsi |
| C.D. Dragon | TBD | Moses Alberto Victor Magana | TBD | TBD |
| FAS | TBD | Oscar Benitez | ABA Sport | LG |
| Firpo | TBD | Julio Escobar | Galaxia | Pepsi, Tapachulteca |
| Municipal Limeño | TBD | Nelson Brizuela | Aviva | El Globo |
| Santa Clara | TBD | Eduardo Lara Moscote | TBD | TBD |
| Sonsonate | TBD | Ricardo López Tenorio | TBD | TBD |

## Semifinals 2nd leg

LA Firpo won 1-0 on aggregare
Alianza won 3-2 on aggregare

## Final

Alianza :
| GK | 1 | Luis Guevara Mora |
| DF | 32 | Óscar Navarro |
| DF | 5 | Mario Elias Guevara |
| DF | 22 | Alexander Merino |
| DF | 4 | Gerardo Galán |
| MF | 15 | Hector Lopez |
| MF | 18 | Milton Meléndez |
| MF | 14 | Alejandro Curbelo |
| MF | 10 | Adonai Martínez |
| FW | 9 | Elias Montes |
| FW | 20 | Elmer Acevedo |
| Substitutes: |||
| FW | | Argueta 54' |
| MF | | Rodrigo Osorio |
| MF | | Washington de la Cruz |
| Manager: |||
| Rubén Alonso ||||
Firpo: :
| GK | Misael Alfaro |
| DF | Carlos Hernández |
| DF | Mauricio Do Santos |
| DF | Leonel Cárcamo |
| DF | Wilfredo Iraheta |
| MF | Rene Oswaldo Duran |
| MF | Abraham Monterrosa |
| MF | Raul Toro |
| MF | Guillermo García |
| FW | Arnoldo Coreas |
| FW | Celio Rodriguez |
| Substitutes: ||
| MF | Alfredo Pérez |
| MF | Carlos Castro |
| GK | Carlos Rivera |
| Manager: |||
| Julio Escobar ||||
* Apertura 1998 champion
* Alianza F.C. 7th title

## Top scorers

| Pos | Player | Team | Goals |
| 1. | Rodrigo Osorio | Alianza F.C. | 11 |
| 2. | Elias Montes | Alianza F.C. | 8 |
| 3. | Fredy Gonzales Vichez | FAS | 8 |
| 4. | Jose Rene Martinez | Sonsonate F.C. | 8 |
| 5. | Rudis Corrales | Municipal Limeno | 7 |
| 6. | Celio Rodriguez | Firpo | 6 |
| 7. | Santos Cabrera | Municipal Limeno | 6 |
| 8. | Julo Olviera Ascue | Atletico Marte | 6 |
| 9. | Hector Aaron Canjura | ADET | 5 |
| 10. | Miguel Mariano | FAS | 5 |

## List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in Apertura 1998. The following players:
* have played at least one apertura game for the respective club.
* have not been capped for the El Salvador national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace