# 1997–98 Udinese Calcio season

In the 1997-98 season, Udinese Calcio finished third in Serie A, part due to the performances of striker Oliver Bierhoff, who scored 27 league goals in 34 matches. The season was the team's highest final league position since the 1954-55 season.
Bierhoff coach Alberto Zaccheroni and winger Thomas Helveg left for Milan at the end of the season, ensuring Udinese had "much work" to do to maintain its level.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Luigi Turci |
| 2 | DF | DEN | Thomas Helveg |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Orlando |
| 4 | DF | ITA | Valerio Bertotto |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Calori |
| 6 | MF | BEL | Johan Walem |
| 7 | FW | BRA | Márcio Amoroso |
| 8 | DF | GHA | Mohammed Gargo |
| 9 | MF | EGY | Hazem Emam |
| 10 | MF | ITA | Tomas Locatelli |
| 11 | FW | ITA | Paolo Poggi |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Massimiliano Caniato |
| 13 | DF | BEL | Régis Genaux |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Marco Zanchi |
| 16 | MF | ITA | Giuliano Giannichedda |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | GK | ITA | Alessandro Leopizzi |
| 18 | MF | MAR | Adil Ramzi |
| 19 | MF | DEN | Martin Jørgensen |
| 20 | FW | GER | Oliver Bierhoff |
| 21 | MF | ITA | Vito Lasalandra |
| 22 | DF | SEN | Joachim Fernandez |
| 23 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Pierini |
| 24 | DF | ITA | Giovanni Bia |
| 25 | DF | ITA | Gilberto D'Ignazio |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Jonathan Bachini |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Massimiliano Cappioli |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Giorgio Frezzolini |
| 28 | MF | ITA | Francesco Statuto |
| 29 | MF | GHA | Stephen Appiah |
| 30 | DF | ARG | Hector Pineda |
| 31 | GK | ITA | Raffaele Clemente |
| 33 | DF | ARG | Mauro Navas |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| DF | Gilberto D'Ignazio | Vicenza Calcio | |
| DF | Marco Zanchi | Chievo Verona | |
| MF | Adil Ramzi | Kawkab Marrakech | |
| MF | Martin Jørgensen | Aarhus GF | |
| MF | Johan Walem | Anderlecht | |
| MF | Jonathan Bachini | Lecce | loan ended |
| GK | Alessandro Leopizzi | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To |
| GK | Graziano Battistini | Hellas Verona |
| MF | Raffaele Sergio | S.S.C. Napoli |
| MF | Stefano Desideri | Livorno Calcio |
| MF | Luca Compagnon | U.S. Cremonese |
| MF | Marek Koźmiński] | Brescia Calcio |
| DF | Pier Luigi Nicoli | Padova Calcio |
| DF | Fabio Pittilino | Lecce |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| GK | Giorgio Frezzolini | Internazionale | loan |
| MF | Francesco Statuto | A.S. Roma | |
| MF | Stephen Appiah | Hearts of Oak | |
| DF | Mauricio Pineda | Boca Juniors | |
| DF | Mauro Navas | Racing Club | |
| GK | Raffaele Clemente | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To |
| MF | Massimiliano Cappioli | Atalanta B.C. |
| DF | Giovanni Bia | Brescia Calcio |
| MF | Adil Ramzi | Willem II |
| MF | Vito Lasalandra | Fidelis Andria |
| DF | Joachim Fernandez | A.C. Monza |
| GK | Massimiliano Caniato | Chievo Verona |

## Competitions
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Juventus (C) | 34 | 21 | 11 | 2 | 67 | 28 | +39 | 74 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Internazionale | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 62 | 27 | +35 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Udinese | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 62 | 40 | +22 | 64 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 4 | Roma | 34 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 67 | 42 | +25 | 59 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 5 | Fiorentina | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 65 | 36 | +29 | 57 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
* ↑ Fiorentina finished ahead of Parma on head-to-head points: FIO 1–1 PAR; PAR 1–2 FIO.

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | W | W | L | W | D | L | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | D | D | W | L | W | D | D | W | L | D | W | W | L | L | W | L | W | W | W | W |
| Position | 11 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |

#### Matches
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | 1997–98 Serie A | 1997–98 Serie A |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Turci | 31 | -33 | 31 | -33 |
| 4 | DF | ITA | Bertotto | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Calori | 30 | 3 | 30 | 3 |
| 23 | DF | ITA | Pierini | 32 | 1 | 32 | 1 |
| 2 | MF | DEN | Helveg | 28 | 0 | 26+2 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | BEL | Walem | 28 | 2 | 24+4 | 2 |
| 16 | MF | ITA | Giannichedda | 30 | 1 | 30 | 1 |
| 26 | MF | ITA | Bachini | 29 | 2 | 26+3 | 2 |
| 7 | FW | BRA | Amoroso | 25 | 5 | 22+3 | 5 |
| 20 | FW | GER | Bierhoff | 32 | 27 | 31+1 | 27 |
| 11 | FW | ITA | Poggi | 31 | 10 | 26+5 | 10 |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Frezzolini | 2 | -3 | 2 | -3 |
| 10 | MF | ITA | Locatelli | 28 | 3 | 13+15 | 3 |
| 19 | MF | DEN | Jorgensen | 21 | 2 | 11+10 | 2 |
| 28 | MF | ITA | Statuto | 19 | 1 | 8+11 | 1 |
| 29 | MF | GHA | Appiah | 11 | 0 | 5+6 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | ARG | Navas | 10 | 0 | 5+5 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | ARG | Pineda | 8 | -1 | 5+3 | -1 |
| 27 | MF | ITA | Cappioli | 10 | 2 | 4+6 | 2 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Zanchi | 7 | 0 | 3+4 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | ITA | Bia | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | ITA | D'Ignazio | 6 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | BEL | Genaux | 6 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 |
| 9 | MF | EGY | Emam | 7 | 0 | 1+6 | 0 |
| 8 | DF | GHA | Gargo | 4 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Orlando | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Caniato | 1 | -3 | 1 | -3 |
| 17 | GK | ITA | Leopizzi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | MAR | Ramzi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ITA | Lasalandra | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | SEN | Fernandez | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | ITA | Clemente | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/presenze/1997/1140/

### Topscorers

* Oliver Bierhoff 27
* Paolo Poggi 10
* Márcio Amoroso 5
* Alessandro Calori 3
* Tomas Locatelli 3