# 1998 in Russian football

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 | Score$^1$ | 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 | Teamvte | 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 | 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 (R) | 30 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 17 | 89 | −72 | 8 | Relegation to First Division |
* ↑ 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 | Teamvte | 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 | 42 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 58 | 32 | +26 | 76 | |
| 4 | Kristall Smolensk | 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 | |
| 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 | Relegation to Second Division |
| 20 | Kuban Krasnodar (R) | 42 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 42 | 68 | −26 | 43 | Relegation to Second Division |
| 21 | Irtysh Omsk (R) | 42 | 11 | 8 | 23 | 36 | 58 | −22 | 41 | Relegation to Second Division |
| 22 | KAMAZ-Chally Naberezhnye Chelny (R) | 42 | 7 | 5 | 30 | 32 | 82 | −50 | 26 | Relegation to Second Division |
* ↑ 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.Tooltip Aggregate score | 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.