# 1998 Russian Top Division

Spartak Moscow won their third consecutive Russian title, and sixth overall.

## Overview

| Team | Head coach |
| FC Spartak Moscow | Oleg Romantsev |
| PFC CSKA Moscow | Pavel Sadyrin (until July) Oleg Dolmatov (from July) |
| FC Lokomotiv Moscow | Yuri Syomin |
| FC Rotor Volgograd | Viktor Prokopenko |
| FC Zenit St. Petersburg | Anatoliy Byshovets (until September) Anatoli Davydov (caretaker, from September) |
| FC Rostselmash Rostov-on-Don | Sergey Andreyev |
| FC Uralan Elista | Vitaliy Shevchenko |
| FC Alania Vladikavkaz | Valery Gazzaev |
| FC Dynamo Moscow | Adamas Golodets (until June) Georgi Yartsev (from June) |
| FC Chernomorets Novorossiysk | Oleg Dolmatov (until July) Sergei Butenko (from July) |
| FC Torpedo Moscow | Aleksandr Tarkhanov (until May) Valentin Ivanov (from May) |
| FC Krylia Sovetov Samara | Aleksandr Averyanov |
| FC Zhemchuzhina Sochi | Anatoly Baidachny |
| FC Shinnik Yaroslavl | Pyotr Shubin (until May) David Kipiani (from May) |
| FC Baltika Kaliningrad | Leonid Tkachenko |
| FC Tyumen | Aleksandr Ignatenko |

## Standings

| Pos | Team | 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

## Results

| Home \ Away | ALA | BAL | CHE | CSK | DYN | KRY | LOK | ROS | ROT | SHI | SPA | TOR | TYU | URE | ZEN | ZHE |
| Alania Vladikavkaz | | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 6–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Baltika Kaliningrad | 1–3 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 |
| Chernomorets Novorossiysk | 1–2 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| CSKA Moscow | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 |
| Dynamo Moscow | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 4–1 |
| Krylia Sovetov Samara | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Lokomotiv Moscow | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 4–3 |
| Rostselmash | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | | 2–2 | 3–2 | 3–3 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Rotor Volgograd | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 5–1 | | 6–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Shinnik Yaroslavl | 3–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Spartak Moscow | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 7–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Torpedo Moscow | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 5–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| Tyumen | 0–2 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 0–6 | 1–2 | | 1–3 | 0–5 | 0–1 |
| Uralan Elista | 3–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | | 0–3 | 2–0 |
| Zenit St. Petersburg | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 1–0 |
| Zhemchuzhina Sochi | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 2–6 | 2–1 | |

## Season statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of matches played on 30 October 1998.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Oleg Veretennikov | Rotor | 22 |
| 2 | Georgi Demetradze | Alania | 14 |
| 2 | Vladimir Kulik | CSKA | 14 |
| 2 | Yury Matveyev | Rostselmash | 14 |
| 5 | Oleg Teryokhin | Dynamo | 12 |
| 6 | Valery Yesipov | Rotor | 11 |
| 7 | Ilya Tsymbalar | Spartak Moscow | 10 |
| 8 | Sergei Semak | CSKA | 9 |
| 8 | Yevgeny Durnev | Uralan | 9 |
| 8 | Vyacheslav Geraschenko | Chernomorets | 9 |
| 8 | Viktor Bulatov | Torpedo | 9 |

## Medal squads

* 1. FC Spartak Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Aleksandr Filimonov (29), Andrei Smetanin (2).
* Defenders: Dmytro Parfenov (29 / 1), Dmitri Khlestov (23 / 1), Sergei Gorlukovich (21 / 1), Dmitri Ananko (19), Miroslav Romaschenko (18 / 3), Yevgeni Bushmanov (14 / 1), Vadim Evseev (6), Konstantin Golovskoy (1).
* Midfielders: Andrey Tikhonov (30 / 4), Ilya Tsymbalar (29 / 10), Yegor Titov (29 / 6), Aleksei Melyoshin (16 / 1), Vasili Baranov (14 / 3), Dmitri Alenichev (13 / 2), Leandro Samaroni (10).
* Forwards: Anatoli Kanishchev (24 / 6), Luis Robson (20 / 3), Nikolai Pisarev (17 / 7), Maksim Buznikin (14 / 3), Aleksandr Shirko (13 / 5). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
* One own goal scored by Aleksandr Yeshchenko (FC Zhemchuzhina Sochi).
* Manager: Oleg Romantsev.
* Transferred out during the season: Dmitri Alenichev (to A.S. Roma), Vadim Evseev (to FC Torpedo Moscow), Konstantin Golovskoy (to FC Dynamo Moscow).
* 2. PFC CSKA Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Andrei Novosadov (20), Ihor Kutepov (10).
* Defenders: Yevgeni Varlamov (29 / 1), Oleg Kornaukhov (28 / 3), Maksim Bokov (27 / 1), Valeri Minko (25 / 1), Aleksandr Shchyogolev (9), Dmitri Sennikov (7), Vladimir Isakov (1).
* Midfielders: Dmitri Khomukha (30 / 8), Sergei Semak (29 / 9), Sergei Filippenkov (27 / 5), Aleksandr Grishin (27), Aleksandr Gerasimov (24 / 1), Aleksei Savelyev (20 / 2), Andrei Tsaplin (16 / 1), Aleksandr Borodkin (14 / 2), Dmitri Kuznetsov (12), Aleksei Babenko (11), Oleksandr Shutov (9 / 1), Sergei Shustikov (6).
* Forwards: Vladimir Kulik (30 / 14), Sergey Korovushkin (4).
* One own goal scored by Vyacheslav Tsaryov (FC Uralan Elista).
* Manager: Pavel Sadyrin (until July), Oleg Dolmatov (from July).
* Transferred out during the season: Dmitri Kuznetsov (to FC Arsenal Tula), Aleksandr Shchyogolev (to FC Fakel Voronezh), Dmitri Sennikov (to FC Shinnik Yaroslavl), Sergei Shustikov (to Racing Santander).
* 3. FC Lokomotiv Moscow
* Goalkeepers: Ruslan Nigmatullin (30), Khasanbi Bidzhiyev (1).
* Defenders: Igor Chugainov (30 / 4), Sergei Gurenko (29), Andrei Lavrik (24 / 1), Andrei Solomatin (23), Igor Cherevchenko (21 / 1), Aleksei Arifullin (13), Sargis Hovhannisyan (12 / 1), Oleg Pashinin (10).
* Midfielders: Yevgeni Kharlachyov (27 / 1), Yuri Drozdov (26 / 1), Vladimir Maminov (19 / 3), Dmitri Loskov (18 / 4), Aleksandr Borodyuk (15 / 8), Bakhva Tedeyev (15 / 1), Aleksei Kosolapov (10 / 2), Albert Sarkisyan (9 / 3), Aleksandr Smirnov (3).
* Forwards: Zaza Janashia (28 / 8), Oleh Haras (16 / 2), Dmitri Bulykin (14 / 3), Mikalay Ryndzyuk (8), Vitali Veselov (5 / 1), Oleg Sergeyev (1).
* One own goal scored by Sergei Zhuravlyov (FC Tyumen).
* Manager: Yuri Syomin.
* Transferred out during the season: Alexei Kosolapov (to Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.).