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 Score1 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
  1. 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

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.

PWDLFAGDPts
P1Saturn42241267334+3984
P2Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod42238116534+3177
3Sokol42211385832+2676
4Kristall42233165947+1272
5Arsenal421811136553+1265
6Lada-Grad42197166563+264
7Rubin42196175650+663
8Dynamo421615115140+1163
9Gazovik-Gazprom42186185358–560
10Fakel42179165445+960
11Lokomotiv Chita42178176050+1059
12Anzhi42176194756–957
13Metallurg42168184150–956
14Tom421511165445+956
15Spartak421511164952–356
16Lokomotiv Saint Petersburg421411173841–353
PO17Neftekhimik42157204456–1252
R18Druzhba421311184555–1050
R19Lada-Togliatti-VAZ42159185270–18481
R20Kuban421013194268–2643
R21Irtysh42118233658–2241
R22KAMAZ-Chally4275303282–50202

1 Lada-Togliatti-VAZ were docked 6 points for not building pitch heating system
2 KAMAZ-Chally were docked 6 points for not paying transfer fee in time

Brazil 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

Torpedo-ZIL won the play-off and were promoted to the First Division at the expense of Neftekhimik.

Team 1 Agg. 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 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1997-98. 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 UEFA Cup 1997-98 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 UEFA Champions League 1998-99 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 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1998-99 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 UEFA Cup 1998-99, 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.

References

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