1998 in Russian football was marked by Spartak Moscow's sixth national title.
Russia national football team began their qualification for the Euro 2000.
The Russian league system underwent reorganization for the 1998 season. The "leagues" were renamed "divisions". The Second Division was extended to six zones with 16âÂÂ22 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.
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.
Andradina of Arsenal became the top goalscorer with 27 goals.
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.
The Russian Cup was won by Spartak Moscow, who beat Lokomotiv Moscow 1âÂÂ0 in the final.
Lokomotiv Moscow reached the semifinal of the 1997âÂÂ98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They eliminated AEK Athens in the quarterfinal but were stopped by VfB Stuttgart in the semifinal.
Spartak Moscow reached the semifinal of the 1997âÂÂ98 UEFA Cup after beating Ajax Amsterdam in both quarterfinal matches. However, in the semifinal Internazionale Milano F.C. won both matches against Spartak 2âÂÂ1.
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.
Spartak Moscow qualified for the group stage of the 1998âÂÂ99 UEFA Champions League by defeating PFC Litex Lovech with an aggregate score of 11âÂÂ2. Spartak finished third in Group C with Internazionale Milano F.C., Real Madrid, and SK Sturm Graz.
Lokomotiv Moscow began their way to the 1998âÂÂ99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semifinal by eliminating Arsenal Kyiv and SC Braga in the first two rounds.
Rotor Volgograd were eliminated after the second qualifying round of 1998âÂÂ99 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.