The 1998 Belarusian Premier League was the eighth season of top-tier football in Belarus. It started on April 12 and ended on October 31, 1998. Dinamo Minsk were the defending champions.
Team changes from 1997 season Two worst teams of the last season (Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev and Shakhtyor Soligorsk) relegated to the First League. They were replaced by two best clubs of 1996 First League (FC Gomel and BATE Borisov).
In the early days of January it was announced that Transmash Mogilev ceased to exist as an independent club merged with Dnepr Mogilev (with the latter being renamed to Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev). Ataka Minsk, who suffered heavy financial troubles, let go all their senior team players and failed to confirm their participation in the new season by a deadline in early March. A week later BFF announced that Ataka Minsk were excluded from the league and that two vacant places (left by Transmash and Ataka) are being filled by Torpedo-Kadino Mogilev and Shakhtyor Soligorsk, both of whom were spared from relegation.
Before the start of the season, MPKC Mozyr changed their name to Slavia Mozyr.
Overview Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev won their 1st champions title and qualified for the next season's Champions League. The championship runners-up BATE Borisov as well as bronze medalists and 1998–99 Cup winners Belshina Bobruisk qualified for UEFA Cup. Kommunalnik Slonim finished on last, 15th place and relegated to First League. Dinamo-93 Minsk dissolved and withdrew from the championship after 15 rounds. They were excluded from the final table and their results were annulled.
Teams and venues
TeamLocationVenueCapacityPosition in 1997Dinamo MinskMinskDinamo Stadium (Minsk)40,0001BelshinaBobruiskSpartak Stadium (Bobruisk)2,5002Lokomotiv-96VitebskDinamo Stadium (Vitebsk)5,5003Dnepr-TransmashMogilevSpartak Stadium (Mogilev)11,2004Dinamo-93MinskOrbita Stadium2,0005SlaviaMozyrYunost Stadium (Mozyr)6,5006Dinamo BrestBrestDinamo Stadium (Brest)3,0007TorpedoMinskTorpedo Stadium (Minsk)5,0008Naftan-DevonNovopolotskAtlant Stadium6,5009NemanGrodnoNeman Stadium15,00010KommunalnikSlonimYunost Stadium (Slonim)2,00011MolodechnoMolodechnoCity Stadium (Molodechno)5,50013Torpedo-KadinoMogilevTorpedo Stadium (Mogilev)7,00015ShakhtyorSoligorskStroitel Stadium5,00016GomelGomelCentral Stadium10,000First league, 1BATEBorisovCity Stadium (Borisov)3,500First league, 2
Table
Results
Belarusian clubs in European Cups RoundTeam #1Agg.Team #11st leg2nd leg1998 UEFA Intertoto CupFirst roundDnepr-Transmash Mogilev 2–10 Debrecen2–40–61998–99 UEFA CupFirst qualifying roundBelshina Bobruisk 1–3 CSKA Sofia0–01–31998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' CupQualifying roundLevski Sofia 9–2 Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk8–11–11998–99 UEFA Champions LeagueFirst qualifying roundSkonto Riga 2–1 Dinamo Minsk0–02–1
Top scorers RankNameTeamGoals 1 Sergey Yaromko Torpedo Minsk 19 2 Valery Strypeykis Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk 18 Raman Vasilyuk Dinamo Brest 18 4 Pavel Shavrov Dinamo-93 Minsk / Shakhtyor Soligorsk 15 5 Dzmitry Balashow Belshina Bobruisk 14 6 Dzmitry Aharodnik Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 13 7 Ihor Chumachenko Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 10 8 Alyaksandr Baranaw BATE Borisov 9 Sergey Vekhtev Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk 9 Dmitry Denisyuk Slavia Mozyr 9 Yawhen Kazlow Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 9 Oleg Kononov Torpedo Minsk 9
See also 1998 Belarusian First League 1997–98 Belarusian Cup 1998–99 Belarusian Cup
External links RSSSF