The 1997–98 UEFA Cup was the 27th season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier of club football in Europe organised by UEFA. It was won by Inter Milan of Italy, who beat fellow Italian club SS Lazio 3-0 in the final at the Parc des Princes. It was their third title in eight years in the competition.

It was the first instance of the UEFA Cup final being a one-game contest at a neutral stadium, having previously being decided over two legs with each team having one home game. This was the first tournament where the 2nd placed team of major European leagues went to the Champions League instead of the UEFA Cup.

For first time, one nation (France) was represented by seven teams: Strasbourg, Auxerre, Bastia, Nantes, Lyon, Bordeaux and Metz.

Format According to 1996 UEFA ranking, Spain took a slot to Germany (but this one took the place of the holders), the Netherlands took a place from Russia, while Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Hungary took a slot from Israel, FR Yugoslavia and Poland (but this one took the place of troubled Albania).

The access list was finally decreased to 102 clubs, because only the 16 best national champions excluded from the Champions League group stage entered in the UEFA Cup.

Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Title holders LC: League Cup winners Nth: League position IC: Intertoto Cup winners FP: Fair play CL Q2: Losers from the Champions League second qualifying round

First round Schalke 04 Strasbourg Leicester City Beitar Jerusalem Internazionale Bochum Fenerbahçe MTK Lazio Karlsruhe Wüstenrot Salzburg Dinamo Tbilisi Udinese 1860 Munich Spartak Moscow Skonto Sampdoria Twente Brøndby Maribor Deportivo La Coruña Ajax Sion Jazz Atlético Madrid Vitesse Widzew Łódź MPKC Mozyr Athletic Bilbao Benfica Rangers Auxerre Real Valladolid Braga Steaua București Bastia Nantes Vitória Guimarães Croatia Zagreb Lyon Bordeaux Arsenal Anorthosis Famagusta Aston Villa Metz Liverpool Second qualifying round Trabzonspor OFI Alania Vladikavkaz Malmö FF Club Brugge PAOK Rotor Volgograd Helsingborg Mouscron Rapid Wien Vejle Lillestrøm Anderlecht Tirol Innsbruck AGF Örebro First qualifying round Viking Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Gorica Vojvodina Jablonec Újpest MyPa Flora Boby Brno Ferencváros Dinamo Minsk Birkirkara Neuchâtel Xamax Odra Wodzisław KR Bohemians Grasshopper Hajduk Split Neftochimic Burgas Yerevan Celtic Apollon Limassol Pobeda Grevenmacher Dundee United Hapoel Petah Tikva Inkaras Kaunas KÍ Dinamo București Kolkheti Poti Tiligul Tiraspol Qarabağ Oțelul Galați Spartak Trnava Coleraine Principat Vorskla Poltava Daugava Rīga Inter CableTel Brann Notes

First qualifying round

First leg

Second leg

Celtic won 8–0 on aggregate.

Hajduk Split won 6–1 on aggregate.

Ferencváros won 6–0 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate. Dinamo Minsk won on away goals.

Hapoel Petah Tikva won 3–1 on aggregate.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk won 8–1 on aggregate.

Boby Brno won 7–4 on aggregate.

Apollon Limassol won 4–1 on aggregate.

Neuchâtel Xamax won 10–1 on aggregate.

Grasshopper won 10–1 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate. Viking won 5–4 on penalties.

KR won 4–1 on aggregate.

Jablonec won 8–0 on aggregate.

Spartak Trnava won 4–1 on aggregate.

Odra Wodzisław won 4–2 on aggregate.

Vorskla Poltava won 5–2 on aggregate.

4–4 on aggregate. Brann won on away goals.

Dundee United won 17–0 on aggregate.

4–4 on aggregate. Gorica won on away goals.

Újpest won 9–2 on aggregate.

Second qualifying round

First leg

Second leg

Hajduk Split won 5–2 on aggregate.

Anderlecht won 4–0 on aggregate.

Neuchâtel Xamax won 4–2 on aggregate.

Rotor Volgograd won 6–3 on aggregate.

Trabzonspor won 2–1 on aggregate.

Rapid Wien won 6–3 on aggregate.

Celtic won 7–5 on aggregate.

1–1 on aggregate. Ferencváros won 4–3 on penalties.

Hapoel Petah Tikva won 1–0 on aggregate.

Grasshopper won 3–2 on aggregate.

Club Brugge won 8–3 on aggregate.

PAOK won 6–3 on aggregate.

OFI won 3–1 on aggregate.

1–1 on aggregate. Örebro won on away goals.

Mouscron won 3–0 on aggregate.

Lillestrøm won 3–0 on aggregate.

AGF won 3–2 on aggregate.

Alania Vladikavkaz won 6–2 on aggregate.

First round

First leg

Second leg

Auxerre won 2–1 on aggregate.

Anderlecht won 7–6 on aggregate.

PAOK won 2–1 on aggregate.

Udinese won 3–1 on aggregate.

Ajax won 10–2 on aggregate.

Lyon won 7–3 on aggregate.

Dinamo Tbilisi won 2–1 on aggregate.

Real Valladolid won 2–1 on aggregate.

Lazio won 6–1 on aggregate.

Strasbourg won 4–2 on aggregate.

MTK won 4–1 on aggregate.

Schalke 04 won 5–2 on aggregate.

Bastia won 1–0 on aggregate.

OFI won 4–2 on aggregate.

Athletic Bilbao won 4–1 on aggregate.

Aston Villa won 1–0 on aggregate.

Steaua București won 2–1 on aggregate.

Rotor Volgograd won 6–1 on aggregate.

1860 Munich won 7–1 on aggregate.

Bochum won 6–5 on aggregate.

Croatia Zagreb won 9–4 on aggregate.

Braga won 3–2 on aggregate.

Rapid Wien won 2–1 on aggregate.

Internazionale won 4–0 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate. Liverpool won on away goals.

Metz won 6–1 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate. Twente won on away goals.

Club Brugge won 4–2 on aggregate.

Atlético Madrid won 4–1 on aggregate.

AGF won 3–2 on aggregate.

Karlsruhe won 3–2 on aggregate.

The original 2nd leg game finished 2–2 (scorers: Shirko, Alenichev – Lota 2) on 30 September (Report), but had to be replayed because the goal posts were 8 cm short of the prescribed height. Spartak Moscow won 6–1 on aggregate.

Second round

First leg

Second leg

Strasbourg won 3–2 on aggregate.

Internazionale won 4–3 on aggregate.

Braga won 5–0 on aggregate.

Schalke 04 won 3–1 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate. Ajax won on away goals.

Karlsruhe won 3–1 on aggregate.

Spartak Moscow won 4–1 on aggregate.

Croatia Zagreb won 2–1 on aggregate.

Atlético Madrid won 9–6 on aggregate.

3–3 on aggregate. Steaua București won on away goals.

Aston Villa won 2–1 on aggregate.

Rapid Wien won 4–2 on aggregate.

Lazio won 3–0 on aggregate.

1–1 on aggregate. Twente won on away goals.

Auxerre won 5–4 on aggregate.

Bochum won 4–2 on aggregate.

Third round The draw for the third round was held on 7 November 1997.

First leg

Second leg

Internazionale won 3–2 on aggregate.

Schalke 04 won 2–0 on aggregate.

Spartak Moscow won 1–0 on aggregate.

Atlético Madrid won 2–1 on aggregate.

Aston Villa won 3–2 on aggregate.

Lazio won 3–0 on aggregate.

Auxerre won 3–0 on aggregate.

Ajax won 6–4 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

First leg

Second leg

Internazionale won 2–1 on aggregate.

Spartak Moscow won 4–1 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate. Atlético Madrid won on away goals.

Lazio won 3–2 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Internazionale won 4–2 on aggregate.

Lazio won 1–0 on aggregate.

Final

Top goalscorers RankNameTeamGoals1 Shota Arveladze Ajax7 Stéphane Guivarc'h Auxerre73 Gary McSwegan Dundee United6 Ronaldo Internazionale6 Aleksandr Shirko Spartak Moscow6 Robbie Winters Dundee United67 Mamadou Diallo Lillestrøm5 Nordin Jbari Club Brugge5 Robert Prosinečki Croatia Zagreb5 Oleg Veretennikov Rotor Volgograd5 Christian Vieri Atlético Madrid5

See also 1997–98 UEFA Champions League 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1997 UEFA Intertoto Cup

References

External links

1997–98 All matches UEFA Cup – season at UEFA website Official Site Results at RSSSF.com All scorers 1997–98 UEFA Cup according to (excluding preliminary round) according to + all scorers 1997/98 UEFA Cup - results and line-ups (archive)