1997–98 Cypriot First Division

The 1997–98 Cypriot First Division was the 59th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. Anorthosis won their 9th title.

Cypriot First Division

Season	1997–98
Champions	Anorthosis (9th title)
Relegated	Anagennisi APOP Ethnikos Assia
Champions League	Anorthosis (1st qualifying round)
UEFA Cup	Omonia (1st qualifying round)
Cup Winners' Cup	Apollon (qualifying round; via Cypriot Cup)
Intertoto Cup	Ethnikos Achna (1st round)
Matches played	182
Goals scored	657 (3.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Rainer Rauffmann (42 goals)[1]
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Format

Fourteen teams participated in the 1997–98 Cypriot First Division. All teams played against each other twice, once at their home and once away. The team with the most points at the end of the season crowned champions. The last three teams were relegated to the 1998–99 Cypriot Second Division.

The champions ensured their participation in the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League and the runners-up in the 1998–99 UEFA Cup.

The teams had to declare their interest to participate in the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup before the end of the championship. At the end of the championship, the higher placed team among the interested ones participated in the Intertoto Cup (if they had not secured their participation in any other UEFA competition).

Point system

Teams received three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss.

Changes from previous season

Aris Limassol, Olympiakos Nicosia and APEP were relegated from previous season and played in the 1997–98 Cypriot Second Division. They were replaced by the first three teams of the 1996–97 Cypriot Second Division, AEL Limassol, Evagoras Paphos and Ethnikos Assia.

Stadia and locations

APOEL
Omonia

Anorthosis

AEL
Apollon

AEK, Alki

Enosis Neon Paralimni

Nea Salamina

Ethnikos Ac.

APOP
Evagoras

Anagennisi

Ethnikos As.

1997–98 Cypriot First Division

Club	Venue
ΑΕΚ	GSZ Stadium
AEL	Tsirion Stadium
Alki	GSZ Stadium
Anagennisi	Anagennisi Football Ground
Anorthosis	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium
APOEL	Makario Stadium
Apollon	Tsirion Stadium
APOP	Pafiako Stadium
Ethnikos Achna	Dasaki Stadium
Ethnikos Assia	Kykkos Stadium
Enosis	Paralimni Municipal Stadium
Evagoras	Pafiako Stadium
Nea Salamina	Ammochostos Stadium
Omonia	Makario Stadium

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Anorthosis (C)	26	21	3	2	87	18	+69	66	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Omonia	26	19	5	2	90	20	+70	62	Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Apollon	26	16	7	3	50	25	+25	55	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round[a]
4	Ethnikos Achna	26	13	8	5	35	28	+7	47	Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
5	AEK	26	9	7	10	42	40	+2	34
6	Enosis Neon Paralimni	26	10	3	13	45	49	−4	33
7	APOEL	26	8	7	11	48	51	−3	31
8	Nea Salamis	26	10	1	15	43	59	−16	31
9	AEL	26	7	8	11	37	50	−13	29
10	Alki	26	9	2	15	46	65	−19	29
11	Evagoras	26	8	5	13	29	52	−23	29
12	Anagennisi (R)	26	7	6	13	37	65	−28	27	Relegation to Cypriot Second Division
13	APOP (R)	26	7	5	14	40	59	−19	26
14	Ethnikos Assia (R)	26	3	3	20	28	76	−48	12

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal differences, 3) Goals for.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Apollon qualified to 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup because Cypriot Cup winner, Anorthosis, already qualified to UEFA Champions League.

Results

Home \ Away	AEK	AEL	ALK	ANG	ANR	APN	APL	APP	EAC	EAS	ENP	EVG	NSL	OMO
AEK		3–1	1–4	1–3	1–1	3–2	1–1	2–2	1–2	0–1	5–1	5–1	1–3	0–1
AEL	0–0		1–4	3–1	2–3	1–3	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	1–3	0–4
Alki	1–3	1–2		4–1	1–4	3–3	2–3	1–3	7–2	1–0	1–4	1–0	3–2	3–5
Anagennisi	2–2	0–1	1–2		0–5	1–1	0–2	1–1	4–1	3–2	1–2	1–0	2–0	0–7
Anorthosis	3–0	5–1	3–1	5–0		1–0	4–2	7–0	5–0	0–2	4–1	6–0	7–1	0–1
APOEL	0–2	3–1	4–2	3–6	0–1		2–2	1–1	1–3	1–1	2–3	2–0	5–0	0–0
Apollon	2–0	0–0	2–0	4–1	1–1	3–1		2–1	4–0	1–2	2–1	3–1	2–0	3–0
APOP	2–1	3–3	5–1	1–0	0–4	3–4	1–2		3–2	1–2	2–3	3–0	1–2	2–4
Ethnikos Assia	1–4	2–5	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–4	1–2	0–2		1–2	1–2	2–4	1–5	0–1
Ethnikos Achna	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–3	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0		1–0	0–0	4–1	0–0
Enosis	2–0	3–3	2–2	2–3	0–2	0–2	0–1	3–0	2–1	6–1		1–1	2–3	1–3
Evagoras	2–2	2–1	1–0	2–2	0–6	4–2	1–3	1–0	2–2	1–2	1–0		2–0	1–3
Nea Salamis	1–2	1–3	0–1	2–2	0–3	6–1	2–0	2–1	3–1	0–1	2–3	3–1		0–3
Omonia	0–1	5–1	8–0	10–1	2–2	1–1	2–2	8–1	8–0	4–0	2–0	2–0	6–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

See also

• Cypriot First Division
• 1997–98 Cypriot Cup
• List of top goalscorers in Cypriot First Division by season
• Cypriot football clubs in European competitions