1998–99 Albanian National Championship

The 1998–99 Albanian National Championship was the 60th season of the Albanian National Championship, the top professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1930. The season began on 29 August 1998 and concluded on 15 May 1999. Vllaznia began the season as defending champions of the 1997–98 season and Burreli was the only team promoted from the Kategoria e Dytë as the league was reduced from 18 teams to 16.^[1]

Albanian National Championship

Season	1998–99
Dates	29 August 1998 – 15 May 1999
Champions	Tirana 18th Albanian title
Relegated	Burreli Laçi Besa
Champions League	Tirana
UEFA Cup	Vllaznia Bylis
Intertoto Cup	Teuta
Matches played	240
Goals scored	618 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorer	Artan Bano (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Vllaznia 8–0 Flamurtari (5 February 1999)
Biggest away win	Teuta 0–5 Tirana (24 November 1998)
Highest scoring	Burreli 4–4 Dinamo (30 October 1998) Vllaznia 8–0 Flamurtari (5 February 1999) Laçi 5–3 Skënderbeu (7 May 1999)
← 1997–98 1999–00 →

Tirana won their 18th Albanian title, having finished as runners-up during the previous season. The newly promoted club Burreli were the first team to be relegated, and they were followed by Laçi and Besa down to the Kategoria e Dytë.

Teams

Promotion and relegation

A total of 16 teams competed in the 1998–99 season, 2 less than the previous where 18 teams competed. Of these 16 teams, 15 of them were from the 1997–98 season with Burreli being the only promoted side from the Kategoria e Dytë. 3 sides from the 1997–98 season were relegated, and they were Shqiponja, Sopoti and Albpetrol.

Stadia and last season

Apolonia

Besa

Burreli

Bylis

Dinamo Tirana

Elbasani

Flamurtari

Laçi

Lushnja

Partizani

Skënderbeu

Shkumbini

Teuta

Tirana

Tomori

Vllaznia

Locations of the 1998–99 Albanian National Championship teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Last season
Apolonia	Fier	Loni Papuçiu Stadium	10,000	7th
Besa	Kavajë	Besa Stadium	8,000	14th
Burreli	Burrel	Liri Ballabani Stadium	2,500	Kategoria e Dytë
Bylis	Ballsh	Adush Muça Stadium	6,000	13th
Dinamo Tirana	Tirana	Qemal Stafa Stadium[note 1]	19,700	12th
Elbasani	Elbasan	Ruzhdi Bizhuta Stadium	15,000	6th
Flamurtari	Vlorë	Flamurtari Stadium	15,000	15th
Laçi	Laç	Laçi Stadium	5,000	8th
Lushnja	Lushnjë	Abdurrahman Roza Haxhiu Stadium	12,000	9th
Partizani	Tirana	Qemal Stafa Stadium	19,700	3rd
Skënderbeu	Korçë	Skënderbeu Stadium	12,000	11th
Shkumbini	Peqin	Shkumbini Stadium	6,000	4th
Teuta	Durrës	Niko Dovana Stadium	12,040	5th
Tirana	Tirana	Qemal Stafa Stadium	19,700	2nd
Tomori	Berat	Tomori Stadium	14,750	10th
Vllaznia	Shkodër	Loro Boriçi Stadium	15,000	Champions

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Tirana (C)	30	18	7	5	48	20	+28	61	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Vllaznia	30	18	6	6	57	18	+39	60	Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round[a]
3	Bylis	30	18	5	7	51	19	+32	59
4	Tomori	30	13	7	10	31	25	+6	46
5	Lushnja	30	14	2	14	52	40	+12	44
6	Dinamo Tirana	30	11	7	12	37	37	0	40
7	Shkumbini	30	12	4	14	30	38	−8	40
8	Teuta	30	12	4	14	28	48	−20	40	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup first round
9	Elbasani	30	11	6	13	30	30	0	39
10	Partizani	30	10	9	11	37	46	−9	39
11	Flamurtari	30	11	5	14	40	47	−7	38
12	Skënderbeu	30	12	2	16	44	53	−9	38
13	Apolonia	30	10	7	13	32	42	−10	37
14	Besa (R)	30	10	6	14	25	40	−15	36	Relegation to the 1999–2000 Kategoria e Dytë
15	Laçi (R)	30	9	6	15	36	55	−19	33
16	Burreli (R)	30	8	3	19	40	60	−20	27

Source: Soccerway, RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Bylis qualified for the UEFA Cup qualifying round due to Tirana winning the league as well as the 1998–99 Albanian Cup, meaning their place in the UEFA Cup was awarded to the cup runners-up Vllaznia, who also finished as runners-up in the league, meaning that their place in the UEFA Cup through the league route was awarded to Bylis.

Results

Home \ Away	APO	BES	BUR	BYL	DIN	ELB	FLA	LAÇ	LUS	PAR	SKË	SKU	TEU	TIR	TOM	VLL
Apolonia		1–0	2–0[a]	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	4–2	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–0
Besa	1–0		4–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–0
Burreli	2–0	2–3		1–2	4–4	2–0	0–2	1–3	4–1	2–3	4–2	3–0	3–0	0–0	2–1	1–0
Bylis	4–1	2–1	5–1		1–0	3–0	4–0	4–1	1–0	2–0	5–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–0	2–2
Dinamo	3–1	1–0	0–0	2–1		2–1	3–1	3–1	2–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–1
Elbasani	1–0	4–1	3–1	1–0	0–0		2–1	3–0	1–0	1–2	3–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	1–1
Flamurtari	1–1	4–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–1		3–0	3–1	0–0	3–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	3–2	0–0
Laçi	4–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	4–2		0–2	2–3	5–3	1–1	2–0	3–3	0–0	0–1
Lushnja	3–1	4–0	3–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	3–2	3–1		3–0	5–1	3–0	2–0	6–1	1–0	1–2
Partizani	2–2	2–1	3–1	1–2	2–2	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–1		0–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–1
Skënderbeu	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–3	2–0	4–1	4–1	2–1	4–0		3–1	5–0	0–1	2–0	0–2[a]
Shkumbini	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–0	5–0	2–1	2–0	1–0		4–1	1–2	0–0	1–0
Teuta	1–1	2–0	3–0	2–1	3–2	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	2–0		0–5	1–0	1–0
Tirana	2–0	2–0	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	2–2	2–0[a]	4–1	3–0		3–0	1–0
Tomori	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	4–0	2–0	1–0		1–0
Vllaznia	4–2	5–0	4–1	2–0	1–3	3–1	8–0	2–0	3–0	2–0	4–0	4–1	3–0	1–0	1–0

Source: RSSSF.org
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Match awarded.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Artan Bano	Lushnja	22
2	Rigels Qose	Skënderbeu	19
3	Vioresin Sinani	Vllaznia	14
4	Bardhyl Elezi	Lushnja	12
	Klodian Asllani	Bylis
6	Hekuran Jakupi	Bylis	10
	Fjodor Xhafa	Flamurtari
8	Vladimir Gjoni	Burreli	10
	Fatjon Ymeri	Dinamo Tirana
	Daniel Xhafa	Flamurtari

^[2]

Notes

1. Dinamo Tirana, Partizani and Tirana all shared the Qemal Stafa Stadium as well as the Selman Stërmasi Stadium.