1998–99 La Liga

The 1998–99 La Liga season was the 68th since its establishment. It began on 29 August 1998, and concluded on 20 June 1999.

La Liga

Season	1998–99
Dates	29 August 1998 – 20 June 1999
Champions	Barcelona 16th title
Relegated	Extremadura (relegation playoff) Villarreal (relegation playoff) Tenerife Salamanca
Champions League	Barcelona Real Madrid Mallorca Valencia
UEFA Cup	Celta Vigo Deportivo La Coruña Atlético Madrid (as Copa del Rey runners-up)
Intertoto Cup	Espanyol
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,003 (2.64 per match)
Top goalscorer	Raúl (25 goals)
Biggest home win	Barcelona 7–1 Alavés (3 January 1999)[1]
Biggest away win	Extremadura 1–5 Real Madrid (31 October 1998)[2]
Highest scoring	Barcelona 7–1 Alavés (3 January 1999)[1] Celta Vigo 6–2 Oviedo (3 January 1999)[3] Athletic Bilbao 3–5 Oviedo (15 November 1998)[4]
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

Promotion and relegation

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Segunda División. The promoted teams were Alavés (playing top flight football for the first time in forty two years), Extremadura (returning after a one-year absence) and Villarreal (playing in the top flight for the first time ever). They replaced Compostela, Mérida and Sporting Gijón after spending time in the top flight for four, one and twenty one years respectively.

Team information

Clubs and locations

Athletic  

Atlético

Barcelona

Betis

Alavés   

Celta

Deportivo   

Espanyol

Extremadura

Mallorca

Oviedo

Racing

Real Madrid

Real Sociedad

Salamanca

Valencia

Valladolid

Villarreal

Zaragoza

Location of teams in La Liga 1998–99

Tenerife

Canary Islands

1998–99 season was composed of the following clubs:

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Barcelona	Camp Nou	98,772
Real Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	80,354
Espanyol	Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc	55,926
Atlético Madrid	Vicente Calderón	55,005
Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Real Betis	Benito Villamarín	52,132
Athletic Bilbao	San Mamés	39,750
Deportivo de La Coruña	Riazor	34,600
Real Zaragoza	La Romareda	34,596
Celta de Vigo	Balaídos	32,500
Real Sociedad	Anoeta	32,200
Valladolid	José Zorrilla	27,846
Tenerife	Heliodoro Rodríguez López	22,824
Racing de Santander	El Sardinero	22,222
Villarreal	El Madrigal	22,000
Alavés	Mendizorrotza	19,840
Mallorca	Lluís Sitjar	18,000
Salamanca	El Helmántico	17,341
Real Oviedo	Carlos Tartiere	16,500
Extremadura	Francisco de la Hera	11,580

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Barcelona (C)	38	24	7	7	87	43	+44	79	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Real Madrid	38	21	5	12	77	62	+15	68
3	Mallorca	38	20	6	12	48	31	+17	66	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
4	Valencia	38	19	8	11	63	39	+24	65
5	Celta Vigo	38	17	13	8	69	41	+28	64	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
6	Deportivo La Coruña	38	17	12	9	55	43	+12	63
7	Espanyol	38	16	13	9	49	38	+11	61	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round
8	Athletic Bilbao[a]	38	17	9	12	53	47	+6	60
9	Zaragoza	38	16	9	13	57	46	+11	57
10	Real Sociedad	38	14	12	12	47	43	+4	54
11	Real Betis	38	14	7	17	47	58	−11	49
12	Valladolid	38	13	9	16	35	44	−9	48
13	Atlético Madrid	38	12	10	16	54	50	+4	46	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[b]
14	Oviedo	38	11	12	15	41	57	−16	45
15	Racing Santander	38	10	12	16	41	53	−12	42
16	Alavés	38	11	7	20	36	63	−27	40
17	Extremadura (R)	38	9	12	17	27	53	−26	39	Qualification for the relegation playoffs
18	Villarreal (R)	38	8	12	18	47	63	−16	36
19	Tenerife (R)	38	7	13	18	41	63	−22	34	Relegation to the Segunda División
20	Salamanca (R)	38	7	6	25	29	66	−37	27

Source: LFP
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) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Despite being qualified and registered, Athletic Bilbao refused to play Intertoto
2. Since Valencia, winners of 1998–99 Copa del Rey, was qualified for the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists Atlético Madrid earned a spot in the first round of the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup.

Results

Home \ Away	ATH	ATM	FCB	BET	CEL	ALV	RCD	ESP	EXT	MLL	RAC	RMA	ROV	RSO	SAL	TEN	VCF	VLD	VIL	ZAR
Athletic Bilbao		1–2	1–3	0–0	0–0	5–0	2–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–3	3–5	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	2–0
Atlético Madrid	0–0		1–1	2–3	2–1	3–0	1–1	1–2	5–0	1–2	1–1	3–1	0–0	4–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	6–1	2–2	0–0
Barcelona	4–2	0–1		4–1	2–2	7–1	4–0	3–0	1–0	2–1	3–2	3–0	3–1	4–1	1–1	4–1	2–4	1–1	1–3	3–1
Betis	1–4	0–0	0–3		0–3	1–0	0–3	0–1	1–1	1–3	1–1	3–2	5–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	4–1	1–3
Celta de Vigo	3–2	0–1	0–0	4–0		1–1	0–0	2–0	5–1	4–2	3–0	5–1	6–2	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–2	0–0	4–1	2–0
Alavés	1–2	2–0	1–4	0–0	2–0		2–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–0
Deportivo La Coruña	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	2–2		1–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	4–0	4–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	3–0	2–1	2–1
Espanyol	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	3–0	3–0	2–2		0–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	4–0	2–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–1
Extremadura	0–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–0		1–0	0–3	1–5	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	0–2
Mallorca	6–1	4–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–0		1–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0
Racing Santander	2–0	2–3	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–2	3–1	1–0		1–3	0–0	0–1	4–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–2	2–4
Real Madrid	0–1	4–2	2–2	0–1	1–2	3–2	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–2		2–1	3–2	3–1	4–0	3–1	3–2	4–1	3–2
Oviedo	0–0	3–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–3	1–0	1–0		2–1	3–2	0–1	2–2	0–0	0–0	1–2
Real Sociedad	3–1	3–2	0–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	2–0	3–2	3–3		4–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0
Salamanca	2–1	2–1	1–4	1–3	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–3	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–1		1–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–2
Tenerife	0–1	1–0	2–3	3–2	0–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	2–3	0–2	2–2	1–0		3–2	2–2	2–2	1–1
Valencia	4–1	1–0	1–3	5–1	2–2	5–0	0–0	1–2	1–1	3–0	3–0	3–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	1–1		0–1	1–0	1–1
Valladolid	0–3	1–0	0–1	0–3	2–1	3–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	4–1	2–1	3–1		1–0	1–1
Villarreal	0–1	2–1	2–3	3–4	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–2	1–1	0–2	3–0	0–2	0–0	1–1	5–0	2–5	1–0	2–1		1–1
Zaragoza	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–2	0–1	1–1	3–1	0–3	3–1	0–1	3–1	3–4	1–0	1–1	2–0	3–1	1–4	2–0	4–0

Source: LFP (in Spanish)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation playoff

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
CF Extremadura	0–4	Rayo Vallecano	0–2	0–2
Villarreal CF	0–3	Sevilla FC	0–2	0–1

First leg

CF Extremadura v Rayo Vallecano

27 June 1999	CF Extremadura	0–2	Rayo Vallecano	Almendralejo
21:00		Report (in Spanish)	Luis Cembranos 7' Llorens 86' (pen.)	Stadium: Francisco de la Hera Attendance: 9,100 Referee: Eduardo Iturralde González

Villarreal CF v Sevilla FC

27 June 1999	Villarreal CF	0–2	Sevilla FC	Villarreal
21:00		Report (in Spanish)	Tsiartas 2', 45'	Stadium: El Madrigal Attendance: 17,000 Referee: Víctor Esquinas Torres

Second leg

Rayo Vallecano v CF Extremadura

30 June 1999	Rayo Vallecano	2–0 (4–0 agg.)	CF Extremadura	Madrid
21:30	Tiago 52' Bolo 55'	Report (in Spanish)		Stadium: Vallecas Attendance: 15,600 Referee: Antonio Jesús López Nieto

Sevilla FC v Villarreal CF

30 June 1999	Sevilla FC	1–0 (3–0 agg.)	Villarreal CF	Seville
21:45	Quevedo 50'	Report (in Spanish)		Stadium: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Attendance: 48,000 Referee: Manuel Mejuto González

Awards

Pichichi Trophy

The Pichichi Trophy is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a season.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Raúl	Real Madrid	25
2	Rivaldo	Barcelona	24
3	Claudio López	Valencia	21
4	Fernando Morientes	Real Madrid	19
	Julio Dely Valdés	Oviedo	19
6	Savo Milošević	Zaragoza	17
7	Darko Kovačević	Real Sociedad	16
	Ismael Urzaiz	Athletic Bilbao
9	Patrick Kluivert	Barcelona	15
10	Turu Flores	Deportivo La Coruña	14
	Roy Makaay	Tenerife
	Lyuboslav Penev	Celta Vigo

• Source: Diario AS (newspaper archive, in paper), copy of the day: Monday 21 June 1999

Zamora Trophy

The Ricardo Zamora Trophy is awarded to the goalkeeper with the lowest ratio of goals conceded to matches played.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals against	Matches	Average
1	Carlos Roa	Mallorca	29	35	0.83
2	Toni	Espanyol	38	38	1
3	Santiago Cañizares	Valencia	39	38	1.03
4	Richard Dutruel	Celta Vigo	39	37	1.05
5	Jacques Songo'o	Deportivo La Coruña	40	37	1.08
6	César	Valladolid	42	38	1.11
	Imanol Etxeberria	Athletic Bilbao	41	37
	Alberto López	Real Sociedad	41	37
9	Ruud Hesp	Barcelona	42	37	1.14
10	Ronny Gaspercic	Extremadura	37	31	1.19

• Source: Diario AS (newspaper archive, in paper), copy of the day: Monday 21 June 1999

Fair Play award

From this season, RFEF develops and publishes annually the Fair Play classification according to the Points System which was agreed by the board of the federation on 30 October 1998 and later expanded and fixed at another meeting and published in the 2nd Mailshot of the 2000–01 season. The classification for this season was computed from the Second legg, in order to experience results.

Rank	Club	Points
1	Extremadura	38
2	Mallorca	45
3	Espanyol	48

• Source: Mundo Deportivo (newspaper archive, web)^[5]

Pedro Zaballa award

Atlético Madrid and Valencia supporters^[6]

See also

• 1998–99 Segunda División
• 1998–99 Copa del Rey