| Season: | 1998 |
| Mlscup: | Chicago Fire (1st title) |
| Shield: | Los Angeles Galaxy (1st shield) |
| Continentalcup1: | CONCACAF Champions' Cup |
| League Topscorer: | Stern John (26 goals) |
| Matches: | 192 |
| Total Goals: | 701 |
| Longest Wins: | Chicago Fire Games: 11 (05/16 – 07/09) |
| Longest Losses: | New England Revolution Games: 9 (05/13 – 07/04) |
| Highest Attendance: | 56,404 MET 4–2 MIA (May 23, 1998) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 4,130 KC 1–0 CHI (April 8, 1998) |
| Attendance: | 2,747,897 |
| Average Attendance: | 14,312 |
| Nextseason: | 1999 |
The 1998 Major League Soccer season was the third season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 86th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 20th with a national first-division league.
The Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion played their inaugural seasons as the league's first two expansion teams.
The NY/NJ MetroStars dropped the New York/New Jersey from their name and rebranded as just MetroStars, with no city, state or regional name attached to it.
The regular season began on March 15, and concluded on September 27. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on September 30, and concluded with MLS Cup on October 25. Chicago became the first expansion team to win MLS Cup and the first to win it in its inaugural season.
The season began on March 15 and concluded with MLS Cup on October 25. The 12 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference four times, for a total of 20 games. The remaining schedule consisted of two games against each team from the opposite conference.
The top four teams from each conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The conference semifinals and finals were played as a best-of-three series, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup. In all rounds, draws were broken by penalty shootout if necessary. The away goals rule was not used in any round.
The team with the most points in the regular season was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified automatically for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. Additionally, the winner of MLS Cup, and the runner-up, also qualified for the Champions' Cup.
See main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums.
| Team | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Fire | Soldier Field | 66,944 | |
| Colorado Rapids | Mile High Stadium | 76,273 | |
| Columbus Crew | Ohio Stadium | 102,329 | |
| D.C. United | RFK Stadium | 46,000 | |
| Dallas Burn | Cotton Bowl | 92,100 | |
| Kansas City Wizards | Arrowhead Stadium | 81,425 | |
| Los Angeles Galaxy | Rose Bowl | 92,542 | |
| MetroStars | Giants Stadium | 80,200 | |
| Miami Fusion | Lockhart Stadium | 20,450 | |
| New England Revolution | Foxboro Stadium | 60,292 | |
| San Jose Clash | Spartan Stadium | 30,456 | |
| Tampa Bay Mutiny | Houlihan's Stadium | 74,301 |
| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Incoming coach | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa Bay Mutiny |  John Kowalski | Resigned | June 6, 1998 |  Tim Hankinson | June 8, 1998 | |
| Miami Fusion |  Carlos Cordoba | Fired | July 24, 1998 |  Ivo Wortmann | July 25, 1998 | |
| New England Revolution | Thomas Rongen | Fired | August 24, 1998 |  Walter Zenga | August 24, 1998 | |
| MetroStars | Alfonso Mondelo | Fired | September 21, 1998 | Bora Milutinović | September 21, 1998 |
Eastern Conference
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Western Conference
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Eastern Conference
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Western Conference
See main article: MLS Cup 1998.
See main article: List of Major League Soccer hat-tricks.
| Player | Club | Against | Result | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–1 | |||||
| 7–4 | |||||
| 3–4 | |||||
| 3–1 | |||||
| 3–1 | |||||
| 5–1 | |||||
| 8–1 | |||||
| 4–1 | |||||
| 6–1 | |||||
| 5–3 | |||||
| 5–1 | |||||
| 3–2 | |||||
| 5–1 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Eduardo Hurtado | MetroStars | 14 |
| 2 | Marco Etcheverry | D.C. United | 13 |
| 3 | Jerzy Podbrożny | Chicago Fire | 12 |
| 4 | Joe-Max Moore | New England Revolution | 11 |
| 5 | Adrián Paz | Colorado Rapids | 10 |
| 6 |  Ronald Cerritos | San Jose Clash | 9 |
| Paul Dougherty | MetroStars | ||
| Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | ||
| 9 | 10 players | 8 | |
| Week | Player | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| March | Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| April | Juergen Sommer | Columbus Crew | |
| May | Piotr Nowak | Chicago Fire | |
| June | Ross Paule | Colorado Rapids | |
| July | Roy Lassiter | D.C. United | |
| August | Stern John | Columbus Crew | |
| September | Diego Serna | Miami Fusion |
| Player of the Week | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Player | Club | |
| Week 1 | Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 2 | Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 3 | Frank Klopas | Chicago Fire | |
| Week 4 | Jason Farrell | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 5 | Stern John | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 6 | Paul Bravo | Colorado Rapids | |
| Week 7 | Tony Meola | MetroStars | |
| Week 8 | Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 9 | Vitalis Takawira | Kansas City Wizards | |
| Week 10 | Peter Nowak | Chicago Fire | |
| Week 11 | Stern John | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 12 | Jerzy Podbrożny | Chicago Fire | |
| Week 13 | Zach Thornton | Chicago Fire | |
| Week 14 | Roman Kosecki | Chicago Fire | |
| Week 15 | Luboš Kubík | Chicago Fire | |
| Week 16 | John Harkes | D.C. United | |
| Week 17 | Roy Lassiter | D.C. United | |
| Week 18 | Marco Etcheverry | D.C. United | |
| Week 19 | Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 20 | Stern John | Columbus Crew | |
| Week 21 | Cobi Jones | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 22 | Diego Serna | Miami Fusion | |
| Week 23 | Carlos Hermosillo | Los Angeles Galaxy | |
| Week 24 | Josh Wolff | Chicago Fire | |
| Week 25 | Diego Serna | Miami Fusion | |
See main article: Major League Soccer attendance.
| width=25 | Rank | width=150 | Team | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | width=45 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | 53,655 | 9,113 | |||||||||
| 2 | 16 | 35,462 | 13,074 | |||||||||
| 3 | 16 | 37,122 | 7,598 | |||||||||
| 4 | 16 | 56,404 | 8,826 | |||||||||
| 5 | 16 | 23,631 | 9,755 | |||||||||
| 6 | 16 | 46,722 | 5,485 | |||||||||
| 7 | 16 | 22,694 | 9,102 | |||||||||
| 8 | 16 | 15,628 | 9,166 | |||||||||
| 9 | 16 | 15,280 | 9,197 | |||||||||
| 10 | 16 | 22,704 | 4,473 | |||||||||
| 11 | 16 | 20,450 | 6,127 | |||||||||
| 12 | 16 | 13,146 | 4,130 | |||||||||
| Total | 192 | 2,747,897 | 56,404 | 4,130 | ||||||||
