The 1998 Russian First Division was the seventh edition of the Russian First Division. The competition was renamed from Russian First League to Russian First Division this year.
| Team | Head coach |
|---|---|
| FC Saturn Ramenskoye | Sergei Pavlov |
| FC Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod | Valeri Ovchinnikov |
| FC Sokol Saratov | Anatoli Radenko  (until May)Anatoli Aslamov (caretaker, May–June) Vladimir Fedotov (from June) |
| FC Kristall Smolensk | Valeri Nenenko |
| FC Arsenal Tula | Yevhen Kucherevskyi |
| FC Lada-Grad Dimitrovgrad | Vladimir Yevsyukov |
| FC Rubin Kazan | Igor Volchok (until May) Miodrag Radanović (caretaker, May) Aleksandr Irkhin (from June) |
| FC Dynamo Stavropol | Boris Stukalov |
| FC Gazovik-Gazprom Izhevsk | Vyacheslav Melnikov (until April) Aleksandr Salnov (caretaker, April–August) Viktor Slesarev (from August) |
| FC Fakel Voronezh | Sergei Savchenkov |
| FC Lokomotiv Chita | Aleksandr Kovalyov |
| FC Anzhi Makhachkala | Eduard Malofeyev  (until June)Aleksandr Reshetnyak (caretaker, June–August) Pyotr Shubin (September) Aleksandr Reshetnyak (caretaker, from September) |
| FC Metallurg Lipetsk | Vladimir Fedotov (until June) Yuri Shishlov (caretaker, June) Valeri Tretyakov (from June) |
| FC Tom Tomsk | Vladimir Yurin |
| PFC Spartak Nalchik | Viktor Kumykov (until July) Viktor Zernov (July to October) Aslanbek Khantsev (from October) |
| FC Lokomotiv St. Petersburg | Givi Nodia  |
| FC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk | Gennadi Sarychev (until June) Vladimir Morozov (caretaker, June) Boris Sinitsyn (from June) |
| FC Druzhba Maykop | Vitali Aksyonov (until July) Soferbi Yeshugov (from July) |
| FC Lada-Togliatti-VAZ Togliatti | Vladimir Dergach (until October) Igor Golubtsov (October) Aleksandr Garmashov (from November) |
| FC Kuban Krasnodar | Valeri Sinau (until May) Adolf Poskotin (from May) |
| FC Irtysh Omsk | Aleksandr Ivchenko (until July) Gennadi Kostylev (from July) |
| FC KAMAZ-Chally Naberezhnye Chelny | Ivan Butaliy |
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Andradina | Arsenal | 27 |
| 2 |  Igor Gavrilin | Saturn | 19 |
| 3 | Vladyslav Zubkov | Lokomotiv N.N. | 18 |
| 4 |  Gurban Gurbanov | Dynamo (St) | 17 |
| Valeri Shushlyakov | Kristall | ||
| 6 | Aleksei Chernov | Lada-Grad | 16 |
| 7 | Oleg Garin | Lokomotiv N.N. | 15 |
| Ibragim Gasanbekov | Anzhi | ||
| Aleksandr Kuzmichyov | Rubin | ||
| Vladimir Lebed | Sokol |
FC Torpedo-ZIL Moscow promoted to the Russian First Division for 1999 on aggregate, FC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk relegated to the Russian Second Division.