The 1997–98 English football season was

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

's second consecutive season in the

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

(known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

Derby County began life at their new stadium by progressing further on the previous season's solid 12th-place finish. Jim Smith's team emerged as surprise contenders for a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

place, and European qualification (for the first time in over 20 years) was still a possibility on the final day of the season. But results didn't go Derby's way, and that final European place went to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. The end-of-season arrival of

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

defender

Horacio Carbonari Horacio Angel Carbonari (born 2 May 1974) is a Argentine former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was nicknamed "Bazooka" due to his powerful free-kicks. Career Rosario Central Born in Santa Teresa, a town in the southern en ...

gave Derby fans fresh hope of challenging for a place in Europe.

Final league table

;Results summary ;Results by round

Results

''Derby County's score comes first''

Legend

FA Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

First-team squad

:''Squad at end of season''

Left club during season

Reserve squad

Transfers

In

Out

:Transfers in: £6,000,000 :Transfers out: £3,535,000 :Total spending: £2,465,000

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 Derby County F.C. season Derby County F.C. seasons