The 1898–99 season was the 11th season of
The Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. Two teams were able to win the
First Division title going into the final day of the season:
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 ...
and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
; second-placed Liverpool travelled to
Villa Park
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...
for the final match, needing a win to overtake Villa and win the title, but Villa won 5–0 to win their fourth First Division title.
Defending champions
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
had the first poor title defence in English top flight history, finishing 16th out of 18, barely avoiding the two relegation places.
Final league tables
The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found a
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite
and in ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79'',
[Ian Laschke: ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79''. Macdonald and Jane’s, London & Sydney, 1980.] with home and away statistics separated.
Beginning with the season 1894–95, clubs finishing level on points were separated according to goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded), or more properly put, goal ratio. In case one or more teams had the same goal difference, this system favoured those teams who had scored fewer goals. The goal average system was eventually scrapped beginning with the 1976–77 season.
During the first five seasons of the league, that is until the season, 1893–94, re-election process concerned the clubs which finished in the bottom four of the league. From the 1894–95 season and until the 1920–21 season the re-election process was required of the clubs which finished in the bottom three of the league.
First Division
Results
Maps
Second Division
Results
Maps
See also
*
1898–99 in English football
The 1898–99 season was the 28th season of competitive football in England.
Overview
Events
This was the first season in which automatic promotion/relegation was introduced between the First and Second divisions. Both Divisions were expande ...
*
1898 in association football
The following are the association football events of the year 1898 throughout the world.
Events
*January 1: Footballing arm of Belgian club K.A.A. Gent established.
*April 5: Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth founded
*May 8: Genoa C.F.C., Genoa become ...
*
1899 in association football
The following are the association football events of the year 1899 throughout the world.
Events
*January 8: FC Freiburg are champions of south Germany.
*February: German club Werder Bremen established, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur founded
*Ma ...
References
*Ian Laschke: ''Rothmans Book of Football League Records 1888–89 to 1978–79''. Macdonald and Jane's, London & Sydney, 1980.
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1898-99
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