1997–98 AJ Auxerre season
# 1997–98 AJ Auxerre season

The 1997–98 season was the 92nd season in the existence of AJ Auxerre and the club's 18th consecutive season in the top-flight of French football. In addition to the domestic league, Auxerre participated in this season's editions of the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue, the UEFA Intertoto Cup and UEFA Cup.

## Season summary

Auxerre dropped one place in the final table to 7th. They had better success in the cup competitions, reaching the semi-finals of the Coupe de la Ligue and the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, winning the Intertoto Cup in the process. Instrumental to Auxerre's success was the form of Stéphane Guivarc'h, who scored 21 league goals to win the Golden Boot; Guivarc'h added 24 further goals across the cups to finish with an astonishing 45 goals in all competitions.

## Players

### First-team squad

    Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | FRA | Lionel Charbonnier |
| 16 | GK | FRA | Fabien Cool |
| 12 | DF | FRA | Éric Assati |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Laurent Ciechelski |
| 5 | DF | FRA | Frédéric Danjou |
| 2 | DF | FRA | Alain Goma |
| 13 | DF | FRA | Jean-Sébastien Jaurès |
| 22 | DF | FRA | Frédéric Jay |
| 14 | DF | FRA | Cyril Jeunechamp |
| 3 | DF | FRA | Franck Rabarivony |
| 21 | DF | FRA | Johan Radet |
| 19 | DF | FRA | David Recorbet |
| 4 | DF | FRA | Franck Silvestre |
| 27 | DF | NGA | Michael Yobo |
| 25 | MF | TOG | Kuami Agboh |
| 11 | MF | FRA | Bernard Diomède |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 6 | MF | FRA | Christian Henna |
| 8 | MF | FRA | Yann Lachuer |
| 7 | MF | FRA | Sabri Lamouchi |
| 10 | MF | FRA | Antoine Sibierski |
| 24 | MF | FRA | Benjamin Nivet |
| 32 | MF | MAR | Tarik Sektioui |
| 29 | MF | FIN | Teemu Tainio |
| 28 | FW | FRA | Xavier Chalier |
| 26 | MF | FRA | Arnaud Gonzalez |
| 33 | FW | FRA | Sébastien Heitzmann |
| 15 | FW | FRA | Fabrice Lepaul |
| 23 | FW | FRA | Lilian Compan |
| 18 | FW | FRA | Thomas Deniaud |
| 9 | FW | FRA | Stéphane Guivarc'h |
| 17 | FW | FRA | Steve Marlet |

### Reserves

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| — | MF | FRA | Nicolas Marin |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | FRA | Djibril Cissé |

## Competitions

### Division 1

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 5 | Bordeaux | 34 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 49 | 41 | +8 | 56 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Lyon | 34 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 39 | 37 | +2 | 53 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 7 | Auxerre | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 55 | 45 | +10 | 51 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup third round |
| 8 | Paris Saint-Germain | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 43 | 35 | +8 | 50 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 9 | Bastia | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 36 | 31 | +5 | 50 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |

* ↑ Paris Saint-Germain qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as winners of the 1997–98 Coupe de France and 1997–98 Coupe de la Ligue.

**Results summary**

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

Source: French Division 1

**Results by round**

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | L | W | W | L | W | L | L | L | W | W | W | W | D | D | L | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | L | D | W | D | D |
| Position | 18 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 |

### Intertoto Cup

**Group stage**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Auxerre | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 2 | +17 | 10 | Advanced to semi-finals |
| 2 | Lausanne Sports | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 8 | |
| 3 | Royal Antwerp | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | |
| 4 | Nea Salamis Famagusta | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 19 | −13 | 3 | |
| 5 | Ards | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 14 | −13 | 0 | |
