The 1997–98 Football League (known as the Nationwide Football League for sponsorship reasons) was the 99th completed season of The Football League.
Champions Nottingham Forest and runners-up Middlesbrough won promotion back to the Premiership at the first time of asking. Charlton Athletic won the play-offs to end an eight-year absence from the top flight.
Reading were relegated in bottom place. They were joined on the last day of the season by Manchester City and Stoke City. The blue half of Manchester endured relegation to the third tier of the English league for the first time in its history, despite beating also doomed Stoke 5–2 away on the last day of the season, but neither fans took lightly to relegation, as mass football violence outside outshone the match. Bury, Portsmouth and Port Vale all won their games to avoid the drop.
Graham Taylor's second spell as manager brought instant success as Watford won the Division Two championship. They were joined by runners-up Bristol City and playoff winners Grimsby Town.
Going down to Division Three were Brentford, Plymouth Argyle, Carlisle United and Southend United. Brentford had been losing playoff finalists just 12 months earlier, Plymouth had been promoted to Division Two just two seasons earlier, Carlisle were newly promoted and Southend had endured their second successive relegation.
Macclesfield Town finished runners-up in Division Three to gain their second successive promotion, a year after winning the Conference. They were joined by champions Notts County, who won the title by 17 points and became the first team since World War II to secure promotion in March, third-placed Lincoln City and playoff winners Colchester United.
Doncaster Rovers suffered an English league record of 34 defeats and won just four games to lose their league status. They were replaced by Conference champions Halifax Town, who regained their league status five years after losing it.
First Division
One season after being relegated from the Premier League, Nottingham Forest achieved an instant comeback as Division One champions, meaning that manager Dave Bassett had now taken charge of promotion-winning teams eight times in 18 seasons. They were joined on the final day of the season by Middlesbrough, who had only been relegated the previous season due to a points deduction. Charlton Athletic clinched the final promotion place in dramatic fashion, beating Sunderland on penalties after a thrilling match which ended 4-4 after extra time and restored the South London club to the top flight for the first time since 1990. Ipswich Town and Sheffield United were the beaten semi-finalists, while Birmingham City missed out on the playoffs on goals scored. Stockport County, in the league's second tier for the first time in decades, finished an impressive eighth. FA Cup semi-finalists Wolves finished ninth, missing out on the playoffs.
Reading's final season at Elm Park ended in relegation in bottom place, meaning that they would begin life at their impressive new Madejski Stadium as a Division Two rather than Division One side. A dramatic final day of the season saw Stoke City host Manchester City at their new Britannia Stadium, with both teams knowing that victory was their only chance of survival. In the end, the visitors triumphed 5-2 but both sides were relegated due to Portsmouth, Port Vale and QPR all winning and securing survival.