The 1898 VFL season was the second season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria.

Essendon won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with an 11–3 win–loss record.

In 1898, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 20 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves" (although any of the 20 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match).

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points forAverage score: 38.9Source: AFL Tables The VFL introduced a new system of finals for the 1898 season.

If two or more matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest).