| NSL 1996-97 | |
| League: | National Soccer League |
| Sport: | Association football |
| Duration: | 1997–98 |
| No Of Teams: | 14 |
| Season: | NSL season |
| Season Champs: | South Melbourne |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| Top Scorer: | Damian Mori (19) |
| Seasonslist: | List of NSL seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | National Soccer League |
| Prevseason Link: | 1996–97 National Soccer League |
| Prevseason Year: | 1996–97 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1998–99 National Soccer League |
| Nextseason Year: | 1998–99 |
The 1997–98 National Soccer League season, was the 22nd season of the National Soccer League in Australia.
It was contested by 14 teams, and South Melbourne won the championship. First year Carlton SC competed.
See main article: 1998 National Soccer League Grand Final.
| SOUTH MELBOURNE: | |||||
| width=25 | ! | width=25 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | 1 |  Michael Petkovic | |||
| MF | 2 | Steve Iosifidis | |||
| DF | 3 | ||||
| DF | 5 | Con Blatsis | |||
| MF | 6 | David Clarkson | |||
| MF | 7 | Steve Panopoulos | |||
| FW | 9 | Paul Trimboli (c) | |||
| MF | 11 | Bill Damianos | |||
| MF | 15 | ||||
| DF | 16 | ||||
| FW | 17 | ||||
| Substitutes: | |||||
| FW | 8 | ||||
| FW | 10 | ||||
| MF | 12 | ||||
| MF | 19 | George Goutzioulis | |||
| Manager: | |||||
| Ange Postecoglou | |||||
| Joe Marston Medal: | |||||
| Fausto De Amicis | |||||
| CARLTON SC: | ||||
| GK | 1 | Dean Anastasiadis | ||
| DF | 2 | Rob Trajkovski | ||
| DF | 5 |  Sean Douglas (c) | ||
| MF | 7 | Krešimir Marušić | ||
| MF | 10 | Lupo Lapsansky | ||
| FW | 11 | |||
| DF | 12 | Simon Colosimo | ||
| FW | 14 | |||
| DF | 15 | David Cervinski | ||
| MF | 17 | Mark Atkinson | ||
| MF | 23 | |||
| Substitutes: | ||||
| MF | 3 | |||
| FW | 9 | Alex Josifovski | ||
| DF | 18 | David Della Rocca | ||
| FW | 25 | Adrian Cervinski | ||
| Manager: | ||||
| Eddie Krnčević | ||||