1997 Belarusian First League

1997 Belarusian First League was the seventh season of 2nd level football championship in Belarus. It started in April and ended in November 1997.

Belarusian First League
Season1997
ChampionsGomel
PromotedGomel
BATE Borisov
RelegatedLokomotiv Vitebsk
Stroitel Starye Dorogi
Matches played240
Goals scored677 (2.82 per match)
Biggest home winBATE 10–0 Stroitel
Biggest away winBereza 1–7 BATE
Highest scoringBATE 10–0 Stroitel
← 1996
1998 →

Team changes from 1996 season

Two best teams of 1996 Belarusian First League (Transmash Mogilev and Kommunalnik Slonim) were promoted to Belarusian Premier League. They were replaced by two lowest-placed teams of 1996 Premier League (Obuvshchik Lida and Vedrich Rechitsa).

No teams relegated to lower level by league position due to required league expansion back to 16 clubs. Three clubs were initially promoted from the Second League (BATE Borisov and Veino Mogilev Raion as the winners of their respective groups, and Dnepr Rogachev as a winner of additional play-offs between group runners-up).

FC Kobrin withdrew from the league to amateur level during off-season due to financial troubles and were replaced by Beloozyorsk (who previously lost promotion play-offs against Dnepr Rogachev).

Before the start of the season Obuvshchik Lida were renamed to FC Lida, Vedrich Rechitsa updated their name to Vedrich-97 Rechitsa, Kommunalnik Pinsk were renamed to Pinsk-900, Khimik Svetlogorsk to Kommunalnik Svetlogorsk, Stroitel Bereza to FC Bereza and newcomers FC Beloozyorsk to Belenergostroy Beloozyorsk.

Overview

Two best teams of the season (Gomel and BATE Borisov) were promoted to the Premier League. Two lowest placed teams (Lokomotiv Vitebsk and Stroitel Starye Dorogi were relegated to the Second League.

Teams and locations
Location of teams in 1997 Belarusian First League
Team Location Position in 1996
Lida Lida Premier League, 15
Vedrich-97 Rechitsa Premier League, 16
Kommunalnik Svetlogorsk 3
Gomel Gomel 4
Pinsk-900 Pinsk 5
Dinamo-Juni Minsk 6
Torpedo Zhodino 7
Orsha Orsha 8
Lokomotiv Vitebsk 9
Kardan-Flyers Grodno 10
Bereza Bereza 11
Stroitel Starye Dorogi 13
BATE Borisov Second League, Group A, 1
Veino Mogilev Raion Second League, Group B, 1
Belenergostroy Beloozyorsk Second League, Group A, 2
Dnepr Rogachev Second League, Group B, 2

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Gomel (P) 30 27 1 2 83 9 +74 82 Promotion to Belarusian Premier League
2 BATE Borisov (P) 30 25 3 2 92 15 +77 78
3 Lida 30 20 5 5 59 24 +35 65
4 Bereza 30 15 6 9 36 34 +2 51
5 Torpedo Zhodino 30 14 8 8 37 25 +12 50
6 Vedrich-97 Rechitsa 30 13 7 10 44 43 +1 46
7 Kommunalnik Svetlogorsk 30 13 6 11 43 42 +1 45
8 Pinsk-900 30 12 8 10 43 36 +7 44
9 Dinamo-Juni Minsk 30 12 7 11 45 42 +3 43
10 Kardan-Flyers Grodno 30 9 7 14 36 50 −14 34
11 Veino Mogilev Raion 30 9 4 17 27 53 −26 31
12 Belenergostroy Beloozyorsk 30 6 9 15 37 58 −21 27
13 Dnepr Rogachev 30 6 8 16 30 63 −33 26
14 Orsha 30 7 3 20 34 61 −27 24
15 Lokomotiv Vitebsk (R) 30 5 7 18 17 50 −33 22 Relegation to Belarusian Second League
16 Stroitel Starye Dorogi (R) 30 0 5 25 14 81 −67 5
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd matches won; 3rd head-to-head (points, matches won, goal difference, goals scored); 4th goal difference; 5th goals scored
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Top goalscorers
Rank Goalscorer Team Goals
1 Mikalay Ryndzyuk BATE Borisov 30
2 Ihar Fralow Gomel 19
3 Andrey Yusipets Gomel 18
4 Vitaly Shimko BATE Borisov 14
5 Zviad Burdzenidze Lida 13
Alyaksandr Davidovich Kardan-Flyers Grodno 13

See also
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