1997 Belarusian First League was the seventh season of 2nd level

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

championship in Belarus. It started in April and ended in November 1997.

Team changes from 1996 season

Two best teams of

1996 Belarusian First League 1996 Belarusian First League was the sixth season of 2nd level football championship in Belarus. It started in April and ended in November 1996. Team changes from 1995 season Winners of 1995 Belarusian First League ( Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk) wer ...

( Transmash Mogilev and Kommunalnik Slonim) were promoted to

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League or the Vyšejšaja Liha or the Vysheyshaya Liga ( be, Вышэйшая ліга, russian: Высшая лига, "Top League") is the top division of professional football in Belarus, and is organized by the Belarusi ...

. 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 FC BATE Borisov (russian: link=no, ФК БАТЭ Борисов, ''FK BATE Borisov'' ; be, ФК БАТЭ Барысаў, ''BATE Barysaw,'' ) is a professional Belarusian football team from the city of Barysaw. The club competes in the Belarusi ...

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 FC Kobrin ( be, Футбольны клуб Кобрын) is a Belarusian football club based in Kobrin, Brest Oblast. History FC Kobrin was founded in 1992 in the city of Brest as Brestbytkhim Brest. The team made its debut in Belarusian Second L ...

withdrew from the league to amateur level during off-season due to financial troubles and were replaced by

Beloozyorsk Byelaazyorsk or Beloozersk (, ) is a city in Brest Region, Belarus. Cities in Belarus Populated places in Brest Region Byaroza District Grodno Governorate Polesie Voivodeship {{Belarus-geo-stub ...

(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

) 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

League table

Top goalscorers

External links