The 1988 Soviet First League was the 49th season of the second tier of association football in the Soviet Union.

Teams

Promoted teams

* SC Tavriya Simferopol – Winner of the Second League finals ''(returning after an absence of 3 seasons)'' *

FC Kuban Krasnodar FC Kuban (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Кубань" Краснодар) was a Russian football club based in Krasnodar. The team began playing in the Russian Premier League in 2011, after it was promoted for winning the R ...

– Winner of the Second League finals ''(returning after an absence of a season)'' *

FC Zvezda Perm FC Zvezda Perm (russian: link=no, ФК "Звезда" Пермь) was a Russian football team from Perm, established in 1932 and dissolved in 2022. History It played professionally from 1945 to 1949 and 1953 to 1995, and was established first ...

– Winner of the Second League finals ''(returning after an absence of 8 seasons)''

Relegated teams

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

– ''(Returning after a season)'' *

FC Guria Lanchkhuti FC Guria is a Georgian association football club from Lanchkhuti, which competes in Liga 3, the third tier of the national league. Being one of the strongest Georgian teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Guria have taken part in the Soviet ...

– ''(Returning after a season)''

Locations

League standings

Top scorers

Number of teams by union republic

External links

1988. First League. (1988. Первая лига. )
Luhansk Nash Futbol {{1988 in Soviet football Soviet First League seasons 2

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...