1997 Belarusian First League

Belarusian First League
Season 1997
Champions Gomel
Promoted Gomel
BATE Borisov
Relegated FC Lokomotiv Vitebsk
Stroitel Starye Dorogi
Matches played 240
Goals scored 677 (2.82 per match)
Biggest home win BATE 10–0 Stroitel
Biggest away win Bereza 1–7 BATE
Highest scoring BATE 10–0 Stroitel
← 1996
1998 →

1997 Belarusian First League was the seventh season of 2nd level football 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 (Transmash Mogilev and Kommunalnik Slonim) were promoted to Belarusian Premier League. Due to a number of withdrawals before the start of previous season no team was relegated to the Second League.

Kobrin, who finished 12th last year, withdrew to the amateur level at the end of 1996 due to lack of funds.

Promoted and withdrawn teams were replaced by two teams relegated from the Premier League (Obuvshchik Lida and Vedrish Rechytsa) and four newcomers from the Second League (BATE Borisov, Dnepr Rogachev, Veino Mogilev Raion and Belenergostroy Beloozyorsk). Thus league was again expanded to 16 teams.

Before the start of the season Obuvshchik Lida were renamed to FC Lida, Vedrish Rechytsa updated their name to Vedrich-97 Rechytsa, 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

Team Location Position in 1996
Lida Lida 1Premier League, 15
Vedrich-97 Rechitsa 2Premier 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 14Second League, Group A, 1
Veino Mogilev Raion 15Second League, Group B, 1
Belenergostroy Beloozyorsk 16Second League, Group A, 2
Dnepr Rogachev 17Second 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 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 Rechytsa 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 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
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

See also

External links