The 1977 Soviet First League was the seventh season of the Soviet First League and the 37th season of the Soviet second tier league competition.

Final standings

Pos	Rep	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	RUS	Spartak Moscow	38	22	10	6	83	42	+41	54[a]	Promoted
2	UZB	Pahtakor Tashkent	38	19	14	5	57	28	+29	52
3	UKR	Tavriya Simferopol	38	21	7	10	57	34	+23	49
4	BLR	Dinamo Minsk	38	19	9	10	48	29	+19	47[a]
5	TJK	Pamir Dushanbe	38	19	7	12	54	36	+18	45
6	RUS	Kuzbass Kemerovo	38	20	5	13	51	38	+13	45
7	RUS	Terek Grozny	38	17	7	14	59	48	+11	41
8	RUS	Shinnik Yaroslavl	38	14	13	11	50	44	+6	41
9	GEO	Torpedo Kutaisi	38	15	8	15	45	48	−3	38
10	RUS	SKA Rostov-on-Don	38	12	12	14	43	48	−5	36
11	MDA	Nistru Chișinău	38	11	14	13	45	51	−6	36
12	RUS	Uralmash Sverdlovsk	38	13	10	15	52	62	−10	36[b]
13	RUS	Dinamo Leningrad	38	11	12	15	51	54	−3	34[b]
14	UKR	Spartak Ivano-Frankivsk	38	10	14	14	38	52	−14	34
15	RUS	Spartak Orzhonikidze	38	11	11	16	38	45	−7	33
16	UKR	Metalurh Zaporizhzhia	38	11	11	16	35	48	−13	33
17	TKM	Kolhozchi Ashgabad	38	12	8	18	43	60	−17	32
18	UKR	Kryvbass Kryvyi Rih	38	10	8	20	43	59	−16	28[b]	Relegated
19	RUS	Zvezda Perm	38	7	10	21	32	62	−30	24
20	RUS	Rubin Kazan	38	6	10	22	40	76	−36	22

Number of teams by union republic

Rank	Union republic	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	RSFSR	10	Terek Grozny, Kuban Krasnodar, Shinnik Yaroslavl, Kuzbass Kemerevo, Uralmash Sverdlovsk, Spartak Ordzhonikidze, Dinamo Leningrad, Krylia Sovetov Kuibyshev, SKA Rostov-na-Donu
2	Ukrainian SSR	4	Tavria Simferopol, Prykarpatye Ivano-Frankovsk, Metallurg Zaporozhye, Krivbass Krivoi Rog
3	Uzbek SSR	1	Pakhtakor Tashkent
	Belarusian SSR		Dinamo Minsk
	Tajik SSR		Pamir Dushanbe
	Georgian SSR		Torpedo Kutaisi
	Moldavian SSR		Nistru Kishinev
	Turkmen SSR		Kolhozchi Ashkhabad