The 1980 Soviet First League was the tenth season of the Soviet First League and the 40th season of the Soviet second tier league competition.

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Tavria Simferopol (C, P)	46	28	9	9	82	42	+40	65	Promotion to Top League
2	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (P)	46	27	8	11	60	47	+13	62
3	Metalist Kharkiv	46	24	12	10	76	40	+36	60
4	Pamir Dushanbe	46	23	9	14	62	51	+11	55
5	Kolos Nikopol	46	20	11	15	70	47	+23	51
6	SKA Khabarovsk	46	20	10	16	45	60	−15	50
7	Dinamo Stavropol	46	23	3	20	64	66	−2	49
8	Nistru Kishinev	46	20	8	18	60	55	+5	48
9	Iskra Smolensk	46	18	11	17	50	46	+4	47
10	Zarya Voroshilovgrad	46	19	8	19	68	60	+8	46
11	Guria Lanchkhuti	46	18	10	18	68	73	−5	46
12	Fakel Voronezh	46	17	16	13	49	36	+13	46[a]
13	Torpedo Kutaisi	46	18	9	19	62	54	+8	45
14	Kuzbass Kemerovo	46	18	7	21	61	77	−16	43
15	Spartak Ordjonikidze	46	17	9	20	43	50	−7	43
16	SKA Odessa	46	16	10	20	52	47	+5	42
17	Spartak Ivano-Frankivsk	46	16	10	20	54	67	−13	42
18	Žalgiris Vilnius	46	15	14	17	50	39	+11	42[a]
19	Buston Dzhizak	46	15	12	19	48	61	−13	42
20	Metallurg Zaporozhia	46	15	11	20	57	67	−10	41
21	Shinnik Yaroslavl	46	14	15	17	51	57	−6	40[a]
22	Krylya Sovetov Kuibyshev (R)	46	11	16	19	43	62	−19	34[a]	Relegation to Second League
23	Spartak Nalchik (R)	46	8	15	23	35	59	−24	28[a]
24	Uralmash Sverdlovsk (R)	46	8	5	33	35	82	−47	21

Top scorers

Number of teams by union republic

Rank	Union republic	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	RSFSR	10	SKA Khabarovsk, Dinamo Stavropol, Iskra Smolensk, Fakel Voronezh, Kuzbass Kemerevo, Spartak Ordzhonikidze, Shinnik Yaroslavl, Krylia Sovetov Kuibyshev, Spartak Nalchik, Uralmash Sverdlovsk
2	Ukrainian SSR	8	Tavria Simferopol, Dnepr Dnepropetrovsk, Metallist Kharkov, Kolos Nikopol, Zaria Voroshilovgrad, SKA Odessa, Prykarpatye Ivano-Frankovsk, Metallurg Zaporozhye
3	Georgian SSR	2	Torpedo Kutaisi, Guria Lanchkhuti
4	Tajik SSR	1	Pamir Dushanbe
	Moldavian SSR		Nistru Kishinev
	Lithuanian SSR		Žalgiris Vilnius
	Uzbek SSR		Buston Dzhizak