The 1981 Soviet First League was the eleventh season of the Soviet First League and the 41st season of the Soviet second tier league competition.

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Metalist Kharkiv (C, P)	46	25	12	9	68	33	+35	62	Promotion to Top League
2	Torpedo Kutaisi (P)	46	26	4	16	57	46	+11	56
3	Lokomotiv Moscow	46	21	15	10	65	41	+24	54[a]
4	Shinnik Yaroslavl	46	21	10	15	68	58	+10	52
5	Kolos Nikopol	46	20	11	15	68	53	+15	51
6	Žalgiris Vilnius	46	17	15	14	48	39	+9	46[a]
7	Iskra Smolensk	46	17	12	17	48	45	+3	46
8	Nistru Kishinev	46	17	12	17	54	51	+3	46
9	Pamir Dushanbe	46	17	11	18	52	54	−2	45
10	Fakel Voronezh	46	17	10	19	45	44	+1	44
11	Karpaty Lvov	46	17	10	19	57	60	−3	44
12	Spartak Kostroma	46	16	16	14	49	50	−1	44[a]
13	Metallurg Zaporozhia	46	16	14	16	57	51	+6	44[a]
14	Guria Lanchkhuti	46	16	13	17	50	56	−6	44[a]
15	Zarya Voroshilovgrad	46	16	13	17	44	53	−9	44[a]
16	SKA Odessa	46	16	13	17	62	54	+8	44[a]
17	SKA Kiev	46	16	10	20	59	71	−12	42
18	Buston Dzhizak	46	16	9	21	47	63	−16	41
19	SKA Khabarovsk	46	16	8	22	50	58	−8	40
20	Prykarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk[b] (R)	46	14	13	19	44	56	−12	40[a]	Relegation to Second League
21	Spartak Ordjonikidze (R)	46	14	12	20	36	49	−13	40
22	Kuzbass Kemerovo (R)	46	14	12	20	47	51	−4	40
23	Dinamo Stavropol (R)	46	13	14	19	45	60	−15	38[a]
24	Traktor Pavlodar (R)	46	12	15	19	41	65	−24	36[a]

Top scorers

Number of teams by union republic

Rank	Union republic	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	RSFSR	9	Lokomotiv Moscow, Shinnik Yaroslavl, Iskra Smolensk, Fakel Voronezh, Spartak Kostroma, SKA Khabarovsk, Spartak Ordzhonikidze, Kuzbass Kemerevo, Dinamo Stavropol
2	Ukrainian SSR	8	Metallist Kharkov, Kolos Nikopol, Karpaty Lvov, Metallurg Zaporozhye, Zaria Voroshilovgrad, SKA Odessa, SKA Kiev, Prykarpatye Ivano-Frankovsk
3	Georgian SSR	2	Torpedo Kutaisi, Guria Lanchkhuti
4	Lithuanian SSR	1	Žalgiris Vilnius
	Moldavian SSR		Nistru Kishinev
	Tajik SSR		Pamir Dushanbe
	Uzbek SSR		Zvezda Dzhizak
	Kazakh SSR		Traktor Pavlodar