The 1983 Soviet First League was the thirteenth season of the Soviet First League and the 43rd season of the Soviet second tier league competition.

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Kairat Almaty (C, P)	42	25	10	7	78	36	+42	60	Promotion to Top League
2	SKA Rostov-on-Don (P)	42	23	13	6	73	36	+37	58[a]
3	Fakel Voronezh	42	21	12	9	53	30	+23	54
4	Rotor Volgograd	42	23	5	14	62	48	+14	51
5	Metallurg Zaporozhia	42	21	8	13	66	46	+20	50
6	Kolos Nikopol	42	18	12	12	69	52	+17	48
7	Tavria Simferopol	42	16	12	14	78	67	+11	44
8	Kuban Krasnodar	42	16	11	15	58	48	+10	43
9	Guria Lanchkhuti	42	19	4	19	52	71	−19	42
10	Kuzbass Kemerovo	42	15	13	14	50	49	+1	42[a]
11	SKA Karpaty Lvov	42	15	12	15	43	46	−3	42
12	Pamir Dushanbe	42	15	10	17	46	55	−9	40
13	Zarya Voroshilovgrad	42	14	11	17	66	67	−1	39
14	Daugava Riga	42	14	10	18	57	63	−6	38
15	Lokomotiv Moscow	42	13	13	16	51	47	+4	38[a]
16	Zvezda Dzhizak	42	13	12	17	62	64	−2	38
17	Iskra Smolensk	42	14	9	19	51	47	+4	37
18	Shinnik Yaroslavl	42	13	11	18	45	75	−30	37
19	SKA Khabarovsk	42	12	12	18	33	54	−21	36
20	Dnepr Mogilev (R)	42	12	13	17	40	60	−20	36[a]	Relegation to Second League
21	Textilshchik Ivanovo (R)	42	8	10	24	45	83	−38	26
22	Dinamo Kirov (R)	42	5	11	26	29	63	−34	21

Top scorers

Number of teams by union republic

Rank	Union republic	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	RSFSR	11	SKA Rostov-na-Donu, Fakel Voronezh, Rotor Volgograd, Kuban Krasnodar, Kuzbass Kemerovo, Lokomotiv Moscow, Iskra Smolensk, Shinnik Yaroslavl, SKA Khabarovsk, Tekstilshchik Ivanovo, Dinamo Kirov
2	Ukrainian SSR	5	Metallurg Zaporozhye, Kolos Nikopol, Tavria Simferopol, SKA Karpaty Lvov, Zaria Voroshilovgrad
3	Georgian SSR	1	Guria Lanchkhuti
	Kazakh SSR		Kairat Alma-Ata
	Tajik SSR		Pamir Dushanbe
	Latvian SSR		Daugava Riga
	Uzbek SSR		Zvezda Dzhizak
	Belarusian SSR		Dnepr Mogilev