1990 Soviet First League was part of the Soviet football competition in the second league division. With the ongoing fall of the Soviet Union some clubs left the Soviet competitions and the league was reduced.

Teams

Promoted teams

• Dinamo Sukhumi – Winner of the Second League finals (returning after an absence of 28 seasons)
• Tiras Tiraspol – Winner of the Second League finals (returning after an absence of 28 seasons)
• Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod – Winner of the Second League finals (debut)

Relegated teams

• Lokomotiv Moscow – (Returning after 2 seasons)
• Zenit Leningrad – (Returning after 48 seasons)

Renamed teams

• Prior to the start of the season Textilshchik Tiraspol was renamed to Tiras Tiraspol.

Withdrawn teams

Prior to the start of the season all Georgian clubs (with the exception of Dinamo Sukhumi, a majority-Russian club from Abkhazia) withdrew from Soviet competitions. This included two First League clubs, FC Torpedo Kutaisi and FC Dinamo Batumi. Because of that the league was reduced to 20 as compared to the previous season of 22 participants.

Locations

Kuzbass

Tiras

Rostselmash

Spartak

Tavriya

Pakhtakor

Lokomotiv NN

Dinamo Sukh

Lokomotiv M

Shinnik

Fakel

Kairat

Neftchi

Dinamo Stav

Kotayk

Zenit

Nistru

Geolog

Kuban

Metalurh

Location of teams in the 1990 Soviet First League.

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Spartak Vladikavkaz (C, P)	38	24	9	5	73	30	+43	57	Promotion to Top League
2	Pakhtakor Tashkent (P)	38	23	8	7	80	45	+35	54
3	Metalurh Zaporizhzhia (P)	38	19	14	5	58	30	+28	52
4	Lokomotiv Moscow (P)	38	19	9	10	52	34	+18	47	Qualification for Promotion play-off
5	Dynamo Stavropol	38	20	6	12	56	42	+14	46
6	Shinnik Yaroslavl	38	19	8	11	55	39	+16	46
7	Nistru Chisinau	38	14	12	12	50	44	+6	40
8	Neftchi Baku	38	14	10	14	52	51	+1	38
9	Tavriya Simferopol	38	11	16	11	40	38	+2	38
10	Fakel Voronezh	38	14	9	15	43	45	−2	37
11	Geolog Tyumen	38	14	9	15	38	45	−7	37
12	Dinamo Sukhumi	38	14	8	16	36	41	−5	36
13	Tiras Tiraspol	38	10	15	13	32	45	−13	35
14	Kotayk Abovyan	38	12	9	17	44	52	−8	33
15	Rostselmash Rostov-on-Don	38	11	9	18	39	56	−17	31
16	Lokomotiv Nizhniy Novgorod	38	10	11	17	39	58	−19	31
17	Kairat Almaty	38	10	10	18	35	50	−15	30
18	Zenit Leningrad	38	8	14	16	35	41	−6	30
19	Kuban Krasnodar	38	11	6	21	34	60	−26	28
20	Kuzbass Kemerevo (R)	38	4	6	28	21	66	−45	14	Relegation to Second League

Notes:

• The city of Ordzhonikidze was renamed to Vladikavkaz.
• The city of Gorkiy was renamed to Nizhniy Novgorod.
• Kotayk Abovyan played all its home games in the neighboring Yerevan.

Promotion/relegation play-off

(13th team of the Top League and 4th team of the First League)

• Lokomotiv Moscow – Rotor Volgograd 3–1 0–1

1990-11-11

Lokomotiv Moscow	3 – 1	Rotor Volgograd
Samatov 12' Rybakov 51' Zhitkov 79'	Report	Fyodorovsky 76'

LFK CSKA, Moscow

Attendance: 2,000 (4,600)^[1]

Referee: Petro Kobychek (Chernivtsi)

1990-11-17

Rotor Volgograd	1 – 0	Lokomotiv Moscow
Polstyanov 1'	Report	Gallakberov  ?'  89'

Central Stadium of Trade Unions, Volgograd

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Vadim Zhuk (Minsk)

Lokomotiv Moscow won the promotion on 3–2 aggregate

Top scorers

Number of teams by union republic

Rank	Union republic	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	RSFSR	11	Spartak Vladikavkaz, Lokomotiv Moscow, Dinamo Stavropol, Shinnik Yaroslavl, Fakel Voronezh, Geolog Tyumen, Rostselmash Rostov-na-Donu, Lokomotiv Nizhniy Novgorod, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Kuban Krasnodar, Kuzbass Kemerovo
2	Moldavian SSR	2	Tiligul Tiraspol, Nistru Kishenev
	Ukrainian SSR		Metallurg Zaporozhye, Tavriya Simferopol
5	Armenian SSR	1	Kotaik Abovian
	Uzbek SSR		Pakhtakor Tashkent
	Azerbaijan SSR		Neftchi Baku
	Georgian SSR / ( Abkhazia)		Dinamo Sukhumi
	Kazakh SSR		Kairat Alma-Ata