1986 Soviet First League
 |
- Demoted from the Soviet Top League: FC Fakel Voronezh and FC SKA Rostov/Donu.
- Promoted from the Soviet Second League: FC Rostselmash Rostov/Donu, FC Iskra Smolensk, and FC Atalantas Klaipėda.
- There is some strange thing about FC Iskra Smolensk as it competed in both Soviet Leagues of 1985 the First and the Second simultaneously.
League standings
Note: 12 draws limit was applied during the season.
Template:Fb cl header
|- bgcolor="#D0F0C0"
| 1
| align=left|PFC CSKA Moscow(P)||46||26||9||11||61||35|| 26||61
| align=left|
Russian SFSR
|- bgcolor="#D0F0C0"
| 2
| align=left|FC Guria Lanchkhuti(P)||46||28||5||13||80||64|| 16||61
| align=left|
Georgian SSR
|-
| 3
| align=left|FC Daugava Riga||46||24||14||8||82||46|| 36||60
| align=left|
Latvian SSR
|-
| 4
| align=left|SKA Karpaty Lviv||46||22||10||14||69||52|| 17||54
| align=left|
Ukrainian SSR
|-
| 5
| align=left|FC Pamir Dushanbe||46||21||13||12||62||46|| 16||54
| align=left|
Tajik SSR
|-
| 6
| align=left|FC Lokomotiv Moscow||46||21||11||14||63||48|| 15||53
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 7
| align=left|FC Rostselmash Rostov/Donu||46||21||10||15||86||69|| 17||52
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 8
| align=left|FC Rotor Volgograd||46||22||7||17||69||56|| 13||51
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 9
| align=left|FC Kolos Nikopol||46||20||11||15||48||45|| 3||51
| align=left| Ukrainian SSR
|-
| 10
| align=left|FC Fakel Voronezh||46||20||8||18||56||44|| 12||48
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 11
| align=left|FC Dinamo Batumi||46||20||8||18||50||59|| -9||48
| align=left| Georgian SSR
|-
| 12
| align=left|FC Metalurh Zaporizhia||46||17||11||18||59||54|| 5||45
| align=left| Ukrainian SSR
|-
| 13
| align=left|FC Kuzbass Kemerevo||46||16||13||17||63||61|| 2||44
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 14
| align=left|FC Shinnik Yaroslavl||46||16||14||16||41||45|| -4||44
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 15
| align=left|FC SKA Rostov/Donu||46||16||11||19||54||51|| 3||43
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 16
| align=left|FC Spartak Ordjonikidze||46||15||12||19||58||66|| -8||42
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 17
| align=left|FC Pakhtakor Tashkent||46||15||10||21||55||73|| -18||40
| align=left|
Uzbek SSR
|-
| 18
| align=left|FC Dynamo Stavropol||46||14||15||17||66||58|| 8||40
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|-
| 19
| align=left|FC Kotayk Abovyan||46||14||13||19||46||54|| -8||40
| align=left|
Armenian SSR
|- bgcolor=pink
| 20
| align=left|FC Kuban Krasnodar||46||14||14||18||41||48|| -7||40
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|- bgcolor=pink
| 21
| align=left|FC SKA Khabarovsk||46||12||12||22||49||61|| -12||36
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|- bgcolor=pink
| 22
| align=left|FC Iskra Smolensk||46||11||13||22||30||60|| -30||34
| align=left| Russian SFSR
|- bgcolor=pink
| 23
| align=left|FC Atalantas Klaipėda||46||9||11||26||40||75|| -35||29
| align=left|
Lithuanian SSR
|- bgcolor=pink
| 24
| align=left|FC Nistru Chisinau||46||6||9||31||31||101|| -70||21
| align=left|
Moldavian SSR
|}
- Note
- There was a limit for the draws earned, 12. Only twelve draws earn a point, in contrast, over the limit draws earn no points.