2023 Belarusian First League
Football league season
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The 2023 Belarusian First League was the 33rd season of 2nd level football in Belarus. It started in April 2023 and finished in November.
| Season | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Arsenal Dzerzhinsk |
| Promoted | Arsenal Dzerzhinsk Dnepr Mogilev Vitebsk |
| Relegated | Osipovichi |
← 2022 2024 → | |
The winners (Arsenal Dzerzhinsk) and runners-up (Dnepr Mogilev) were promoted to the 2024 Belarusian Premier League. The third-placed team (Vitebsk) were also promoted after winning the Belarusian Premier League play-off. The bottom-placed team (Osipovichi) were relegated to the 2024 Belarusian Second League.
Team changes from 2022 season
Two best teams of 2022 Belarusian First League (Naftan Novopolotsk and Smorgon) were promoted to Belarusian Premier League. They were replaced by two last-placed teams of 2022 Belarusian Premier League (Vitebsk and Dnepr Mogilev). Fourth-placed Maxline Rogachev won the promotion/relegation play-off against Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and won right to get promoted, while Arsenal relegated to the First League to replace Maxline.
Due to low number of participants, no team has relegated to the Second League. In attempt to bring the number of teams to 16, three teams were promoted from the Second League (Niva Dolbizno, Zhodino-Yuzhnoye, and Bumprom Gomel).
Maxline Rogachev, who were initially promoted to Premier League, were later denied Premier League license. No other club was chosen to replace them, and Maxline remained in the First League, expanding it to 17 clubs for the season.[1] In the spring 2023, the club relocated from Rogachev to Vitebsk and became known as Maxline Vitebsk.
Teams summary
| Team | Location | Position in 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal Dzerzhinsk | Dzerzhinsk | Premier League, 14 |
| Vitebsk | Vitebsk | Premier League, 15 |
| Dnepr Mogilev | Mogilev | Premier League, 16 |
| Shakhtyor Petrikov | Petrikov | 3 |
| Maxline Vitebsk | Vitebsk | 4 |
| Ostrovets | Ostrovets | 5 |
| Lokomotiv Gomel | Gomel | 6 |
| Volna Pinsk | Pinsk | 7 |
| Molodechno | Molodechno | 8 |
| Orsha | Orsha | 9 |
| Lida | Lida | 10 |
| Slonim-2017 | Slonim | 11 |
| Osipovichi | Osipovichi | 12 |
| Baranovichi | Baranovichi | 13 |
| Niva Dolbizno | Dolbizno | Second League, 1 |
| Zhodino-Yuzhnoye | Zhodino | Second League, 5 |
| Bumprom Gomel | Gomel | Second League, 10 |
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal Dzerzhinsk (C, P) | 32 | 26 | 3 | 3 | 86 | 30 | +56 | 81 | Promotion to Belarusian Premier League |
| 2 | Dnepr Mogilev (P) | 32 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 75 | 24 | +51 | 73[a] | |
| 3 | Vitebsk (O, P) | 32 | 23 | 4 | 5 | 68 | 22 | +46 | 73[a] | Qualification for the Belarusian Premier League play-off |
| 4 | Lokomotiv Gomel | 32 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 55 | 40 | +15 | 62 | |
| 5 | Maxline Vitebsk | 32 | 19 | 4 | 9 | 84 | 52 | +32 | 61 | |
| 6 | Baranovichi | 32 | 14 | 6 | 12 | 46 | 49 | −3 | 48 | |
| 7 | Zhodino-Yuzhnoye | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 62 | 52 | +10 | 46 | |
| 8 | Volna Pinsk | 32 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 41 | 49 | −8 | 43 | |
| 9 | Niva Dolbizno | 32 | 12 | 5 | 15 | 53 | 66 | −13 | 41[b] | |
| 10 | Lida | 32 | 12 | 5 | 15 | 44 | 48 | −4 | 41[b] | |
| 11 | Molodechno | 32 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 51 | 56 | −5 | 41[b] | |
| 12 | Ostrovets | 32 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 54 | 62 | −8 | 39 | |
| 13 | Bumprom Gomel | 32 | 10 | 8 | 14 | 45 | 62 | −17 | 38 | |
| 14 | Orsha | 32 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 50 | 62 | −12 | 31 | |
| 15 | Slonim-2017 | 32 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 26 | 63 | −37 | 22[c] | |
| 16 | Shakhtyor Petrikov | 32 | 6 | 4 | 22 | 33 | 72 | −39 | 22[c] | |
| 17 | Osipovichi (R) | 32 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 21 | 85 | −64 | 5 | Relegation to Belarusian Second League |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Matches won; 7) Goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes: