| Season: | 1997–98 |
| Nextseason: | 1998–99 |
1997–98 Ukrainian First League was the seventh season of the Ukrainian First League which was won by SC Mykolaiv. The season started on July 30, 1997, and finished on July 9, 1998.
Two clubs promoted from the 1996-97 Ukrainian Second League.
Two clubs were relegated from the 1996-97 Ukrainian Top League:
In 1997-98 season, the Ukrainian First League consists of the following teams:
To the play-off qualified four teams, the 18th placed team of 1997-98 Ukrainian First League and three group winners of 1997-98 Ukrainian Second League:[1]
Top three teams qualified for the First League, the fourth and last team qualified for the Second Team. Format was a single round robin in Kyiv and Boryspil, Kyiv Oblast. When tied on points, the main tie-breaker was head-to-head games. The tournament was conducted at almost empty stadiums. The tournament was discontinued right after the second round when it became apparent that Krystal was not able to secure the third and the safe place to receive promotion. The Georgian footballer George Magriani[2] (Podillya) became the top scorer of the tournament with three goals.
----
Statistics are taken from here.[3]
| Scorer | Goals (Pen.) | Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Oleh Hrytsay | 22 (1) | FC Cherkasy | |
| Hennadiy Skidan | 22 (2) | SC Mykolaiv | ||
| 3 | Vadym Plotnikov | 21 (1) | Stal Alchevsk | |
| 4 | Ruslan Zabranskyi | 17 | SC Mykolaiv | |
| Borys Finkel | 17 (2) | Nyva Vinnytsia | ||
| 6 | Rais Tierkulov | 16 (1) | Shakhtar Makiivka | |
| Oleksandr Barabash | 16 (8) | Shakhtar Makiivka | ||
| 8 | Pavlo Parshyn | 15 | Metalurh / Polissya | |
| Vadym Kharchenko | 15 (8) | Naftovyk Okhtyrka | ||
| 10 | Oleksandr Ostashov | 14 | Stal Alchevsk |