1949 Soviet First League

The 1949 Vtoraya Gruppa of the Soviet football championship was the 10th season of the second tier football competitions in the Soviet Union.
FC Spartak Tbilisi won the championship.
The competition format remained very much the same, however some reorganization took place. There were still 6 groups, however 4 were allotted for the Russian SFSR, one remained after the Ukrainian SSR and only one group was designated for the other union republics. Number of participants once again was increased from 75 to 84. For the first time, in the competitions appeared a second squad which was part of the Stalin's son club VVS Moscow.
For the 1950 season it was decided to reduce number of participants and the tiers of the Soviet Football Championship were renamed Class A and Class B.

Teams

Relegated teams

none

Promoted teams

With the asterisk identified teams that may have been created just before the start of the season.

Renamed teams

DO Riga last season was known as Dinamo Riga
Metrostroi Moscow last season was known as Metro Moscow
Uralmash Sverdlovsk last season was known as Avangard Sverdlovsk
Bolshevik Omsk last season was known as Krylia Sovetov Omsk
Shakhter Kemerevo last season was known as Gornyak
Izhevskiy Zavod last season was known as Zenit Izhevsk
Kovrov last season was known as Zenit Kovrov
Metallurg Dnepropetrovsk last season was known as Stal Dnepropetrovsk
SKIF Moscow last season was known as Trudovye Rezervy Moscow. SKIF is an abbreviation for Sports Club of Physical Culture Institute.

Qualifying stage

Ukrainian Zone

Despite promotion of Shakhtar Stalino and Lokomotyv Kharkiv, the Ukrainian zone was expanded further from 16 to 18 teams. Also the Ukrainian zone was left without Dinamo Kishenev that was relocated to the Central zone. There were no promotions from the 1948 Football Championship of the Ukrainian SSR, instead to the zone were admitted following teams: Spartak Kyiv, Torpedo Kharkiv, Dynamo Chernivtsi, Trudovye Rezervy Voroshylovhrad and DO Lviv. Dynamo Chernivtsi was the only team from the 1948 Ukrainian championship placing 8th out 9 teams in group 10.