The Russian Third League 1997 was the 4th and, so far, final time competition on the fourth level of Russian football was professional. In 1998 Russian Third League was disbanded and the Amateur Football League moved back to fourth level of the Russian football pyramid. All the 1997 Russian Third League teams that were not promoted to the Second Division moved to the Amateur Football League (unless otherwise noted below). There were 5 zones with 88 teams starting the competition (6 were excluded before the end of the season).