Bulgarian football league system

The Bulgarian football league system or the Bulgarian football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Bulgaria. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and allows even the smallest club to dream of rising to the very top of the system.

History

The first organised national tournament was founded in 1924. It was called the National championship (Bulgarian: Държавно първенство). The teams taking part in the tournament were separated in different regional divisions and the winners of each division then played for the Championship title via play-offs.

In 1948 A Republican Football Group (Bulgarian: „А“ Републиканска футболна група) was founded, a new national top division. The second level of the football league system - the B Republican Football Group (Bulgarian: „Б“ Републиканска футболна група) was founded two years later. The lower levels of the pyramid - V Republican Football Group (Bulgarian: „В“ Републиканска футболна група) and below - were structured in 1959.

This system (with minor changes during the years) existed until 2000. Then experimentally a new Bulgarian Premier Football League (Bulgarian: Висша лига по футбол) was founded replacing A Football Group. B Football Group was replaced by the new Bulgarian First Football League (Bulgarian: Първа лига по футбол). But these changes lasted for just three years - in 2003 the old A and B Football Groups were restored at the top of the football pyramid.

The system

Currently the Bulgarian football league system consists of 55 different divisions forming 5 levels of the pyramid.:[1][2]

From 2016 the top level league name was changed to First Professional Football League and B Group name to Second Professional Football League.[3]

Level	League/Group
1	First League 14 clubs ↓ 4 relegation playoff spots
2	Second League 18 clubs (currently 17) ↑ 1 promotion spot + 2 promotion playoff spots ↓ 4 relegation spots
3	North-East Third League 14 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ ? relegation spot(s)	North-West Third League 14 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ 2 to 5 relegation spots	South-East Third League 18 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ 2 to 4 relegation spots	South-West Third League 17 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ 2 to 5 relegation spots
4	A OFGs (A OFGs - A Oblast Football Groups) 39 in total (all divisions run in parallel): A OFG Blagoevgrad Struma A OFG Blagoevgrad Bistritsa A OFG Blagoevgrad Mesta A OFG Burgas A OFG Varna A OFG Veliko Tarnovo A OFG Vidin A OFG Vratsa A OFG Gabrovo West A OFG Gabrovo East A OFG Dobrich West A OFG Dobrich East A OFG Kardzhali A OFG Kyustendil Osogovo A OFG Kyustendil Rila A OFG Lovech A OFG Montana A OFG Pazardzhik A OFG Pernik North A OFG Pernik South A OFG Pleven A OFG Plovdiv A OFG Razgrad A OFG Rousse West A OFG Rousse East A OFG Silistra A OFG Sliven A OFG Smolyan A OFG Sofia (capital) North A OFG Sofia (capital) South A OFG Sofia West A OFG Sofia East A OFG Stara Zagora A OFG Targovishte East A OFG Targovishte Middle A OFG Targovishte West A OFG Haskovo A OFG Shumen A OFG Yambol
5	B OFGs (B OFGs - B Oblast Football Groups) 10 in total (all divisions run in parallel): B OFG Burgas North B OFG Burgas South B OFG Veliko Tarnovo B OFG Pazardzhik North B OFG Pazardzhik South B OFG Pleven West B OFG Pleven East B OFG Plovdiv North B OFG Plovdiv Centre B OFG Plovdiv South

All-time table 1924-2012

Pos.	Team	S	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	1º	2º	3º
1	Levski Sofia	73	1737	1020	412	305	3416	1605	2452	26	28	7
2	CSKA Sofia	63	1682	1017	377	288	3577	1565	2411	31	20	4
3	Slavia Sofia	72	1732	778	416	538	2737	2011	1972	7	10	13
4	Lokomotiv Sofia	62	1604	666	409	529	2323	1946	1738	4	6	9
5	Botev Plovdiv	64	1531	604	360	567	2287	2110	1568	2	2	12
6	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	59	1398	537	333	527	1918	1925	1407	1	1	5
7	Cherno More Varna	60	1294	444	338	512	1583	1724	1226	4	6	3
8	Beroe Stara Zagora	43	1148	373	262	513	1428	1789	1008	1	1	1
9	Spartak Varna	49	1143	375	252	516	1384	1738	1002	1	1	3
10	Spartak Pleven	51	1053	323	255	475	1211	1650	901	–	–	1
11	Minyor Pernik	36	910	287	211	412	1028	1402	785	–	–	–
12	Chernomorets Burgas	43	924	287	198	439	1131	1563	772	–	–	–
13	Botev Vratsa	38	822	281	173	368	1050	1267	735	–	–	1
14	Etar Veliko Tarnovo	27	730	265	161	304	959	1060	691	1	–	2
15	Dunav Ruse	42	784	250	190	344	862	1193	690	–	1	–
16	Marek Dupnitsa	37	768	240	164	364	896	1239	644	–	–	1
17	Pirin Blagoevgrad	24	690	220	167	303	744	940	607	–	–	–
18	OFC Sliven 2000	23	661	225	144	292	823	980	594	–	–	–
19	Spartak Sofia	21	443	161	142	140	566	514	464	–	2	1
20	Akademic Sofia	17	485	158	131	186	573	625	447	–	–	2
21	Spartak Plovdiv	18	445	160	121	164	568	592	441	1	1	–
22	Litex Lovech	12	326	185	65	76	594	319	435	3	1	–
23	Naftex Burgas	12	356	154	72	130	534	420	380	–	1	–
24	Dobrudzha Dobrich	17	419	128	82	209	457	695	338	–	–	–

References

1. Bulgarian Football Union Regulation on the Divisions and Cup Tournaments for Season 2006/07 Archived 2017-08-18 at the Wayback Machine, visited on 22.11.2007
2. Bulgarian Football Union Information System Archived June 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, visited on 22.11.2007
3. Официално 14-те отбора в родния елит, новият формат и новото име на първенството

External links

• bulgarian-football.com - information, results, fixtures and tables from all levels of Bulgarian club football
• Bulgarian Football Union Information System - includes information, results, fixtures and tables from the lower levels of Bulgarian club football (levels 3-5)