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.
Structure[]
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 (16 clubs starting from 2022–23) | ||||||
| 2 | Second League 20 clubs (for 2021–22) | ||||||
| 3 | North-East Third League 14 clubs |
North-West Third League 17 clubs |
South-East Third League 20 clubs |
South-West Third League 20 clubs | |||
| 4 | A OFGs (A OFGs - A Oblast Football Groups) 39 in total (all divisions run in parallel):
| ||||||
| 5 | B OFGs (B OFGs - B Oblast Football Groups) 10 in total (all divisions run in parallel):
| ||||||
References[]
- ^ 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
- ^ Bulgarian Football Union Information System Archived June 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, visited on 22.11.2007
- ^ 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)
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| Defunct competitions |
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| National teams | |
| Regional Amateur Football Groups | |
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- Football leagues in Bulgaria
- Football league systems in Europe