First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

First Professional Football League

Organising body	Bulgarian Football Union (BFS)
Founded	1924; 97 years ago (1924) (knockout) 1937–1940; 1948 (as round-robin)
Country	Bulgaria
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	14 (16 in 2022–23)
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Second League
Domestic cup(s)	Bulgarian Cup Bulgarian Supercup
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa Conference League
Current champions	Ludogorets Razgrad (10th title) (2020–21)
Most championships	CSKA Sofia (31 titles)
TV partners	Nova Broadcasting Group
Website	www.fpleague.bg
Current: 2021–22 season

The First Professional Football League (Bulgarian: Първа професионална футболна лига), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva liga, currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons,^[1] is a professional association football league, located at the top of the Bulgarian football league system. Contested by 14 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Second Professional Football League.

The Bulgarian football championship was inaugurated in 1924 as the Bulgarian State Football Championship and has been played in a league format since 1948, when the A Group was established. The champions of the First League have the right to participate in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League based on the league's European coefficient. Additionally, two UEFA Europa League spots are allocated to the second team in the final standings and the winner of the European playoffs. A further fourth spot may also be granted to the fourth placed team in the final league ranking, given that the Bulgarian Cup holder has finished among the top three teams at the end of the season.

A total of 67 clubs have competed in the Bulgarian top-tier since its establishment. Since 1948, eleven different teams have been crowned champions of Bulgaria. The three most successful clubs are CSKA Sofia with 31 titles, Levski Sofia with 26 titles and Ludogorets Razgrad with 10 titles. The current champions Ludogorets Razgrad won their ninth consecutive title in their ninth First League season in 2019–20. The competition has been dominated by Sofia-based teams. The Sofia teams have won together a total number of 70 titles.

History[]

Foundation[]

The first football championship of Bulgaria started in 1924 in a knockout format. An attempt to form a league as the top division of the Bulgarian football league system was made in 1937–1940, when the National Football Division was created. There were 10 teams, each playing twice against all the others, once home and once away. The team that finished first in the table became champions.^[2] (needs direct citations)

A Republican Football Group[]

The first season of the A Republican Football Group started in the autumn of 1948. In that season, ten teams participated in the league: Levski, Septemvri, Lokomotiv, Slavia and Spartak from the capital city Sofia, and Botev (Varna), Slavia (Plovdiv), Marek (Stanke Dimitrov), Benkovski in a spring-autumn cycle as in the Soviet Union. In the autumn of 1949, qualification tournaments were played to determine the teams that would play in the next 1950 season. In the next two seasons the number of teams in the league was increased to 12, and for the 1953 season there were 15 teams (the 16th team was the Bulgarian National Football Team). In seasons 1954 and 1955 there were 14 teams in the league, and in seasons 1956 and 1957 there were 10.^{[citation needed]}

In 1958, the championship was again stopped after the spring half-season, as had happened in 1948. New re-organizations were accepted and the league was again going to be played in the autumn-spring format. Despite the fact that the teams had played just 1 match, CDNA was crowned as the champion of Bulgaria.^{[citation needed]}

The frequent changes in the number of teams in A Group continued in the 1960s. In the first two seasons after the reforms in 1958, the number of teams in the league was 12, in the period 1960–1962 – 14, until season 1967/68, when the teams were 16.

There were new reforms at the end of the 1960s. There were many mergers between Bulgarian clubs. The most-famous are between CSKA Red Flag and Septemvri Sofia in CSKA September Flag, the capital teams Levski and Spartak in Levski-Spartak, Lokomotiv and Slavia in Slavia, the Plovdiv teams Botev, Spartak and Academic in Trakiya. Mergers happened between other Bulgarian clubs too. These mergers between clubs and reforms in A Group were made at the winter break of the 1968/69 season.

After the winter reforms in 1968 until 2000, A Group remained with 16 teams, except in seasons 1971/72 and 1972/73, when 18 teams competed in the league.

Premier Professional Football League[]

The Bulgarian Football Union decided to make reforms. The Premier Professional Football League, created in the autumn of 2000, had 14 teams participating in it. At the end of the 2000/01 season, the last two teams were directly relegated to the lower division and the team that finished 12th had the chance to compete in the promotion/relegation play-off for the remaining place in the league. Levski Sofia became champions in the first season of the Premier League.

In the 2001/02 season there was experimentation with the regulations. The championship was divided into two phases. In the first phase the teams played a regular season, each team playing twice against all the others, once home and once away. The second phase was a play-off phase.

In the following season, 2002/03, the championship returned to the regulations of 2000/01 – 14 teams playing in a home and away format. For the first time in 6 years, CSKA Sofia became champions.

A Group[]

The Bulgarian A Professional Football Group was created in 2003. The group was formed by 16 teams, each playing twice against all the others, once home and once away. In the first season of the newly created A Group, the 2003–04 season, for the first time in history, Lokomotiv Plovdiv became champions, finishing with 75 points. In 2004–05, CSKA Sofia won A Group for the 30th time. For the next two seasons, Levski Sofia were champions under manager Stanimir Stoilov. From 2005–06 the league's name has been A Football Group. In 2007–08, CSKA became champions of A Group for a record-breaking 31st time without a loss out of 30 matches. But in the summer, UEFA didn't give a licence for the club to play in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds and Levski Sofia entered to play in the tournament instead of CSKA. In the following season Levski Sofia won their last A Group title, finishing one point ahead of CSKA. Later on, two years in a row Litex Lovech won another two titles like in 1997–98 and 1998–99. In 2011–12, after winning promotion from B Group, Ludogorets Razgrad became the second team after Litex to win the A Group in their first season.

The Bulgarian Football Union made some changes in the format of A Group prior to season 2014–15 with the reduction of the number of the teams participating in the top league from 16 to 12.^{[citation needed]}

First Professional Football League[]

On 7 June 2016 the league's name was changed to First Professional Football League, following approval of new licensing criteria for the clubs.^[3]

Competition format[]

Starting from the 2016-17 season, a new league format was approved by the Bulgarian Football Union, in an attempt to improve each participating club's competitiveness, match attendance and performance in the league. It involves 14 teams playing in two phases, a regular season and playoffs. The first phase includes each club competing against every other team twice in a double round-robin system, on a home-away basis at a total of 26 games per team and played in 26 fixtures. Seven matches are played in every fixture at a total of 182 games played during the first phase. In the second phase, the top six teams form a European qualifying table, while the bottom eight teams participate in a relegation group. The winner of the top group is declared as Champions of Bulgaria and is awarded with the title.

International qualification[]

The six top teams compete against each other on a home-away basis. Three matches are played in every fixture of the top six, with the results and points after the regular season also included. At the end of the stage, every team will have played a total of 36 games. The winner of the group is declared as Champions of Bulgaria and automatically secures participation in the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. The team that ranks second is awarded with a place in the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. The third team in the final standings would participate in a play-off match against a representative team from the bottom eight. Depending on the winner of the Bulgarian Cup final, a possible fourth team from the first six may compete in a play-off match for an UEFA Europa League spot instead of the third ranked team.

Note: If the Bulgarian Cup winner has secured its qualification for the European tournaments for the next season through results from Parva Liga, then the place in the UEFA Europa League play-off is awarded to the fourth ranked team in the final standings.

Relegation[]

The teams in the bottom eight are split in two sub-groups of four teams, Group A and Group B, depending on their final position after the regular season standings. The teams that enter Group A are the 7th, 10th, 11th and the 14th, and the teams that participate in Group B are the 8th, 9th, 12th and the 13th. Every participant plays twice against the other three teams in their group on a home-away basis. The teams from the bottom eight also compete with the results from the regular season. After the group stages, every team will have played a total number of 32 games. Depending on their final position in Group A and Group B, two sections will be formed, one for a play-off spot in next season's European competitions and one to avoid relegation. The first two teams from each group continue in the semi-finals, and the last two teams of each group continue to the semi-finals for a relegation match. After this phase, one team is directly relegated to the Second League and the remaining two teams will compete in two relegation matches against the second and the third ranked clubs from the Second League.^[4]

Tiebreakers[]

In case of a tie on points between two or more clubs, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:^[5]

1. Number of wins;
2. Goal difference;
3. Goals for;
4. Goals against;
5. Fewest red cards;
6. Fewest yellow cards;
7. Draw

Current clubs[]

The following clubs are competing in the Prva profesionalna Liga during the 2021–22 season.

Arda	Beroe	Botev Plovdiv	Botev Vratsa
Arena Arda	Beroe	Futbolen kompleks Botev 1912	Hristo Botev
Capacity: 11,114	Capacity: 12,128	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 12,000
Cherno More	Sofia Arda Beroe Botev Plovdiv Lokomotiv Plovdiv Botev Vratsa Cherno More Ludogorets Pirin Sofia teams First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) (Bulgaria) CSKA CSKA 1948 Levski Lokomotiv Slavia Tsarsko Selo Location of Sofia teams.		CSKA Sofia
Ticha			Balgarska Armia
Capacity: 8,250			Capacity: 22,995
CSKA 1948			Levski
Vasil Levski National Stadium			Vivacom Arena - Georgi Asparuhov
Capacity: 44,000			Capacity: 25,000
Lokomotiv Plovdiv			Lokomotiv Sofia
Lokomotiv			Lokomotiv
Capacity: 13,220			Capacity: 22,000
Ludogorets	Pirin	Slavia	Tsarsko Selo
Huvepharma Arena	Hristo Botev	Slavia	Arena Tsarsko Selo
Capacity: 10,422	Capacity: 7,500	Capacity: 25,556	Capacity: 1,550

List of champions[]

Performance by club[]

^[6]

Club	Titles	Winning Years(s)
CSKA Sofia	31	1948, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1996–97, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2007–08
Levski Sofia	26	1933, 1937, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1948–49, 1950, 1953, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09
Ludogorets Razgrad	10	2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21
Slavia Sofia	7	1928, 1930, 1936, 1938–39, 1941, 1943, 1995–96
Litex Lovech	4	1997–98, 1998–99, 2009–10, 2010–11
Lokomotiv Sofia	3	1945, 1963–64, 1977–78
SK Vladislav		1925, 1926, 1934
Botev Plovdiv	2	1929, 1966–67
Shipchenski Sokol	1	1932
Spartak Plovdiv		1962–63
Lokomotiv Plovdiv		2003–04
Beroe Stara Zagora		1985–86
Etar Veliko Tarnovo		1990–91
Sportklub Sofia		1935
SK Ticha		1937–38
ZhSK Sofia		1939–40
AC 23		1931

Notes:

• CSKA Sofia titles include those won as Septemvri pri CDNV, CDNA, and CFKA Sredets.
• Levski Sofia titles include those won as Levski-Spartak and Vitosha, as well as the re-awarded 1984–85 title.
• Botev Plovdiv total does not include 1984–85 title originally awarded to Trakia.

All-time ranking (since 1948)[]

The all-time Parva liga table^[7] is an overall record of all match results, points and goals for each team that has participated in the league since its inception in 1948. The table also shows every team's number of top three finishes,^[8] their best classification and current spell in Parva liga, or the season they were last part of the championship.^[9]

The table is accurate as of the end of the 2020–21 season.

All-time Parva liga table

#	Club	S	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	1st	2nd	3rd	Since/ Last App	Best	Notes
1	CSKA Sofia	72	2082	1265	477	340	4241	1788	+2453	3503	31	26	7	2016–17	1
2	Levski Sofia	73	2115	1237	487	391	4059	1891	+2168	3486	21	27	12	1948–49	1	[a]
3	Slavia Sofia	72	2091	902	497	692	3097	2455	+642	2657	1	7	11	1952	1	[b]
4	Lokomotiv Sofia	64	1835	770	460	605	2644	2215	+429	2279	2	3	10	2014–15	1
5	Botev Plovdiv	66	1926	738	451	737	2761	2658	+103	2176	1	2	10	2012–13	1
6	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	60	1794	703	415	676	2440	2430	+10	2133	1	2	4	2001–02	1
7	Cherno More Varna	57	1676	598	429	649	1997	2112	-115	1881	–	–	2	2000–01	3
8	Beroe Stara Zagora	54	1621	562	376	683	1988	2310	-322	1724	1	1	2	2009–10	1
9	Litex Lovech	21	608	354	123	131	1113	552	+561	1149	4	1	3	2015–16	1
10	Spartak Varna	43	1202	378	270	554	1385	1829	-444	1144	–	–	2	2008–09	3
11	Minyor Pernik	38	1055	330	248	477	1175	1594	-419	1000	–	–	–	2012–13	4
12	Spartak Pleven	35	994	314	245	435	1150	1511	-361	886	–	–	1	2001–02	3
13	Botev Vratsa	31	945	316	207	422	1164	1406	-242	880	–	–	1	2018–19	3
14	Chernomorets Burgas	29	866	277	188	401	1057	1410	-353	775	–	–	–	2003–04	5	Dissolved in 2006.[c]
15	Dunav Ruse	29	838	260	206	372	888	1270	-382	763	–	–	–	2019–20	4
16	Pirin Blagoevgrad	26	790	245	195	350	844	1072	-228	753	–	–	–	2021–22	5
17	Ludogorets Razgrad	10	332	210	77	45	668	234	+434	751	10	–	–	2011–12	1	[e]
18	Marek Dupnitsa	29	838	251	177	410	920	1374	-454	737	–	–	1	2014–15	3
19	Etar	24	726	264	161	301	951	1043	-92	731	1	–	2	1997–98	1	Dissolved in 2003.[d]
20	Sliven	25	750	246	164	340	906	1109	-203	675	–	–	–	2010–11	6
21	Neftochimic Burgas	14	430	171	83	176	600	567	+33	575	–	1	–	2016–17	2
22	Akademik Sofia	18	505	163	136	206	589	676	-87	467	–	–	2	2010–11	3
23	Spartak Plovdiv	17	441	158	121	162	562	581	-19	455	1	1	–	1995–96	1
24	Dobrudzha Dobrich	14	414	126	82	206	448	682	-234	411	–	–	–	2002–03	7
25	Spartak Sofia	15	377	135	124	118	456	416	+40	394	–	2	–	1967–68	2	Dissolved in 2007.
26	Belasitsa Petrich	12	368	116	68	184	377	590	-213	360	–	–	–	2008–09	6
27	Chernomorets Burgas	7	218	92	53	73	288	223	+65	329	–	–	–	2013–14	4
28	Velbazhd Kyustendil	7	201	98	27	76	299	269	+30	314	–	–	3	2000–01	3
29	Lokomotiv GO	10	304	102	59	143	310	462	-152	291	–	–	–	2016–17	8
30	Montana	10	310	70	71	169	291	488	-197	281	–	–	–	2020–21	9
31	Volov Shumen	7	212	61	38	113	219	368	-149	201	–	–	–	1999–00	4	[g]
32	Pirin Bl. Blagoevgrad	6	178	53	41	84	189	254	-65	200	–	–	–	2010–11	8	Merged to form Pirin in 2008.[h]
33	Yantra Gabrovo	7	214	65	50	99	239	332	-93	174	–	–	–	1993–94	8
34	Etar Veliko Tarnovo	4	134	41	36	57	141	188	-47	159	–	–	–	2020–21	7
35	Haskovo	7	212	52	31	129	210	400	-190	139	–	–	–	2014–15	8
36	Septemvri Sofia	5	148	40	31	77	176	273	-97	139	–	–	–	2018–19	5
37	Vihren Sandanski	4	118	38	14	66	117	173	-56	128	–	–	–	2008–09	9
38	Sevlievo	5	150	28	36	86	126	271	-145	120	–	–	–	2011–12	12
39	Rodopa Smolyan	4	118	31	17	70	106	194	-88	110	–	–	–	2006–07	10	[f]
40	Akademik Svishtov	4	120	36	26	58	136	195	-59	97	–	–	–	1986–87	11
41	Vereya	3	106	24	19	63	73	195	-122	91	–	–	–	2018–19	6
42	Maritsa Plovdiv	4	120	28	25	67	129	225	-126	89	–	–	–	1996–97	14
43	Arda Kardzhali	2	61	21	22	18	70	73	-3	85	–	–	–	2019–20	4
44	Yambol	3	97	28	22	47	98	152	-57	78	–	–	–	1972–73	13
45	Zavod 12 Sofia	3	74	23	27	24	72	80	-8	73	–	–	–	1956	4	Merged with Slavia in 1957.
46	Metalurg Pernik	2	58	22	6	30	60	77	-17	72	–	–	–	1998–99	10
47	Hebar Pazardzhik	3	86	20	21	45	85	141	-56	68	–	–	–	2000–01	9
48	Tsarsko Selo Sofia	2	63	18	14	31	60	89	-29	68	–	–	–	2019–20	8
49	Lokomotiv Mezdra	2	60	17	13	30	69	89	-20	64	–	–	–	2009–10	8	Dissolved in 2012.[i]
50	Vitosha Bistritsa	3	101	15	18	68	67	173	-106	63	–	–	–	2019–20	13	Dissolved in 2020.
51	Pirin Gotse Delchev	2	68	16	8	44	62	148	-86	56	–	–	–	2013–14	11
52	VVS Sofia	2	54	13	21	20	60	63	-3	47	–	–	–	1955	8	Merged into CDNA in 1956.
53	CSKA 1948	1	31	12	11	8	41	34	-7	47	–	–	–	2020–21	5
54	DSO Stroitel Sofia	2	50	13	18	19	47	53	-6	44	–	–	–	1953	8	Dissolved in 1954.
55	Kaliakra Kavarna	2	60	10	11	39	45	117	-72	41	–	–	–	2011–12	12
56	Cherveno Zname Sofia	2	40	13	13	14	46	50	-4	39	–	–	–	1951	6	Merged with CSKA in 1962.
57	Rilski Sportist	2	56	11	6	39	51	116	-65	39	–	–	–	2006–07	14
58	Olimpik Teteven	1	30	11	2	17	26	50	-24	35	–	–	–	1997–98	14
59	Rakovski Ruse	2	60	9	6	45	41	151	-110	33	–	–	–	1996–97	13
60	Septemvri Pleven	3	66	9	14	43	48	137	-89	32	–	–	–	1954	8	Merged with Spartak in 1957.
61	Akademik Varna	1	28	9	7	12	26	43	-17	25	–	–	–	1953	10	Merged with Cherno More in 1969.
62	Dimitrovgrad	1	30	8	6	16	32	66	-34	21	–	–	–	1986–87	16
63	Lyubimets	1	38	6	3	29	35	104	-69	21	–	–	–	2013–14	14
64	Himik Dimitrovgrad	1	30	7	6	17	36	60	-24	20	–	–	–	1962–63	16	Merged to form Dimitrovgrad in 1967.
65	Nesebar	1	30	5	5	20	26	63	-37	20	–	–	–	2004–05	15
66	Rozova Dolina	1	30	7	5	18	30	53	-23	19	–	–	–	1982–83	15
67	Sportist Svoge	1	30	5	4	21	23	59	-36	19	–	–	–	2009–10	15
68	Slavia Plovdiv	1	18	4	8	6	16	21	-5	16	–	–	–	1948–49	7
69	Pavlikeni	1	26	5	4	17	12	45	-33	14	–	–	–	1955	14
70	Etar 1924	1	30	4	4	22	20	75	-55	13	–	–	–	2012–13	16	Dissolved in 2013.
71	Bdin 1923	1	18	2	4	12	13	35	-22	8	–	–	–	1948–49	9
72	Svetkavitsa 1922	1	30	1	5	24	8	71	-63	8	–	–	–	2011–12	16
73	Conegliano German	1	30	0	1	29	8	131	-123	−2	–	–	–	2006–07	16	Dissolved in 2007.

Key

Competing in Parva Liga

Competing in Vtora Liga

Competing in the amateur leagues

Not competing (see notes)

a.^ Never relegated.

b.^ Never relegated, expelled with political decision during the 1950 season, due to reogranisation.^[10]

c.^ Dissolved in 2006, PSFC Chernomorets Burgas and FC Chernomorets 1919 Burgas have been recognized by the fans, but aren't official representatives of the original club.

d.^ Dissolved in 2003, FC Etar 1924 Veliko Tarnovo and later SFC Etar Veliko Tarnovo have been recognized by the fans, but aren't official representatives of the original club.

e.^ Won the championship each season they've been in Parva liga.

f.^ Club only supports a youth academy.

g.^ Dissolved in 2014 and refounded in 2018. FC Shumen 1929 was recognized by the fans from 2013 to 2016, but wasn't an official representative of the original club.

h.^ Dissolved in 2008, OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad is recognized by the fans, but is not an official representative of the original club.

i.^ Dissolved in 2012, FC Lokomotiv 1929 Mezdra and OFC Lokomotiv Mezdra are recognized by the fans, but aren't official representatives of the original club.</ref>

Bulgarian derbies[]

The Eternal Derby[]

The Eternal Derby of Bulgarian football is contested between the two most successful and most popular football clubs in Bulgaria, CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia.^{[citation needed]}

Plovdiv derby[]

The Plovdiv derby is contested between Botev and Lokomotiv.^[11]

Media coverage[]

For the start of the new 2012-13 season, the football clubs rejected requests from four TV stations due to the low payments being offered – Bulgarian National Television, Nova Television, TV7 and TV+. Finally after the first set of fixtures, the satellite broadcaster Bulsatcom with its channel TV+ bought the rights, along with BNT. Before the start of the spring half-season the rights were bought by TV7 and News7, who had rights for the first, third and fourth pick, and BNT 1 along with the international channel BNT World broadcasting the second pick of a match.^[12]

The next seasons will also be broadcast on the Nova Broadcasting Group channels Diema, Diema Sport and Diema Sport 2, part of the Diema Extra paid pack, as their contract with the league was additionally extended.^[13]

Sponsorship[]

Until 2011 the official sponsor of the championship was TBI Credit and the league was officially known as TBI A Football Group.^[14]

In 2011–12, A Group had a new sponsor, the Victoria FATA Insurance, and therefore the league name in that season was rebranded to Victoria A Football Championship.^[15]

In early 2013, for a short period of time the naming rights of A Group were bought from the news television network News7, eventually renaming the competition's name to NEWS7 Football Championship.^[16]

On 11 July 2019, the Bulgarian Football Union announced that the football division's name had been changed to efbet League, following a two-year sponsorship deal with a betting company of the same name.^[1]

Statistics[]

UEFA coefficients[]

The following data indicates Bulgarian coefficient rankings between European football leagues.^[17]

Records[]

All-time league appearances[]

Top 10 appearances in Bulgarian First League

Rank	Player	Period	App.
1	Georgi Iliev	2000–2019	461
2	Marin Bakalov	1980–1999	454
3	Dinko Dermendzhiev	1959–1978	447
4	Martin Kamburov	1998–	446
5	Vidin Apostolov	1959–1976	444
6	Todor Marev	1972–1994	422
7	Hristo Bonev	1964–1984	410
8	Zapryan Rakov	1983–1999	403
9	Malin Orachev	1990–2008	398
10	Todor Yanchev	1997–2014	395
Bold displays footballers currently playing in First League As of 30 August 2021

All-time top scorers[]

Top 10 goalscorers in Bulgarian First League

Rank	Player	Period	Goals
1	Petar Zhekov	1962–1975	253
=	Martin Kamburov	1998–present	253
3	Nasko Sirakov	1980–1998	196
4	Dinko Dermendzhiev	1959–1978	194
5	Hristo Bonev	1964–1984	185
6	Plamen Getov	1977–1998	164
7	Nikola Kotkov	1956–1971	163
8	Stefan Bogomilov	1962–1976	162
9	Petar Mihtarski	1982–2001	158
10	Petko Petkov	1968–1980	152
Bold displays footballers currently playing in First League As of 30 August 2021

Other records[]

As of 27 April 2021

• Youngest player to appear in the league - Radoslav Uzunov (aged 15 years and 1 month)^[20]
• Oldest player to appear in the league - Georgi Petkov (aged 44 years, 8 months, and 7 days)
• Foreign player with the most appearances in the league - Vančo Trajanov (328)
• Foreign player with the most goals in the league - Claudiu Keșerü (113)
• Fastest goal scored in the league - Miroslav Manolov (7 seconds)^[21]

Top scorers by season[]

^[22]

Bold indicates all-time highest.

Season	Player (Club)	Nat.	Goals
1937–38	Krum Milev (Slavia Sofia)	BUL	12
1938–39	Georgi Pachedzhiev (AS 23 Sofia)	BUL	14
1939–40	(Levski Sofia) (FC 13 Sofia)	BUL  BUL	14
1948–49	Dimitar Milanov (CSKA Sofia) Nedko Nedev (Cherno More Varna)	BUL  BUL	11
1950	Lyubomir Hranov (Levski Sofia)	BUL	13
1951	Dimitar Milanov (2) (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	14
1952	Dimitar Isakov (Slavia Sofia) Dobromir Tashkov (Spartak Sofia)	BUL  BUL	10
1953	(Spartak Pleven and )	BUL	15
1954	Dobromir Tashkov (2) (Slavia Sofia)	BUL	25
1955	Todor Diev (Spartak Plovdiv)	BUL	13
1956	(Minyor Pernik)	BUL	16
1957	Hristo Iliev (Levski Sofia) Dimitar Milanov (3) (CSKA Sofia)	BUL  BUL	14
1958	Dobromir Tashkov (3) (Slavia Sofia) Georgi Arnaudov (Spartak Varna)	BUL  BUL	9
1958–59	Aleksandar Vasilev (Slavia Sofia)	BUL	13
1959–60	Dimitar Yordanov (Levski Sofia) Lyuben Kostov (Spartak Varna)	BUL  BUL	12
1960–61	Ivan Sotirov (Botev Plovdiv)	BUL	20
1961–62	Nikola Yordanov (Dunav Ruse) Todor Diev (2) (Spartak Plovdiv)	BUL  BUL	23
1962–63	Todor Diev (3) (Spartak Plovdiv)	BUL	26
1963–64	Nikola Tsanev (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	26
1964–65	Georgi Asparuhov (Levski Sofia)	BUL	27
1965–66	(Marek Dupnitsa)	BUL	21
1966–67	Petar Zhekov (Beroe Stara Zagora)	BUL	21
1967–68	Petar Zhekov (2) (Beroe Stara Zagora)	BUL	31
1968–69	Petar Zhekov (3) (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	36
1969–70	Petar Zhekov (4) (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	31
1970–71	Dimitar Yakimov (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	26
1971–72	Petar Zhekov (5) (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	27
1972–73	Petar Zhekov (6) (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	29
1973–74	Petko Petkov (Beroe Stara Zagora)	BUL	20
1974–75	Ivan Pritargov (Botev Plovdiv)	BUL	20
1975–76	Petko Petkov (2) (Beroe Stara Zagora)	BUL	19
1976–77	Pavel Panov (Levski Sofia)	BUL	20
1977–78	Stoycho Mladenov (Beroe Stara Zagora)	BUL	21
1978–79	Rusi Gochev (Chernomorets Burgas and Levski Sofia)	BUL	19
1979–80	Spas Dzhevizov (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	23
1980–81	Georgi Slavkov (Botev Plovdiv)	BUL	31
1981–82	Mihail Valchev (Levski Sofia)	BUL	24
1982–83	Antim Pehlivanov (Botev Plovdiv)	BUL	20
1983–84	Eduard Eranosyan (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)	BUL	19
1984–85	Plamen Getov (Spartak Pleven)	BUL	26
1985–86	Atanas Pashev (Botev Plovdiv)	BUL	30
1986–87	Nasko Sirakov (Levski Sofia)	BUL	36
1987–88	Nasko Sirakov (2) (Levski Sofia)	BUL	28
1988–89	Hristo Stoichkov (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	23
1989–90	Hristo Stoichkov (2) (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	38
1990–91	Ivaylo Yordanov (Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa)	BUL	21
1991–92	Nasko Sirakov (3) (Levski Sofia)	BUL	26
1992–93	Plamen Getov (2) (Levski Sofia)	BUL	26
1993–94	Nasko Sirakov (4) (Levski Sofia)	BUL	30
1994–95	Petar Mihtarski (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	24
1995–96	Ivo Georgiev (Spartak Varna)	BUL	21
1996–97	Todor Pramatarov (Slavia Sofia)	BUL	26
1997–98	Anton Spasov (Naftex Burgas) Boncho Genchev (CSKA Sofia)	BUL  BUL	17
1998–99	Dimcho Belyakov (Litex Lovech)	BUL	21
1999–00	Mihail Mihaylov (Velbazhd Kyustendil)	BUL	20
2000–01	Georgi Ivanov (Levski Sofia)	BUL	22
2001–02	Vladimir Manchev (CSKA Sofia)	BUL	21
2002–03	Georgi Chilikov (Levski Sofia)	BUL	23
2003–04	Martin Kamburov (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)	BUL	25
2004–05	Martin Kamburov (2) (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)	BUL	27
2005–06	Milivoje Novaković (Litex Lovech) José Emílio Furtado (Vihren and CSKA Sofia)	SVN  CPV	16
2006–07	Tsvetan Genkov (Lokomotiv Sofia)	BUL	27
2007–08	Georgi Hristov (Botev Plovdiv)	BUL	19
2008–09	Martin Kamburov (3) (Lokomotiv Sofia)	BUL	17
2009–10	Wilfried Niflore (Litex Lovech)	FRA	19
2010–11	Garra Dembélé (Levski Sofia)	MLI	26
2011–12	Ivan Stoyanov (Ludogorets Razgrad) Júnior Moraes (CSKA Sofia)	BUL  BRA	16
2012–13	Basile de Carvalho (Levski Sofia)	GNB	19
2013–14	Wilmar Jordán (Litex Lovech) Martin Kamburov (4) (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)	COL  BUL	20
2014–15	Añete (Levski Sofia)	ESP	14
2015–16	Martin Kamburov (5) (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)	BUL	18
2016–17	Claudiu Keșerü (Ludogorets Razgrad)	ROM	22
2017–18	Claudiu Keșerü (2) (Ludogorets Razgrad)	ROM	26
2018–19	Stanislav Kostov (1) (Levski Sofia)	BUL	23
2019–20	Martin Kamburov (6) (Beroe)	BUL	18

See also[]

• List of foreign football players in A PFG
• Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• League at UEFA
• Bulgaria – List of Champions, RSSSF.com
• Table, at xscores.com