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.

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

Structure

Currently the Bulgarian football league system consists of 62 different divisions forming 5 levels of the pyramid:

Level	League/Group
	Professional Leagues
1	First League 16 clubs ↓ 3 relegation spots + 1 relegation playoff spot
2	Second League 18 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot + 1 promotion playoff spots ↓ 4 relegation spots
	Non-professional Leagues
3	North-East Third League 17 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ 1 relegation spot + 2 relegation playoff spots	North-West Third League 13 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ 1 relegation spot + 3 relegation playoff spots	South-East Third League 19 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ 2 relegation spots + 3 relegation playoff spots	South-West Third League 18 clubs ↑ 1 promotion spot ↓ 2 to 5 relegation spots
4	A OFGs (A OFGs - A Oblast Football Groups) 36 in total (all divisions run in parallel): A OFG Blagoevgrad Mesta A OFG Blagoevgrad Struma A OFG Burgas A OFG Varna A OFG Veliko Tarnovo A OFG Vidin A OFG Vratsa A OFG Gabrovo A OFG Dobrich A OFG Kardzhali/Smolyan A OFG Kyustendil Osogovo A OFG Kyustendil Rila A OFG Lovech A OFG Montana A OFG Pazardzhik I A OFG Pazardzhik II A OFG Pernik I A OFG Pernik II A OFG Pleven A OFG Plovdiv I A OFG Plovdiv II A OFG Razgrad A OFG Ruse A OFG Silistra East A OFG Silistra West A OFG Sliven A OFG Sofia (capital) A OFG Sofia West A OFG Sofia East A OFG Stara Zagora A OFG Targovishte A OFG Haskovo A OFG Shumen North A OFG Shumen Center A OFG Shumen South A OFG Yambol
5	B OFGs (B OFGs - B Oblast Football Groups) 20 in total (all divisions run in parallel): B OFG Blagoevgrad Mesta West B OFG Blagoevgrad Mesta East B OFG Blagoevgrad Struma B OFG Burgas West B OFG Burgas Center B OFG Burgas East B OFG Varna B OFG Veliko Tarnovo North B OFG Veliko Tarnovo South B OFG Vratsa B OFG Dobrich B OFG Pazardzhik B OFG Pleven West B OFG Pleven East B OFG Plovdiv North B OFG Plovdiv Center B OFG Plovdiv East B OFG Ruse B OFG Sofia (capital) North B OFG Sofia (capital) South

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)