2016–17 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

The 2016–17 First Professional Football League is the 93rd season of the top division of the Bulgarian football league system, the 69th since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid and also the inaugural season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. The season is the first with a new league structure and strict financial criteria where 14 clubs play each other home and away, until the league is split up in championship and relegation playoffs. The new league structure, inspired by the ones used by the Belgian First Division A and Danish Superliga, was approved by the Bulgarian Football Union on 6 June 2016.^[8] The fixtures were announced on 8 July 2016.^[9]

First Professional Football League

Season	2016–17
Dates	29 July 2016 – 4 June 2017
Champions	Ludogorets Razgrad (6th title)
Relegated	Neftochimic Montana Lokomotiv GO
Champions League	Ludogorets Razgrad
Europa League	Botev Plovdiv Levski Sofia Dunav Ruse
Matches played	240
Goals scored	616 (2.57 per match)
Top goalscorer	Claudiu Keșerü (22)
Best goalkeeper	Georgi Kitanov (18 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Botev Plovdiv 7–1 Montana (7 April 2017)[1]
Biggest away win	Lokomotiv GO 0–5 Ludogorets Razgrad (12 March 2017)[2]
Highest scoring	Dunav Ruse 3–5 Ludogorets Razgrad (28 October 2016)[3] Botev Plovdiv 7–1 Montana (7 April 2017)[1]
Longest winning run	13 games by Ludogorets Razgrad[4]
Longest unbeaten run	24 games by Ludogorets Razgrad[4]
Longest winless run	10 games by Lokomotiv GO[4]
Longest losing run	7 games by Montana[4]
Highest attendance	~21,000 CSKA Sofia 1–1 Levski Sofia (15 October 2016)[5] Levski Sofia 2–1 CSKA Sofia (4 March 2017)[6]
Lowest attendance	~20 Montana 1–1 Vereya (10 May 2017)[7]
← 2015–16 2017–18 → All statistics correct as of 31 May 2017.

On 5 May 2017, five rounds before the end of the championship, after winning the away match with Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Ludogorets Razgrad managed to secure the title for a sixth consecutive and overall time.^[10] Ludogorets finished 16 points ahead of CSKA Sofia. Levski Sofia finished third.

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, alongside strict financial criteria. 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, also played in 26 fixtures. Seven matches are played in every fixture at a total of 182 games 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.^[11]

Tiebreakers

In case of a tie on points between two or more clubs, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:^[12]

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

Teams

Prior to the start of the season, the Bulgarian Football Union announced that every Bulgarian professional football club's application would be considered for the upcoming season, as long as it fulfills the financial criteria. A total of 14 teams would be contesting the league, including the 9 sides from the previous season, plus five promoted clubs from the lower B Group, which would be issued a license by the Bulgarian Football Union. The five approved applications from the lower division were the B Group's last year champions Dunav Ruse, alongside Lokomotiv GO, Neftochimic, Vereya and CSKA Sofia respectively.

Dunav return after a 25-year absence from the top flight, Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa return after a 21-year absence, Neftochimic return after a two-year absence, Vereya made its debut in the top flight, while CSKA Sofia return after a one-year absence, having played in the third tier the previous season, but managing to administratively promote back to the elite.

Stadia and locations

Note: From the 2016–17 season onwards, all participating clubs are required to have electric floodlights and adequate pitch conditions under the BFU and TV broadcaster's new licensing criteria.^[13] The following stadiums below have either obtained a license under UEFA's category ranking or fulfill the licensing criteria.

Sofia

Beroe
Vereya

Dunav

Cherno More

Ludogorets

Lokomotiv

Neftochimic

Botev
Lokomotiv

Pirin

Montana

Location of teams in 2016–17 First League

CSKA

Levski

Slavia

Sofia 2016–17 First League football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity (seating)
Beroe	Stara Zagora	Beroe	12,128[14]
Botev	Plovdiv	Botev 1912 Football Complex	4,000
Cherno More	Varna	Stadion Kavarna, Kavarna[15]	5,000
CSKA	Sofia	Balgarska Armia	18,495[16]
Dunav	Ruse	Gradski	12,400[17]
Levski	Sofia	Vivacom Arena - Georgi Asparuhov	25,000[18]
Lokomotiv	Gorna Oryahovitsa	Lokomotiv	10,500
Lokomotiv	Plovdiv	Lokomotiv	13,000[19]
Ludogorets	Razgrad	Ludogorets Arena	8,808[20]
Montana	Montana	Gradski	6,000
Neftochimic	Burgas	Lazur	18,037[21]
Pirin	Blagoevgrad	Hristo Botev	7,000
Slavia	Sofia	Vasil Levski National Stadium	43,230
Vereya	Stara Zagora	Trace Arena	3,500[22]

Note: On June 15, 2016, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Bulgaria granted 3 mln. BGN in total for stadium renovations to the following three clubs – Cherno More, Dunav and Lokomotiv GO.^[23]

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor	Additional
Beroe	Ferario Spasov	Ivo Ivanov	Uhlsport	—	Refan
Botev Plovdiv	Nikolay Kirov	Lachezar Baltanov	Joma	efbet	—
CSKA Sofia	Stamen Belchev	Bozhidar Chorbadzhiyski	Adidas	Mtel	WinBet
Cherno More	Georgi Ivanov	Georgi Iliev	Uhlsport	Armeets	—
Dunav Ruse	Veselin Velikov	Diyan Dimov	Joma	—	—
Levski Sofia	Nikolay Mitov	Veselin Minev	Joma	Vivacom	Strabag, efbet, Spetema
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	Aleksandar Dimitrov	Atanas Fidanin	Krasiko	efbet	Prity, Enel, Go Grill
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Voyn Voynov	Martin Kamburov	Uhlsport	efbet	—
Ludogorets Razgrad	Georgi Dermendzhiev	Svetoslav Dyakov	Macron	bet365	Vivacom, Spetema
Montana	Atanas Atanasov	Ivan Mihov	Jako	efbet	—
Neftochimic	Hristo Yanev	Lyubomir Bozhinov	Krasiko	Masterhaus	—
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Milen Radukanov	Yuliyan Popev	Erreà	—	—
Slavia Sofia	Zlatomir Zagorčić	Georgi Petkov	Joma	bet365	—
Vereya	Aleksandar Tomash	Elias	Erreà	Trace Group	Spetema

Note: Individual clubs may wear jerseys with advertising. However, only one sponsorship is permitted per jersey for official tournaments organised by UEFA in addition to that of the kit manufacturer (exceptions are made for non-profit organisations). Clubs in the domestic league can have more than one sponsorship per jersey which can feature on the front of the shirt, incorporated with the main sponsor or in place of it; or on the back, either below the squad number or on the collar area. Shorts also have space available for advertisement.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Beroe	Plamen Lipenski	End of caretaker tenure	31 May 2016	Pre-season	Aleksandar Dimitrov	31 May 2016[24]
Montana	Emil Velev	Sacked	31 May 2016		Stevica Kuzmanovski	10 June 2016[25]
Vereya	Zhivko Zhelev	End of contract	31 May 2016		Aleksandar Tomash	10 June 2016[26]
Lokomotiv GO	Aleksandar Tomash	Sacked	8 June 2016		Angel Chervenkov	8 June 2016[27]
Cherno More	Nikola Spasov	Mutual consent	10 June 2016		Georgi Ivanov	21 June 2016[28]
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Naci Şensoy	End of contract	20 June 2016		Stefan Genov	20 June 2016
CSKA Sofia	Hristo Yanev	Resigned	21 August 2016	3rd	Edward Iordănescu	24 August 2016[29]
Botev Plovdiv	Nikolay Kostov		23 August 2016[30]	10th	Nikolay Mitov	30 August 2016[31]
	Nikolay Mitov		30 August 2016	8th	Nikolay Kirova	1 September 2016[32]
Neftochimic	Dimcho Nenov	Sacked	17 September 2016[33]	13th	Hristo Yanev	17 September 2016[34]
Lokomotiv GO	Angel Chervenkov		28 September 2016[35]	14th	Ivan Kolev	28 September 2016[36]
Montana	Stevica Kuzmanovski		3 October 2016[37]	13th	Atanas Dzhambazkib	4 October 2016[38]
Beroe	Aleksandar Dimitrov	Resigned	17 October 2016[39]	7th	Plamen Lipenski (interim)	20 October 2016[40]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Ilian Iliev		17 October 2016[41]	9th	Hristo Kolev (interim)	18 October 2016[42]
Levski Sofia	Ljupko Petrović		22 October 2016[43]	1st	Elin Topuzakovc	24 October 2016[44]
Beroe	Plamen Lipenski	End of caretaker tenure	26 October 2016	8th	Ferario Spasov	26 October 2016[45]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Hristo Kolev		31 October 2016	7th	Eduard Eranosyan	31 October 2016[46]
Slavia Sofia	Aleksandr Tarkhanov	Signed by Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast	2 November 2016[47]	10th	Vladimir Ivanov	3 November 2016[48]
CSKA Sofia	Edward Iordănescu	Resigned	27 November 2016[49]	5th	Stamen Belchevd	27 November 2016[50]
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Stefan Genov	Signed by CSKA Sofia	9 January 2017[51]	11th	Milen Radukanov	13 January 2017[52]
Lokomotiv GO	Ivan Kolev	Resigned	2 March 2017[53]	13th	Milcho Sirmov (interim)	2 March 2017
Levski Sofia	Elin Topuzakov	Mutual consent	2 March 2017	2nd	Nikolay Mitov	2 March 2017[54]
Lokomotiv GO	Milcho Sirmov	End of caretaker tenure	14 March 2017	13th	Aleksandar Dimitrov	14 March 2017[55]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Eduard Eranosyan	Resigned	9 April 2017[56]	5th	Stoyan Kolev (interim)	12 April 2017[57]
Montana	Atanas Dzhambazki		17 April 2017[58]	4th/Group A	Dilyan Ivanov (interim)	17 April 2017
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Stoyan Kolev	End of caretaker tenure	19 April 2017	6th	Voyn Voynov	19 April 2017[59]
Montana	Dilyan Ivanov		24 April 2017	4th/Group A	Atanas Atanasov	24 April 2017[60]
Slavia Sofia	Vladimir Ivanov	Demoted to assistant	11 May 2017	3rd/Group A	Zlatomir Zagorčić	11 May 2017[61]

a.^ Initially interim, made permanent 19 January 2017.^[62]
b.^ Initially interim, made permanent 16 December 2016.^[63]
c.^ Initially interim, made permanent 16 November 2016.^[64]
d.^ Initially interim, made permanent 3 January 2017.^[65]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ludogorets Razgrad	26	21	4	1	69	19	+50	67	Qualification for the championship round
2	Levski Sofia	26	15	6	5	38	17	+21	51
3	CSKA Sofia	26	13	7	6	35	16	+19	46
4	Cherno More	26	12	7	7	30	24	+6	43
5	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	26	10	9	7	35	30	+5	39
6	Dunav Ruse	26	10	8	8	32	31	+1	38
7	Botev Plovdiv	26	10	5	11	36	42	−6	35[a]	Qualification for the relegation round
8	Beroe	26	10	5	11	27	28	−1	35[a]
9	Pirin Blagoevgrad	26	10	4	12	30	36	−6	34
10	Vereya	26	8	6	12	22	36	−14	30
11	Slavia Sofia	26	8	4	14	30	45	−15	28
12	Neftochimic	26	7	5	14	27	37	−10	26
13	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	26	5	7	14	22	39	−17	22
14	Montana	26	3	3	20	16	49	−33	12

Source: Bulgarian Football Union, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Fairplay ranking; 9) Draw.^[66]
Notes:

1. Botev Plovdiv ahead of Beroe on head-to-head record; Beroe–Botev Plovdiv 3–4, Botev Plovdiv–Beroe 2–0.

Results

Home \ Away	BSZ	BOT	CHM	CSK	DUN	LEV	LGO	LPL	LUD	MON	NEF	PIR	SLA	VER
Beroe		3–4	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–2	0–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0
Botev Plovdiv	2–0		2–3	0–0	0–2	1–1	4–0	1–1	1–3	2–0	2–1	3–2	3–2	2–1
Cherno More	1–0	1–1		0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	1–0	3–1	0–0	0–0	2–1
CSKA Sofia	4–0	0–0	1–0		3–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–2	2–1	5–1	2–0	2–0	1–1
Dunav Ruse	0–4	1–2	3–0	2–0		2–2	1–0	1–1	3–5	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	0–0
Levski Sofia	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–0		1–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	4–0
Lokomotiv G. Oryahovitsa	0–1	0–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–1		2–1	0–5	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	5–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	2–1		2–2	2–0	0–0	2–3	1–1	3–1
Ludogorets Razgrad	1–0	4–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	4–0	1–0		2–0	3–1	3–0	3–1	4–0
Montana	0–3	3–1	0–2	0–2	1–2	1–3	2–4	0–3	0–4		2–0	1–2	1–2	1–1
Neftochimic	1–0	4–0	1–3	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–0		3–1	2–0	1–0
Pirin Blagoevgrad	1–1	2–1	1–3	1–1	4–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–3	1–0	1–0		4–0	1–1
Slavia Sofia	1–2	3–2	2–1	0–1	0–2	0–4	3–1	5–2	0–2	2–0	0–3	3–1		3–1
Vereya	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–5	3–0	1–1	2–0	3–0

Source: bulgarian-football.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Ludogorets Razgrad	12	4	9	6	6	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Levski Sofia	6	8	5	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
CSKA Sofia	2	6	3	5	3	6	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Cherno More	1	1	1	1	4	7	7	8	6	6	4	3	3	4	3	4	6	4	4	5	5	4	5	5	4	4
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	3	9	6	8	9	11	9	7	9	9	10	7	8	6	6	5	4	5	5	4	4	5	4	4	5	5
Dunav Ruse	5	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	3	3	5	5	4	5	4	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Botev Plovdiv	4	13	8	10	8	9	8	5	5	5	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	9	7	7	7	8	7	7	7	7
Beroe	11	5	4	7	5	3	5	6	7	7	8	8	7	9	9	9	9	7	8	8	8	9	10	9	8	8
Pirin Blagoevgrad	13	7	10	9	10	8	10	9	8	8	9	9	10	10	11	10	10	11	11	10	9	7	8	8	9	9
Vereya	10	3	7	4	7	5	6	10	11	11	11	11	9	7	7	7	7	8	9	9	11	10	9	10	10	10
Slavia Sofia	14	14	14	14	12	10	11	11	10	10	7	10	11	11	12	11	11	10	10	11	10	11	11	12	11	11
Neftochimic	9	11	13	11	11	12	13	13	14	13	12	13	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	12	11	12	12
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	7	10	11	12	13	13	14	14	12	12	13	12	13	12	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	13
Montana	8	12	12	13	14	14	12	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14

Source: en.bulgarian-football.com

Results by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
Beroe	L	W	W	L	W	W	D	L	L	L	L	W	D	L	D	L	W	D	D	W	L	L	L	W	W	W
Botev Plovdiv	D	L	W	L	W	L	W	W	D	W	L	D	L	L	L	L	W	L	W	W	L	D	W	D	L	W
Cherno More	W	W	D	W	L	L	L	D	W	W	W	W	L	D	W	D	L	W	D	L	L	W	D	D	W	W
CSKA Sofia	W	L	W	D	W	L	W	W	D	D	W	L	L	W	D	W	W	D	W	W	W	D	L	W	D	L
Dunav Ruse	D	W	W	W	W	W	D	L	L	D	D	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	L	L	W	D	W	D	D	D
Montana	D	L	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	D	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	W	L	L	L	L
Neftohimic	D	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	W	D	L	W	D	L	L	L	W	L	W	D	D	W	W	L	L
Levski Sofia	D	D	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	D	W	W	L	L	W	W	W	L	D	D	W	L	W	L
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	D	L	D	L	L	L	L	L	W	W	L	W	L	D	W	D	L	D	D	L	D	L	L	L	L	W
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	D	D	W	L	D	L	W	W	L	L	D	W	D	W	W	W	W	L	D	W	D	L	W	D	D	L
Ludogorets	W	W	L	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	D	W	W	D	W
Pirin Blagievgrad	L	W	L	D	L	W	L	W	W	L	L	D	L	D	L	W	L	D	L	W	W	W	L	W	L	W
Slavia Sofia	L	L	L	L	W	W	L	D	W	L	W	L	L	L	D	W	L	W	D	L	W	L	L	L	W	D
Vereya	D	W	L	W	L	W	L	L	L	L	D	D	W	W	D	W	L	L	D	L	L	W	D	L	W	L

Source: bulgarian-football.com
W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Championship round

Points and goals will carry over in full from regular season.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LUD	CSK	LEV	DUN	LPL	CHM
1	Ludogorets Razgrad (C)	36	25	8	3	87	28	+59	83	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round		—	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	4–0
2	CSKA Sofia[a]	36	19	10	7	51	21	+30	67			1–1	—	3–0	2–0	0–0	3–1
3	Levski Sofia (O)	36	18	9	9	50	31	+19	63	Qualification for the European play-off final		1–3	0–3	—	1–1	5–0	2–2
4	Dunav Ruse[a]	36	15	10	11	46	44	+2	55	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round		2–2	1–0	0–1	—	2–3	1–0
5	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	36	14	10	12	50	52	−2	52			0–3	1–2	2–1	3–4	—	2–1
6	Cherno More Varna	36	13	8	15	39	45	−6	47			1–3	0–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	—

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Fairplay ranking; 9) Draw.^[72]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners
Notes:

1. On 29 May 2017 a UEFA letter to the Bulgarian Football Union declared that CSKA Sofia were not allowed to compete in European tournaments for the following two seasons as they were considered to have been re-formed as a new club and thus did not pass the "three-year rule".^[67] As this decision was appealed by CSKA Sofia, the Bulgarian Football Union granted a license to them subject to legal proceedings.^[68][69][70] A few hours prior to the Europa League first qualifying round draw, UEFA replaced them by Dunav Ruse, the fourth-placed team of the league.^[71]

Positions by round

Below the positions per round are shown. As teams did not all start with an equal number of points, the initial pre-playoffs positions are also given.

Team ╲ Round	Initial	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Ludogorets Razgrad	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
CSKA Sofia	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Levski Sofia	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Dunav Ruse	6	5	4	5	5	5	4	4	5	4	4
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	5	5
Cherno More	4	4	5	4	4	4	5	5	6	6	6

Source: bulgarian-football.com

Relegation round

Points and goals will carry over in full from regular season.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		VER	BOT	SLA	MON
1	Vereya	32	13	6	13	31	40	−9	45	Qualification for the European play-off quarter-finals		—	3–1	0–1	1–0
2	Botev Plovdiv	32	13	5	14	51	50	+1	44	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]		0–1	—	3–1	7–1
3	Slavia Sofia (O)	32	11	4	17	37	55	−18	37	Qualification for the relegation play-offs		0–1	0–3	—	1–0
4	Montana (R)	32	4	3	25	24	66	−42	15			2–3	2–1	3–4	—

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Fairplay ranking; 9) Draw.^[72]
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Botev Plovdiv qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016–17 Bulgarian Cup.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		BSZ	PIR	NEF	LGO
1	Beroe	32	12	8	12	35	33	+2	44	Qualification for the European play-off quarter-finals		—	1–1	3–0	2–3
2	Pirin Blagoevgrad	32	12	7	13	41	44	−3	43			1–1	—	2–1	1–1
3	Neftochimic (R)	32	8	7	17	33	47	−14	31	Qualification for the relegation play-offs		0–0	0–3	—	4–1
4	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa (R)	32	7	9	16	32	51	−19	30			0–1	4–3	1–1	—

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Fairplay ranking; 9) Draw.^[72]
(R) Relegated

European play-offs

Bracket

	Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	16 and 20 May
	Pirin Blagoevgrad	1	0	1
	Vereya	1	1	2
	15 and 19 May
	Botev Plovdiv	3	1	4
	Beroe	0	2	2
	27 and 30 May
	Vereya	–	–	—
	Botev Plovdiv	–	–	—
	4 June
	Levski Sofia			1 (9)
	Vereya			1 (8)

European play-off quarter-finals

Botev Plovdiv	3–0	Beroe
Kossoko 14' Viana 45' Vutov 81'	Report

15 May 2017

20:00 EEST

Botev 1912 Football Complex, Plovdiv

Attendance: 1,700

Referee: Angel Angelov (Sofia)

Beroe	2–1	Botev Plovdiv
K. Dimitrov 15' (o.g.) Mapuku 75'	Report	Vutov 64'

19 May 2017

20:00 EEST

Beroe, Stara Zagora

Attendance: 850

Referee: Dragomir Draganov (Varna)

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Pirin Blagoevgrad	1–1	Vereya
Tsvetkov 81'	Report	Bandalovski 90+3'

16 May 2017

17:30 EEST

Hristo Botev, Blagoevgrad

Attendance: 650

Referee: Stanislav Stavrov (Veliko Tarnovo)

Vereya	1–0	Pirin Blagoevgrad
Kaloyanov 44'	Report

20 May 2017

17:30 EEST

Trace Arena, Stara Zagora

Attendance: 180

Referee: Vladimir Valkov (Plovdiv)

European play-off semi-finals

Vereya	Not Played	Botev Plovdiv

27 May 2017

20:00 EEST

Trace Arena, Stara Zagora

Botev Plovdiv	Not Played	Vereya

30 May 2017

20:00 EEST

Botev 1912 Football Complex, Plovdiv

Since Botev Plovdiv qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016–17 Bulgarian Cup, the semi-finals were not held and Vereya qualified automatically for the play-off final.

European play-off final

Levski Sofia	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Vereya
Kraev 44'	Report	Bandalovski 90+3'
Penalties
Procházka Kraev Bourabia S. Aleksandrov Borimirov Ognyanov Jablonský Pirgov S. Ivanov Mitrev Naydenov	9–8	Andonov Domovchiyski Tsvetanov Eugénio Elias Zafirov Kerkar Angelov Bandalovski Inkoom Kolev

4 June 2017

20:00 EEST

Vivacom Arena - Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Stefan Apostolov (Simitli)

Relegation play-offs

Bracket

	First round						Second round						Third round
	Match 1
	Montana	1	1	2
	Neftochimic	3	2	5
	Match 2
	Lokomotiv GO	0	1	1
	Slavia Sofia	3	1	4
	Match 3
	Neftochimic	0	2	2
	Slavia Sofia	1	5	6
	Match 4
	Montana	1	3	4
	Lokomotiv GO	1	0	1
	Match 5
	Neftochimic			0
	Vitosha Bistritsa			1
	Match 6
	Montana			1
	Septemvri Sofia			2

Winners of matches 3, 5 and 6 will play in the top division next season

First round

Montana	1–3	Neftochimic
Atanasov 90+3'	Report	Hazurov 16' (pen.), 55' Romanov 21'

18 May 2017

17:30 EEST

Gradski, Lovech

Attendance: 50

Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Plovdiv)

Neftochimic	2–1	Montana
Milanov 71' Ivanov 80'	Report	Atanasov 24'

22 May 2017

17:30 EEST

Lazur, Burgas

Attendance: 370

Referee: Stefan Apostolov (Simitli)

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Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	0–3	Slavia Sofia
	Report	Dimitrov 45', 62' Serderov 58'

18 May 2017

19:45 EEST

Lokomotiv, Gorna Oryahovitsa

Attendance: 2,500

Referee: Nikola Popov (Sofia)

Slavia Sofia	1–1	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
Omar 29'	Report	Kirev 38' (o.g.)

22 May 2017

20:00 EEST

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 90

Referee: Ivaylo Stoyanov (Petrich)

Second round

Neftochimic	0–1	Slavia Sofia
	Report	Yomov 9'

26 May 2017

20:00 EEST

Lazur, Burgas

Attendance: 700

Referee: Dragomir Draganov (Varna)

Slavia Sofia	5–2	Neftochimic
Serderov 2' Hashev 5' (o.g.) Dimitrov 17', 64' Velev 72'	Report	Hashev 57' Ognyanov 87'

29 May 2017

20:00 EEST

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 130

Referee: Nikola Popov (Sofia)

Slavia Sofia qualify for the 2017–18 First League.

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Montana	1–1	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
Atanasov 17'	Report	Kifouéti 25'

26 May 2017

17:45 EEST

Gradski, Lovech

Attendance: 170

Referee: Georgi Dimitrov (Sofia)

Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	0–3	Montana
	Report	Iliev 10', 49' Genov 19'

29 May 2017

17:30 EEST

Lokomotiv, Gorna Oryahovitsa

Attendance: 800

Referee: Ivaylo Stoyanov (Petrich)

Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa are relegated to the 2017–18 Second League.

Third round

Neftochimic	0–1	Vitosha Bistritsa
	Report	Otofe 58'

2 June 2017

20:00 EEST

Trace Arena, Stara Zagora

Attendance: 350

Referee: Stanislav Todorov (Shumen)

Montana	1–2	Septemvri Sofia
Iliev 67'	Report	Angelov 3' Galchev 11'

3 June 2017

18:30 EEST

Lokomotiv, Plovdiv

Attendance: 200

Referee: Nikola Popov (Sofia)

Neftochimic and Montana are relegated to the 2017–18 Second League. Vitosha Bistritsa and Septemvri Sofia are promoted to the 2017–18 First League.

Season statistics

Round	Goal of the week	Club	Save of the week	Club
1	Diogo Viana vs Slavia	CSKA Sofia
2	Aleksandar Vasilev vs Slavia	Beroe	Hristo Ivanov vs Cherno More	Montana
3	Diogo Viana vs Neftochimic	CSKA Sofia	Vladislav Stoyanov vs Levski Sofia	Ludogorets
4	Georgi Kostadinov vs Slavia	Levski Sofia	Antonis Stergiakis vs Levski Sofia	Slavia
5	Bozhidar Kraev vs Vereya	Levski Sofia	Georgi Petkov vs Montana	Slavia
6	Anton Ognyanov vs CSKA Sofia	Dunav	Martin Lukov vs CSKA Sofia	Dunav
7	Dimitar Pirgov vs Pirin Blagoevgrad	Levski Sofia	Blagoy Makendzhiev vs Dunav	Beroe
8	Ventsislav Hristov vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Neftohimic	Martin Lukov vs Botev Plovdiv	Dunav
9	Ivan Minchev vs Vereya	Slavia	Bojan Jorgačević vs Dunav	Levski Sofia
10	Todor Nedelev vs Beroe	Botev Plovdiv	Nikolay Bankov vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
11	Añete vs Beroe	Levski Sofia	Hristo Ivanov vs CSKA Sofia	Montana
12	Atanas Zehirov vs Montana	Beroe	Bojan Jorgačević vs Botev Plovdiv	Levski Sofia
13	Carlos Ohene vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Beroe	Blagoy Makendzhiev vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Beroe
14	Dimitar Pirgov vs Montana	Levski Sofia	Krasimir Kostov vs Cherno More	Pirin Blagoevgrad
15	Gustavo Campanharo vs Botev Plovdiv	Ludogorets	Yassine El Kharroubi vs Levski Sofia	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
16	Stanislav Kostov vs Dunav	Pirin Blagoevgrad	Bojan Jorgačević vs Ludogorets	Levski Sofia
17	Mehdi Bourabia vs Slavia	Levski Sofia	Yassine El Kharroubi vs Cherno More	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
18	Añete vs Vereya	Levski Sofia	Nikolay Bankov vs CSKA Sofia	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
19	Vladislav Uzunov vs Beroe	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	Martin Lukov vs CSKA Sofia	Dunav
20	Anton Karachanakov vs Dunav	Beroe	Ivan Čvorović vs Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	Botev Plovdiv
21	Ivan Minchev vs Cherno More	Slavia
22	Marcelinho vs Neftohimic	Ludogorets	Yanko Georgiev vs Ludogorets	Neftochimic
23	David Jablonský vs CSKA Sofia	Levski Sofia	Nikolay Krastev vs CSKA Sofia	Levski Sofia
24	Martin Raynov vs Levski Sofia	Beroe	Dušan Perniš vs Levski Sofia	Beroe
25	Bircent Karagaren vs Ludogorets	Dunav	Stanislav Antonov vs Ludogorets	Dunav
26	Fernando Viana vs Montana	Botev Plovdiv	Yanko Georgiev vs Pirin Blagoevgrad	Neftochimic
27	Añete vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Levski Sofia	Stanislav Antonov vs Ludogorets	Dunav
28	Miroslav Budinov vs Cherno More	Dunav	Yanko Georgiev vs Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa	Neftohimic
29	Omar Kossoko vs Slavia	Botev Plovdiv	Stanislav Antonov vs Levski Sofia	Dunav
30	Fernando Karanga vs Levski Sofia	CSKA Sofia	Georgi Kitanov vs Levski Sofia	CSKA Sofia
31	Stanislav Kostov vs Beroe	Pirin Blagoevgrad	Stanislav Antonov vs CSKA Sofia	Dunav
32	Mehdi Bourabia vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Levski Sofia	Stefano Kunchev vs Pirin Blagoevgrad	Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
33	Ivan Tsvetkov vs Vereya	Pirin Blagoevgrad
34	Nikolay Minkov vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Cherno More	Stanislav Antonov vs Levski Sofia	Dunav
35	Samir Ayass vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Dunav
36	Roman Procházka vs Cherno More	Levski Sofia

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 31 May 2017^[73]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Claudiu Keșerü	Ludogorets Razgrad	22
2	Martin Kamburov	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	17
3	Marcelinho	Ludogorets Razgrad	14
4	João Paulo[n 1]	Ludogorets Razgrad	13
	Wanderson	Ludogorets Razgrad
6	Todor Nedelev	Botev Plovdiv	11
	Daniel Mladenov	Pirin Blagoevgrad
	Junior Mapuku	Beroe
9	Jonathan Cafu	Ludogorets Razgrad	10
	Stanislav Kostov	Pirin Blagoevgrad
	Marek Kuzma	Cherno More
	Miroslav Budinov	Dunav Ruse
	Serder Serderov	Slavia Sofia
	Bozhidar Kraev	Levski Sofia
15	Ivaylo Dimitrov	Slavia Sofia	9
16	Rahavi Kifouéti	Lokomotiv GO	8
	Roman Procházka	Levski Sofia
18	Tunde Adeniji	Levski Sofia	7
	Steven Petkov	Montana
	Gustavo Culma	CSKA Sofia
	Branimir Kostadinov	Dunav Ruse
	Dino Martinović	Lokomotiv Plovdiv

Notes

1. Including 12 goals for Botev Plovdiv.

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
João Paulo	Botev Plovdiv	Lokomotiv GO	4–0[74]	17 September 2016
Junior Mapuku	Beroe	Botev Plovdiv	3–4[75][76]	16 October 2016
Claudiu Keșerü	Ludogorets Razgrad	Dunav Ruse	5–3[3]	28 October 2016
Claudiu Keșerü	Ludogorets Razgrad	Lokomotiv GO	5–0[2]	12 March 2017
Bozhidar Kraev4	Levski Sofia	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	5–0[77]	9 April 2017

Note

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Clean sheets

As of matches played on 31 May 2017^[73]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Georgi Kitanov	CSKA Sofia	18
2	Bojan Jorgačević	Levski Sofia	12
3	Martin Lukov	Dunav Ruse	10
4	Blagoy Makendzhiev[nb 1]	Pirin Blagoevgrad	9
	Plamen Kolev	Vereya
6	Vladislav Stoyanov	Ludogorets Razgrad	8
	Yanko Georgiev	Neftochimic
8	Yassine El Kharroubi	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	7
9	Přemysl Kovář	Cherno More	5
	Dušan Perniš	Beroe
	Nikolay Krastev	Levski Sofia
12	Ivan Karadzhov	Vereya	4
	Nikolay Bankov	Lokomotiv GO
	Ivan Čvorović	Botev Plovdiv
	Renan	Ludogorets Razgrad
	Stanislav Antonov	Dunav Ruse

Notes

1. Including 5 clean sheets for Beroe.

Transfers

• List of Bulgarian football transfers summer 2016
• List of Bulgarian football transfers winter 2016–17