2023–24 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

The 2023–24 First Professional Football League, also known as efbet League for sponsorship reasons,^[1] is the 100th season of the top division of the Bulgarian football league system, the 76th since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid, and also the 8th season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. The season began on 14 July 2023.

First Professional Football League

Season	2023–24
Dates	14 July 2023 – 31 May 2024
Champions	Ludogorets Razgrad (13th title)
Relegated	Etar Pirin Blagoevgrad
Champions League	Ludogorets Razgrad
Europa League	Botev Plovdiv
Conference League	Cherno More CSKA 1948
Matches played	283
Goals scored	678 (2.4 per match)
Top goalscorer	Aleksandar Kolev (15 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Plamen Andreev (17 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Levski Sofia 6–0 Lokomotiv Sofia (30 July 2023) Botev Plovdiv 6–0 Lokomotiv Sofia (26 October 2023) Ludogorets 6–0 Lokomotiv Sofia (16 March 2024)
Biggest away win	Botev Vratsa 0–5 Ludogorets (5 August 2023)
Highest scoring	Botev Vratsa 3–5 Botev Plovdiv (21 October 2023)
Longest winning run	14 games Ludogorets Razgrad
Longest unbeaten run	15 games CSKA Sofia
Longest winless run	12 games Etar
Longest losing run	7 games Slavia Sofia
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 19:57, 31 May 2024 (UTC).

Ludogorets Razgrad were the 12-time defending champions and successfully managed to defend the title, winning it for the thirteenth consecutive time.

Teams

As in the last season, 16 teams will compete in the league this year. Two teams were promoted from the 2022–23 Second League, and another place is for the winner of the promotion/relegation playoff.

The first team to earn promotion from the Second League was Etar, who mathematically secured a top three finish after Sportist Svoge lost to Yantra on May 25.^[2] Etar return to the top level after a 2-year absence.

The second team to earn promotion from the Second League was Krumovgrad, who mathematically secured a top three finish after winning against Botev Plovdiv II on May 27. This is going to be Krumovgrad's maiden participation in the Bulgarian top flight.^[3]

Additionally, Beroe managed to defeat Sportist Svoge with a score of 1–0 in the promotion/relegation playoff, thus maintaining its place in the First League.^[4]

Stadia and locations

Arda	Beroe	Botev Plovdiv	Botev Vratsa
Arena Arda	Beroe	Hristo Botev	Hristo Botev
Capacity: 11,114	Capacity: 12,128	Capacity: 18,777	Capacity: 6,417
Cherno More	CSKA 1948	CSKA Sofia	Etar
Ticha	Bistritsa	Vasil Levski National Stadium	Ivaylo
Capacity: 6,250	Capacity: 2,500	Capacity: 43,000	Capacity: 18,000
Hebar	Sofia Beroe Arda Botev Vratsa Cherno More Ludogorets Etar Botev Plovdiv Lokomotiv Plovdiv Pirin CSKA 1948 Hebar Krumovgrad Location of teams in 2023–24 First League CSKA Levski Lokomotiv Slavia Sofia 2023–24 First League football clubs		Krumovgrad
Georgi Benkovski			Krumovgrad
Capacity: 13,128			Capacity: 1,500
Levski Sofia			Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Vivacom Arena - Georgi Asparuhov			Lokomotiv
Capacity: 25,000			Capacity: 8,610
Lokomotiv Sofia	Ludogorets Razgrad	Pirin Blagoevgrad	Slavia Sofia
Lokomotiv	Huvepharma Arena	Hristo Botev	Aleksandar Shalamanov
Capacity: 22,000	Capacity: 10,422	Capacity: 7,500	Capacity: 25,556

Personnel and kits

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
Arda	Nikolay Kirov	Ivan Kokonov	Uhlsport	efbet	IK Nataliya Ltd.
Beroe	José Acciari	Bozhidar Penchev	Dryworld[5]	efbet	—
Botev Plovdiv	Dušan Kerkez	Lachezar Baltanov	Macron[6]	WinBet	—
Botev Vratsa	Hristo Yanev	Krasimir Kostov	Nike	WinBet	Vratsa Municipality, SportRespect, Inex, Predsednik Ltd.
Cherno More	Ilian Iliev	Daniel Dimov	Uhlsport[7]	Armeets	Planex Ltd.
CSKA 1948	Valentin Iliev	Daniel Naumov	Puma[8]	efbet	Bachkovo
CSKA Sofia	Stamen Belchev	Jurgen Mattheij	Macron[9]	WinBet	Haval
Etar	Svetoslav Petrov	Krum Stoyanov	Nike[10]	WinBet	—
Hebar	Lyuboslav Penev	Petar Debarliev	Jako	efbet	Pazardzhik Municipality
Krumovgrad	Atanas Ribarski	Bozhidar Katsarov	Uhlsport[11]	Compass Cargo Airlines	PIMK
Levski Sofia	Stanislav Genchev	Nikolay Mihaylov	Adidas[12]	PalmsBet	—
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Vacant	Dimitar Iliev	Joma[13]	WinBet	Money+, Fuel Card Distribution
Lokomotiv Sofia	Krasimir Balakov	Krasimir Miloshev	Joma	Betano	Casa Boyana, Malizia, Intesa, VIA 2000, Club 33
Ludogorets Razgrad	Georgi Dermendzhiev	Anton Nedyalkov	Nike	efbet	Vivacom, Huvepharma
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Oleksandr Babych	Aleksandar Dyulgerov	Uhlsport	8888.bg	—
Slavia Sofia	Zlatomir Zagorčić	Georgi Petkov	Zeus	bet365	Asset Insurance, SportRespect

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
Levski Sofia	Elin Topuzakov	End of interim period	12 June 2023	Pre-season	Nikolay Kostov	13 June 2023[14]
Beroe	Veselin Penev		14 June 2023		Gustavo Aragolaza	15 June 2023[15]
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Hristo Yanev	End of contract	17 June 2023[16]		Radoslav Mitrevski	17 June 2023[16]
Slavia Sofia	Angel Slavkov	End of interim period	22 June 2023		José Mari Bakero	23 June 2023[17]
CSKA Sofia	Saša Ilić	Sacked	29 July 2023[18]	5th	Nestor El Maestro	29 July 2023[19]
CSKA 1948	Atanas Ribarski	Resigned	15 August 2023[20]	7th	Nikolay Panayotov	15 August 2023[21]
Botev Plovdiv	Stanislav Genchev	Mutual agreement	22 August 2023[22]	14th	Rafael Ferreira (interim)	22 August 2023[23]
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Radoslav Mitrevski	Sacked	27 August 2023[24]	15th	Ivo Trenchev	31 August 2023[25]
Botev Plovdiv	Rafael Ferreira	End of interim period	4 September 2023	11th	Dušan Kerkez	4 September 2023[26]
Lokomotiv Sofia	Stoycho Stoev	Resigned	4 September 2023[27]	12th	Danilo Dončić	4 September 2023[28]
Botev Vratsa	Daniel Morales		18 September 2023[29]	13th	Hristo Yanev	19 September 2023[30]
Beroe	Gustavo Aragolaza	Sacked	18 September 2023[31]	6th	José Acciari	20 September 2023[32]
Slavia Sofia	José Mari Bakero		19 September 2023[33]	14th	Ivan Kolev	20 September 2023[34]
Etar	Emanuel Lukanov		30 September 2023[35]	16th	Marin Stefanov (interim)	30 September 2023[36]
	Marin Stefanov	End of interim period	2 October 2023	16th	Svetoslav Petrov	2 October 2023[37]
Slavia Sofia	Ivan Kolev	Mutual agreement	23 October 2023	15th	Zlatomir Zagorčić	23 October 2023[38]
Ludogorets Razgrad	Ivaylo Petev	Sacked	23 October 2023[39]	5th	Georgi Dermendzhiev	24 October 2023[40]
Krumovgrad	Nemanja Miljanović		28 October 2023	10th	Stanislav Genchev	24 October 2023[41]
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Ivo Trenchev		4 February 2024[42]	14th	Oleksandr Babych	5 February 2024[43]
Arda	Aleksandar Tunchev	Mutual agreement	25 February 2024[44]	8th	Nikolay Kirov	26 February 2024[45]
CSKA 1948	Nikolay Panayotov	Sacked	5 April 2024[46]	7th	Valentin Iliev	5 April 2024[47]
CSKA Sofia	Nestor El Maestro		14 April 2024[48]	3rd	Stamen Belchev	14 April 2024[49]
Lokomotiv Sofia	Danilo Dončić		22 April 2024[50]	14th	Krasimir Balakov	22 April 2024
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Aleksandar Tomash	Mutual agreement	27 May 2024[51]	5th
Krumovgrad	Stanislav Genchev		28 May 2024	6th	Atanas Ribarski	28 May 2024[52]
Levski Sofia	Nikolay Kostov	End of contract	28 May 2024	4th	Stanislav Genchev	28 May 2024[53]
Arda	Nikolay Kirov	Mutual agreement	31 May 2024[54]	8th
CSKA Sofia	Stamen Belchev	Resigned	31 May 2024[55]	3rd

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ludogorets Razgrad	30	24	3	3	78	15	+63	75	Qualification for the Championship group
2	CSKA Sofia	30	19	6	5	50	19	+31	63
3	Cherno More	30	18	8	4	47	25	+22	62
4	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	30	16	7	7	50	34	+16	55
5	Levski Sofia	30	16	6	8	45	26	+19	54
6	Krumovgrad	30	12	8	10	35	35	0	44[a]
7	Botev Plovdiv	30	12	8	10	47	33	+14	44[a]	Qualification for the Conference League group
8	CSKA 1948	30	11	10	9	30	26	+4	43
9	Arda	30	11	6	13	32	32	0	39
10	Slavia Sofia	30	9	6	15	28	45	−17	33[b]
11	Beroe	30	9	6	15	24	42	−18	33[b]	Qualification for the Relegation group
12	Pirin Blagoevgrad	30	7	9	14	23	41	−18	30[c]
13	Hebar	30	8	6	16	32	44	−12	30[c]
14	Lokomotiv Sofia	30	8	4	18	22	56	−34	28
15	Botev Vratsa	30	6	4	20	22	53	−31	22
16	Etar	30	3	5	22	17	56	−39	14

Source: soccerway, Bulgarian Football
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^[56]
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Krumovgrad 6, Botev Plovdiv 0.
2. Head-to-head points: Slavia Sofia 3, Beroe 3. Head-to-head goal difference: Slavia Sofia 0, Beroe 0. Overall goal difference: Slavia Sofia -17, Beroe -18.
3. Head-to-head points: Pirin Blagoevgrad 4, Hebar 1.

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	BER	BPD	BVR	CHM	CSK	CSS	ETA	HEB	KRU	LEV	LPD	LSO	LUD	PIR	SLA
Arda	—	1–0	0–2	4–0	3–3	0–3	2–3	3–0	3–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–1
Beroe	1–0	—	0–3	2–2	2–0	0–0	0–3	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–2	0–1	0–2	0–0	3–0
Botev Plovdiv	0–2	4–1	—	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–3	0–0	6–0	0–2	3–1	3–1
Botev Vratsa	1–2	1–0	3–5	—	0–1	1–2	0–2	2–0	3–2	0–0	0–1	2–0	0–2	0–5	1–2	2–0
Cherno More	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	—	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	3–2	3–1	2–2	3–0	1–0	2–1	3–0
CSKA 1948	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	—	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–3	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–1	3–0	1–1
CSKA Sofia	0–0	3–0	4–0	3–0	1–1	2–0	—	2–0	3–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–1
Etar	2–1	2–2	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	—	2–5	0–0	0–3	0–1	1–2	0–4	0–2	0–1
Hebar	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–3	0–0	3–0	—	0–0	0–1	3–4	0–1	0–3	1–2	1–0
Krumovgrad	1–3	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–3	1–0	1–4	0–0	3–2	—	2–2	3–1	2–0	3–1	2–2	2–0
Levski Sofia	4–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	—	3–0	6–0	0–1	2–0	2–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	1–0	1–2	1–1	4–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	3–0	1–2	4–0	2–1	—	2–1	1–2	3–0	2–0
Lokomotiv Sofia	0–1	1–0	0–4	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–3	0–1	0–2	2–2	2–4	—	1–3	2–0	1–2
Ludogorets Razgrad	2–0	5–0	2–2	5–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	5–0	3–1	1–0	5–1	1–1	6–0	—	4–0	2–3
Pirin Blagoevgrad	0–2	1–2	0–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–2	—	1–1
Slavia Sofia	1–0	3–0	2–2	1–0	1–5	0–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–0	0–2	1–2	1–2	0–2	0–0	—

Source: Bulgarian Football
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

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	CHM	CSS	LEV	LPD	KRU
1	Ludogorets Razgrad (C)	35	26	4	5	87	24	+63	82	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round		—	—	3–1	—	3–0	3–3
2	Cherno More	35	22	9	4	56	26	+30	75	Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round		4–0	—	—	—	1–0	3–1
3	CSKA Sofia	35	20	7	8	56	27	+29	67	Qualification for the Conference League play-off		—	0–1	—	3–1	—	2–2
4	Levski Sofia	35	19	7	9	50	30	+20	64			1–0	0–0	—	—	—	—
5	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	35	17	7	11	53	44	+9	58			—	—	1–0	1–2	—	—
6	Krumovgrad	35	13	10	12	45	45	0	49			—	—	—	0–1	4–1	—

Source: Soccerway, Bulgarian Football
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.^[56]
(C) Champions

Conference League round

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CSK	ARD	BPD	SLA
1	CSKA 1948 (O)	36	13	13	10	35	30	+5	52	Qualification for the Conference League play-off		—	1–1	2–1	0–2
2	Arda	36	14	9	13	39	35	+4	51			0–0	—	2–1	3–1
3	Botev Plovdiv	36	12	9	15	50	42	+8	45	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]		0–0	0–1	—	0–1
4	Slavia Sofia	36	12	7	17	35	51	−16	43			0–2	0–0	3–1	—

Source: Soccerway, Bulgarian Football
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.^[56]
(O) Play-off winners
Notes:

1. Botev Plovdiv qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as 2023–24 Bulgarian Cup winners.

Relegation round

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

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		BER	LSO	HEB	BVR	PIR	ETA
1	Beroe	35	12	6	17	30	46	−16	42			—	0–3	—	—	2–0	3–0
2	Lokomotiv Sofia	35	11	6	18	30	58	−28	39			—	—	—	1–1	1–0	—
3	Hebar	35	9	7	19	35	49	−14	34			0–1	0–2	—	—	—	3–1
4	Botev Vratsa (O)	35	9	6	20	28	56	−28	33	Qualification for the relegation play-off		1–0	—	1–0	—	—	—
5	Pirin Blagoevgrad (R)	35	7	11	17	26	48	−22	32	Relegation to the Second League		—	—	0–0	1–2	—	2–2
6	Etar (R)	35	3	8	24	22	66	−44	17			—	1–1	—	1–1	—	—

Source: Soccerway, Bulgarian Football
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.^[56]
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Conference League play-off

31 May 2024

20:00 EEST

CSKA Sofia	0–2	CSKA 1948
	Report	Piščević 30' Pedrinho 53'

Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia

Attendance: 5,800

Referee: Dragomir Draganov (Varna)

Promotion/relegation play-off

30 May 2024

19:00 EEST

Botev Vratsa	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Marek
Smolenski 50'	Report	Bliznakov 83'
Penalties
Perea N'Diaye Genov Velev Smolenski	4–2	Bliznakov Ganchev Stoynev Kaymakanski

Stadion Hristo Botev, Vratsa

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Plovdiv)

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 26 May 2024^[57]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Aleksandar Kolev	Krumovgrad	15
2	Rwan Cruz	Ludogorets	14
3	Kwadwo Duah	Ludogorets	13
4	Atanas Iliev	Cherno More	12
	Georgi Nikolov	Hebar / Botev Plovdiv
6	Jakub Piotrowski	Ludogorets	11
7	Toni Tasev	Slavia Sofia	10
	Bernard Tekpetey	Ludogorets
9	Jonathan Lindseth	CSKA Sofia	9
	Ricardinho	Levski Sofia
11	Antoine Baroan	Botev Plovdiv	8
	Jawad El Jemili	Levski Sofia
	Pedrinho	CSKA 1948
	Vinni Triboulet	Beroe

Clean sheets

As of 26 May 2024^[57]

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	Clean sheets
1	Plamen Andreev	Levski Sofia	17
2	Ivan Dyulgerov	Cherno More	16
3	Gustavo Busatto	CSKA Sofia	15
4	Anatoli Gospodinov	Arda	13
5	Sergio Padt	Ludogorets	12
6	Yanko Georgiev	Krumovgrad	10
	Hidajet Hankić	Botev Plovdiv
	Aleksandar Lyubenov	Lokomotiv Sofia
9	Rodrìgo Accinelli	Beroe	8
	Dinko Horkaš	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
	Maksym Kovalyov	Pirin Blagoevgrad
	Simon Sluga	Ludogorets

Hat-tricks

As of 28 April 2024

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Georgi Nikolov	Hebar	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	3–4 (H)[58]	25 August 2023
Antoine Baroan	Botev Plovdiv	Beroe	4–1 (H)[59]	30 September 2023
Atanas Iliev	Cherno More	Lokomotiv Sofia	3–0 (H)[60]	4 April 2024