| Season | 2025–26 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18 July 2025 – 29 May 2026 |
| Matches | 166 |
| Goals | 400 (2.41 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Ivaylo Chochev (12 goals) |
| Best goalkeeper | Svetoslav Vutsov (9 clean sheets each) |
| Biggest home win | Levski Sofia 7–0Septemvri Sofia (30 November 2025) |
| Biggest away win | Botev Plovdiv 0–5Arda (4 August 2025) |
| Highest scoring | CSKA 1948 5–4 Ludogorets Razgrad (27 October 2025) |
| Longest winning run | 7 games CSKA Sofia |
| Longest unbeaten run | 11 games Ludogorets Razgrad Slavia Sofia |
| Longest winless run | 11 games Montana Beroe |
| Longest losing run | 4 games Dobrudzha Septemvri Sofia Slavia Sofia |
2026–27 → All statistics correct as of 05:43, 16 February 2026 (UTC). | |
The2025–26 First Professional Football League, also known asefbet League for sponsorship reasons,[1] is the 102nd season of the top division of theBulgarian football league system, the 78th since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid, and also the 10th season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. The season began on 18 July 2025 and will end on 29 May 2026.
Ludogorets Razgrad are the 14-time defending champions.
First League will be reduced from 16 to 14 teams in 2026–27, so that the teams placed 14th to 16th in the Relegation round will automatically be relegated to Second League, while the 13th place team will play a promotion/relegation playoff against the 2nd place team from Second League.
As in the last season, 16 teams will compete in the league this year. Two teams were promoted from the2024–25 Second League, and two places are for the winners of thepromotion/relegation playoffs.
The first team to earn promotion from the Second League wasDobrudzha, who mathematically secured a top two finish after winning againstLovech on 11 May.[2] Dobrudzha return to the top level after a 22-year absence.
The second team to earn promotion from the Second League wasMontana, who mathematically secured a top two finish afterPirin Blagoevgrad lost to Dobrudzha on 16 May.[3] Montana return to the top level after a 4-year absence.
Additionally,Lokomotiv Plovdiv andBotev Vratsa remained in the First League after winning againstMarek and Pirin Blagoevgrad, respectively, in the promotion/relegation playoffs.[4][5]
| Arda | Beroe | Botev Plovdiv | Botev Vratsa |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arena Arda | Stadion Beroe | Stadion Hristo Botev | Stadion Hristo Botev |
| Capacity:12,000 | Capacity:12,000 | Capacity:18,777 | Capacity:25,000 |
 |  |  |  |
| Cherno More | CSKA 1948 | CSKA Sofia | Dobrudzha |
| Stadion Ticha | Stadion Bistritsa | Vasil Levski National Stadium | Stadion Druzhba |
| Capacity:12,000 | Capacity:3,000 | Capacity:43,000 | Capacity:12,000 |
 |  |  | |
| Levski Sofia | Sofia 2025–26First League football clubs | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | |
| Stadion Georgi Asparuhov | Stadion Lokomotiv | ||
| Capacity:17,000 | Capacity:10,000 | ||
 |  | ||
| Lokomotiv Sofia | Ludogorets Razgrad | ||
| Stadion Lokomotiv | Huvepharma Arena | ||
| Capacity:22,000 | Capacity:10,500 | ||
 |  | ||
| Montana | Septemvri Sofia | Slavia Sofia | Spartak Varna |
| Stadion Ogosta | Stadion Lokomotiv | Stadion Aleksandar Shalamanov | Stadion Spartak |
| Capacity:8,000 | Capacity:22,000 | Capacity:25,000 | Capacity:10,000 |
 | |  |  |
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined underFIFA eligibility rules. Players and managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Individual clubs may wear jerseys with advertising. However, only one sponsorship is permitted per jersey for official tournaments organised byUEFA 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.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botev Plovdiv |  Dušan Kerkez | Resigned | 26 May 2025[6] | Pre-season |  Nikolay Kirov | 28 June 2025[7] |
| Lokomotiv Sofia |  Ratko Dostanić | Mutual agreement | 29 May 2025[8] | Stanislav Genchev | 30 May 2025[9] | |
| CSKA Sofia | Aleksandar Tomash | End of contract | 31 May 2025[10] | Dušan Kerkez | 4 June 2025[11] | |
| Spartak Varna | Nikolay Kirov | 31 May 2025[12] |  Gjoko Hadžievski | 9 July 2025[13] | ||
| Septemvri Sofia | Nikolay Mitov | Resigned | 1 June 2025[14] | Stamen Belchev | 5 June 2025[15] | |
| Ludogorets Razgrad |  Igor Jovićević | Mutual agreement | 9 June 2025[16] |  Rui Mota | 13 June 2025[17] | |
| Beroe | Plamen Lipenski | End of interim spell | 6 July 2025 |  Víctor Basadre | 6 July 2025[18] | |
| Montana | Tancho Kalpakov | Resigned | 9 August 2025[19] | 13th | Anatoli Nankov | 11 August 2025[20] |
| Beroe | Víctor Basadre | Mutual agreement | 3 September 2025 | 9th |  Alejandro Sageras | 3 September 2025[21] |
| CSKA Sofia | Dušan Kerkez | Sacked | 20 September 2025 | 12th | Valentin Iliev(caretaker) | 20 September 2025[22] |
| Botev Vratsa | Hristo Yanev | Mutual agreement | 24 September 2025 | 7th | Todor Simov | 24 September 2025[23] |
| CSKA Sofia | Valentin Iliev(caretaker) | End of interim spell | 24 September 2025 | 12th | Hristo Yanev | 24 September 2025[24] |
| Botev Plovdiv | Nikolay Kirov | Resigned | 25 September 2025 | 14th | Ivan Tsvetanov(caretaker) | 25 September 2025[25] |
| Slavia Sofia | Zlatomir Zagorčić | 11 October 2025 | 13th | Ratko Dostanić | 11 October 2025[26] | |
| Septemvri Sofia | Stamen Belchev | 28 October 2025[27] | 15th | Mladen Stoev(caretaker) | 28 October 2025 | |
| Ludogorets Razgrad | Rui Mota | Sacked | 29 October 2025[28] | 4th | Todor Zhivondov(caretaker) | 29 October 2025 |
| Septemvri Sofia | Mladen Stoev(caretaker) | End of interim spell | 30 October 2025 | 15th | Slavko Matić | 30 October 2025[29] |
| Botev Plovdiv | Ivan Tsvetanov(caretaker) | 17 November 2025 | 9th | Dimitar Dimitrov | 17 November 2025[30] | |
| Ludogorets Razgrad | Todor Zhivondov(caretaker) | 21 November 2025 | 5th |  Per-Mathias Høgmo | 21 November 2025[31] | |
| Beroe | Alejandro Sageras | Sacked | 24 November 2025 | 13th | Plamen Lipenski(caretaker) | 24 November 2025[32] |
| Plamen Lipenski(caretaker) | End of interim spell | 27 November 2025 | 13th | Josu Uribe | 27 November 2025[33] | |
| Montana | Anatoli Nankov | Sacked | 20 December 2025[34] | 14th |  Akis Vavalis | 29 December 2025[35] |
| Dobrudzha | Atanas Atanasov | Mutual agreement | 31 December 2025[36] | 16th | Yasen Petrov | 4 January 2026[37] |
| Septemvri Sofia | Slavko Matić | 11 February 2026[38] | 16th | Hristo Arangelov | 12 February 2026[39] | |
| CSKA 1948 | Ivan Stoyanov | Resigned | 12 February 2026[40] | 2nd | Aleksandar Aleksandrov | 12 February 2026[40] |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levski Sofia | 21 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 49 | 13 | +36 | 50 | Qualification for theChampionship group |
| 2 | Ludogorets Razgrad | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 15 | +25 | 43 | |
| 3 | CSKA 1948 | 21 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 32 | 22 | +10 | 40 | |
| 4 | CSKA Sofia | 21 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 32 | 17 | +15 | 37 | |
| 5 | Cherno More | 21 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 26 | 15 | +11 | 35 | Qualification for theConference League group |
| 6 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 21 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 33 | |
| 7 | Slavia Sofia | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 25 | −1 | 28 | |
| 8 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 21 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 24 | 23 | +1 | 27 | |
| 9 | Arda | 21 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 27 | Qualification for theRelegation group |
| 10 | Botev Vratsa | 20 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 19 | −3 | 25 | |
| 11 | Botev Plovdiv | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 25 | 32 | −7 | 22 | |
| 12 | Spartak Varna | 21 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 32 | −12 | 19 | |
| 13 | Beroe | 21 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 34 | −17 | 17 | |
| 14 | Montana | 20 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 34 | −20 | 15 | |
| 15 | Dobrudzha | 20 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 29 | −13 | 15 | |
| 16 | Septemvri Sofia | 20 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 19 | 44 | −25 | 15 |
| Home \ Away | ARD | BER | BPD | BVR | CHM | CSK | CSS | DOB | LEV | LPD | LSO | LUD | MON | SEP | SLA | SPV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arda | — | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 27 Feb | |||
| Beroe | 22 Feb | — | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3 Mar | 0–0 | |||
| Botev Plovdiv | 0–5 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | a | 0–1 | 23 Feb | 0–1 | 3 Mar | 1–1 | ||
| Botev Vratsa | 7 Mar | 28 Feb | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 16 Feb | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | ||
| Cherno More | 4 Mar | 4–0 | 2–1 | 20 Feb | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | |||
| CSKA 1948 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 8 Mar | 0–1 | — | 0–2 | 0–0 | 22 Feb | 4–0 | 5–4 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | ||
| CSKA Sofia | 3–1 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 4 Mar | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | a | 2–1 | 8 Mar | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 21 Feb | 1–1 | |
| Dobrudzha | 0–2 | 8 Mar | 0–2 | 28 Feb | 2–1 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 21 Feb | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | ||
| Levski Sofia | 3–1 | 15 Feb | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | — | 9 Mar | 1 Mar | 0–0 | 5–0 | 7–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | ||
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–4[43] | 3–0 | 1–1 | 5 Mar | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — | a | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 21 Feb | |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 5 Mar | 1–2 | 2–2 | — | 1–3 | 3–0 | 22 Feb | a | 0–0 | |
| Ludogorets Razgrad | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 5 Mar | 2 Mar | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | |||
| Montana | 1–1 | 27 Feb | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 9 Mar | — | 2–0 | 1–2 | |||
| Septemvri Sofia | 2–3 | 1–3 | 7 Mar | 1–4 | 28 Feb | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 14 Feb | — | 0–1 | |||
| Slavia Sofia | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 27 Feb | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 2–1 | — | 6 Mar | ||
| Spartak Varna | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 3 Mar | 1–4 | 1–1 | — |
| Round | Home team | Away team | Original Date | New Date | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Arda | CSKA Sofia | 18 August 2025 | 18 September 2025 | Match was rescheduled after an official request by Arda, due to theirConference League play-off match againstRaków Częstochowa. |
| 6 | Botev Plovdiv | Levski | 25 August 2025 | 30 September 2025 | Match was rescheduled after an official request by Levski, due to theirConference League play-off match againstAZ Alkmaar. |
| 6 | Beroe | Ludogorets | 25 August 2025 | 19 December 2025 | Match was rescheduled after an official request by Ludogorets, due to theirEuropa League play-off matches againstShkëndija. |
Atanas Iliev (CSKA 1948) against Arda (18 July 2025)| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivaylo Chochev | Ludogorets | 12 |
| 2 |  Everton Bala | Levski | 11 |
 Mamadou Diallo | CSKA 1948 | ||
| 4 |  Bertrand Fourrier | Septemvri Sofia | 10 |
| Santiago Godoy | CSKA Sofia | ||
| Alberto Salido | Beroe | ||
| 7 | Georgi Lazarov | Cherno More | 8 |
 Mustapha Sangaré | Levski | ||
| 9 |  Armstrong Oko-Flex | Botev Plovdiv / Levski | 7 |
| Marin Petkov | Levski | ||
 Ioannis Pittas | CSKA Sofia | ||
| 12 | Bernardo Couto | Spartak Varna / CSKA 1948 | 6 |
| Spas Delev | Lokomotiv Sofia | ||
| Boris Dimitrov | Montana | ||
| Petar Stanić | Ludogorets |
| Rnd | Player | Club | Goals | Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Nikolay Zlatev | Cherno More | 78', 89', 90'+6' (pen.) | 4 August 2025 | Cherno More | 4–0[45] | Beroe |
| 4 | Alberto Salido | Beroe | 23', 27', 50' | 11 August 2025 | Septemvri Sofia | 2–3[46] | Beroe |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spas Delev | Lokomotiv Sofia | 7 |
| Petar Stanić | Ludogorets | ||
| 3 | Ivaylo Chochev | Ludogorets | 6 |
 James Eto'o | CSKA Sofia | ||
| Nikolay Minkov | Botev Plovdiv | ||
| Georgi Rusev | CSKA 1948 | ||
| Mazire Soula | Levski | ||
| 8 | Radoslav Kirilov | Levski | 5 |
| Mustapha Sangaré | Levski | ||
 Parvizdzhon Umarbayev | Lokomotiv Plovdiv |
| Rank | Goalkeeper | Club | Clean sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svetoslav Vutsov | Levski | 9 |
| 2 | Anatoli Gospodinov | Arda | 8 |
 Bojan Milosavljević | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | ||
| 4 |  Hendrik Bonmann | Ludogorets | 7 |
| Dimitar Evtimov | Botev Vratsa | ||
| 6 | Lévi Ntumba | Slavia | 6 |
| Martin Velichkov | Lokomotiv Sofia | ||
| 8 |  Maksym Kovalyov | Spartak Varna | 5 |
 Sergio Padt | Ludogorets | ||
| Dimitar Sheytanov | CSKA 1948 | ||
| Vasil Simeonov | Montana | ||
| Kristian Tomov | Cherno More |
