2019–20 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

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First Professional Football League 2019–20
Season information
Season statistics
Matches played	140
Goals scored	348
Top goalscorer	Dimitar Iliev (11 goals)
← 2018–19	2020–21 →

The 2019–20 First Professional Football League, also known as Efbet League for sponsorship reasons, was the 96th season of the top division of the Bulgarian football league system, the 71st since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid, and also the 4th season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. Ludogorets Razgrad are the defending champions after winning their 8th consecutive title in the previous season.

Teams

Fourteen teams are competing in the league – the top twelve teams from the previous season, and two teams promoted from the Second League.

Tsarsko Selo Sofia were promoted as champions of the 2018–19 Second League. This will be their debut in the Bulgarian top tier. Tsarsko Selo replaces Vereya, who were disqualified for match-fixing, ending their 3-year stay in the Bulgarian top tier.

The second team to be promoted was Arda, who earned promotion after winning their play-off match against Septemvri Sofia. Arda's win meant that the team will make their first appearance in the Bulgarian top tier, while Septemvri ended their two-year stay in the First League.

Stadiums and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity (seating)
Arda	Kardzhali	Arena Arda	&0000000000015000.00000015,000
Beroe	Stara Zagora	Beroe	&0000000000012128.000000 12,128
Botev	Plovdiv	Botev 1912 Football Complex	&0000000000004000.000000 3,500
Botev	Vratsa	Hristo Botev	&0000000000012000.000000 25,000
Cherno More	Varna	Ticha	&0000000000008250.000000 8,250
CSKA	Sofia	Balgarska Armiya	&0000000000018495.000000 18,495
Dunav	Ruse	Gradski	&0000000000012400.000000 12,400
Etar	Veliko Tarnovo	Ivaylo	&0000000000018000.000000 15,000
Levski	Sofia	Vivacom Arena - Georgi Asparuhov	&0000000000025000.000000 25,000
Lokomotiv	Plovdiv	Lokomotiv	&0000000000013000.000000 13,000
Ludogorets	Razgrad	Ludogorets Arena	&0000000000011000.000000 10,422
Slaviа	Sofia	Slavia	&0000000000025556.000000 25,556
Tsarsko Selo	Sofia	Vasil Levski National Stadium	&0000000000043230.00000043,230
Vitosha	Bistritsa	Bistritsa Stadium	&. 2,000

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	Stamen Belchev	Plamen Krumov	Nike	Efbet	—
Beroe	Aleksandar Tomash	Martin Kamburov	Uhlsport	—	Refan, Ajax Group
Botev Plovdiv	Ferario Spasov	Lachezar Baltanov	Uhlsport	WinBet	—
Botev Vratsa	Sasho Angelov	Valeri Domovchiyski	Errea	WinBet	—
CSKA-Sofia	Ljupko Petrović	Nikolay Bodurov	adidas	A1 Bulgaria	WinBet, Baristo
Cherno More	Ilian Iliev	Stefan Stanchev	Uhlsport	Armeets	—
Dunav Ruse	Lyudmil Kirov	Martin Kovachev	Joma	WinBet	—
Etar	Rosen Kirilov	Hristo Ivanov	Joma	WinBet	—
Levski Sofia	Petar Hubchev	Zhivko Milanov	Nike	7777.bg	—
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Bruno Akrapović	Dimitar Iliev	Uhlsport	Efbet	General Broker
Ludogorets	Stanislav Genchev	Svetoslav Dyakov	Nike	Efbet	Vivacom
Slavia Sofia	Zlatomir Zagorčić	Georgi Petkov	Joma	bet365	Asset Insurance
Tsarsko Selo	Nikola Spasov	Veselin Minev	Nike	WinBet	—
Vitosha Bistritsa	Engibar Engibarov	Chetin Sadula	Jumper	Efbet	—

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	Georgi Todorov	End of caretaker tenure	29 May 2019	Pre-season	Petar Hubchev	29 May 2019
Etar	Krasimir Balakov	Signed by Bulgaria	29 May 2019	Pre-season	Rosen Kirilov	9 June 2019
Botev Plovdiv	Nikolay Kirov	Sacked	29 May 2019	Pre-season	Željko Petrović	9 June 2019
Vitosha	Rosen Kirilov	Mutual consent	3 June 2019	Pre-season	Engibar Engibarov	6 June 2019
Ludogorets	Stoycho Stoev	Sacked	25 August 2019	2nd	Stanislav Genchev	26 August 2019

Regular season

League table

Template:2019–20 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) Regular Season table

Season statistics

Round	Goal of the week	Club	Save of the week	Club
1	Georgi Amzin vs Slavia	Vitosha Bistritsa	Kristiyan Katsarev vs Slavia	Vitosha Bistritsa
2	Todor Nedelev vs Dunav	Botev Plovdiv	Hristo Ivanov vs Levski Sofia	Etar
3	Rodney Antwi vs Dunav	Tsarsko Selo	Georgi Georgiev vs CSKA Sofia	Slavia
4	Daniel Mladenov vs Botev Plovdiv	Etar	Blagoy Makendzhiev vs Beroe	Dunav
5	Rodney Antwi vs Botev Plovdiv	Tsarsko Selo	Hristo Ivanov vs Slavia	Etar
6	Paulinho vs Vitosha Bistritsa	Levski Sofia	Martin Lukov vs Dunav	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
7	Anton Karachanakov vs Beroe	Tsarsko Selo	Hristiyan Vasilev vs Botev Plovdiv	Vitosha Bistritsa
8	Spas Delev vs Slavia	Arda	Hristo Ivanov vs Beroe	Etar
9	Radoslav Vasilev vs Botev Vratsa	Arda	Georgi Georgiev vs Dunav	Slavia
10	Stanislav Ivanov vs Slavia	Levski Sofia	Miodrag Mitrović vs Botev Plovdiv	Cherno More
11	Rúben Brígido vs CSKA Sofia	Beroe	Yanko Georgiev vs Slavia	Botev Plovdiv
12	Daniel Genov vs Botev Plovdiv	Botev Vratsa	Kristiyan Katsarev vs CSKA Sofia	Vitosha Bistritsa
13	Khaly Thiam vs Arda	Levski Sofia	Martin Lukov vs CSKA Sofia	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
14	Dimitar Iliev vs Cherno More	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Miodrag Mitrović vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Cherno More
15	Kristiyan Malinov vs Cherno More	CSKA Sofia	Johny Placide vs Arda	Tsarsko Selo
16	Rodney Antwi vs Dunav	Tsarsko Selo	Hristo Ivanov vs Cherno More	Etar
17	Ismail Isa vs Slavia	Cherno More	Martin Lukov vs Ludogorets	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
18	Antonio Vutov vs Tsarsko Selo	Botev Plovdiv	Plamen Iliev vs CSKA-Sofia	Ludogorets
19	Todor Nedelev vs Beroe	Botev Plovdiv	Georgi Georgiev vs Botev Vratsa	Slavia
20			Gustavo Busatto vs Dunav	CSKA-Sofia
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Scoring

Top scorers

As of 15 December 2019

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Dimitar Iliev	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	11
2	Martin Kamburov	Beroe	9
	Ali Sowe	CSKA Sofia
	Claudiu Keșerü	Ludogorets
	Rodney Antwi	Tsarsko Selo
6	Radoslav Vasilev	Arda	8
	Ismail Isa	Cherno More
	Evandro	CSKA Sofia
	Daniel Mladenov	Etar
	Nigel Robertha	Levski Sofia
	Stanislav Ivanov	Levski Sofia

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Todor Nedelev	Botev Plovdiv	Dunav Ruse	3–1	21 July 2019

Clean sheets

As of 15 December 2019

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Gustavo Busatto	CSKA Sofia	11
	Milan Mijatović	Levski Sofia
3	Martin Lukov	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	8
	Plamen Iliev	Ludogorets
5	Ivan Karadzhov	Arda	7
	Georgi Georgiev	Slavia Sofia

Template:First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) Template:2019–20 in Bulgarian football