2020–21 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

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First Professional Football League 2020–21
Season information
Winners	Ludogorets Razgrad (10th title)
Relegated	Etar Veliko Tarnovo Montana
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	Ludogorets Razgrad
Europa Conference League	Lokomotiv Plovdiv CSKA Sofia Arda
Season statistics
Top goalscorer	Claudiu Keșerü, 18
← 2019–20	2021–22 →

The 2020–21 First Professional Football League, also known as Efbet League for sponsorship reasons, was the 97th season of the top division of the Bulgarian football league system, the 72nd since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid, and also the 5th season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. Ludogorets Razgrad won the title for the tenth time and were the defending champions from the previous seasoon.

The season was initially set to start on 24 July 2020, but began on 7 August 2020 due to the COVID-19 situation in Bulgaria.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Measures pertaining to fan attendance

All matches were at first envisioned to be held without spectators, at least until 31 August, but this was reversed in early August (allowing for matches to be held at 50% stadium capacity and up to 1000 people per stand), reportedly under pressure from fan groups, with the government's inconsistency on the matter in turn criticized in certain circles. On 27 October 2020, Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov issued a decree valid from 29 October until 12 November, stipulating that all matches are to be held behind closed doors. Minister of Youth and Sports Krasen Kralev claimed that some of the fans of certain teams had not been observing the pandemic control protocols. On 12 November 2020, the ban on the presence of spectators was extended at least until 30 November. In late November 2020 Kralev stated that the return of fans will not be under consideration until March 2021.

Footballers testing positive for the virus and schedule changes

Two Ludogorets Razgrad players tested positive for coronavirus just prior to the beginning of the championship. In September 2020, the whole Etar team was initially quarantined by the regional health authorities in Veliko Tarnovo after 5 footballers' and 2 staff members' PCR tests indicated that they were infected, but the match against Lokomotiv eventually went ahead without the date being changed. The fixture between Arda and Ludogorets Razgrad that was to be held on 4 October 2020 was postponed after more than 10 footballers' tests from the Kardzhali team (as well as a trainer) returned positive results. In late October 2020, Slavia also saw multiple footballers testing positive for COVID-19. In early November 2020, four Levski Sofia players were reported to have the infection. Prior to the start of the November international window, 12 Ludogorets footballers from both the first and the second teams as well as additional Levski Sofia players from the senior and junior rosters were diagnosed with the virus, bringing the total number of infected at the latter club to 16. This caused some of the players to miss out on national team call-ups and led to the postponement of Ludogorets' Bulgarian Cup match against Sportist Svoge and Levski Sofia's league game against Lokomotiv Plovdiv. Beroe also saw cases of coronavirus among its players. After initially given the green light to be held on the planned date, The Eternal Derby match originally scheduled for 21 November was eventually postponed as well, taking place on 18 December.

Teams

Fourteen teams are competing in the league – the top eleven teams from the previous season, the team that finished in first place in the Second League, and the two winners of the promotion/relegation playoffs.

CSKA 1948 were promoted as champions of the 2019–20 Second League and will make their debut in the top tier of Bulgarian football. The second team to be promoted was Montana, who earned promotion after winning their play-off match against Dunav Ruse. The club returns after three seasons in the second tier, following their relegation in the 2016–17 season, while Dunav ended their four-year stay in the First League.

Stadiums and locations

Arda	Beroe	Botev Plovdiv	Botev Vratsa
Arena Arda	Stadion Beroe	Futbolen kompleks Botev 1912	Stadion Hristo Botev
Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 12,128	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 12,000
Cherno More			CSKA
Stadion Ticha			Stadion Balgarska Armia
Capacity: 8,250			Capacity: 22,995
CSKA 1948			Etar
Vasil Levski National Stadium			Stadion Ivaylo
Capacity: 44,000			Capacity: 15,000
Levski			Lokomotiv
Stadion Georgi Asparuhov			Stadion Lokomotiv
Capacity: 25,000			Capacity: 13,220
Ludogorets	Montana	Slavia	Tsarsko Selo
Huvepharma Arena	Stadion Ogosta	Stadion Slavia	Sporten kompleks Tsarsko Selo
Capacity: 10,422	Capacity: 6,000	Capacity: 25,556	Capacity: 1,550

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	Plamen Krumov	Nike	Efbet	—
Beroe	Dimitar Dimitrov	Aleksandar Tsvetkov	Uhlsport	—	Refan, Ajax Group
Botev Plovdiv	Petar Penchev	Todor Nedelev	Uhlsport	WinBet	—
Botev Vratsa	Antoni Zdravkov	Valeri Domovchiyski	Errea	WinBet	—
CSKA 1948	Krasimir Balakov	Andon Gushterov	Adidas	Efbet	Bachkovo
CSKA Sofia	Bruno Akrapović	Petar Zanev	Adidas	A1 Bulgaria	WinBet, Baristo
Cherno More	Ilian Iliev	Daniel Dimov	Uhlsport	Armeets	—
Etar	Aleksandar Tomash	Hristo Ivanov	Joma	WinBet	—
Levski Sofia	Slaviša Stojanovič	Nikolay Mihaylov	Joma	Strabag	PalmsBet
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Aleksandar Tunchev	Dimitar Iliev	Uhlsport	Efbet	General Broker
Ludogorets	Valdas Dambrauskas	Svetoslav Dyakov	Nike	Efbet	Vivacom
Montana	Atanas Atanasov	Ivan Mihov	Joma	Efbet	—
Slavia Sofia	Aleksandr Tarkhanov	Georgi Petkov	Joma	bet365	Asset Insurance
Tsarsko Selo	Luboslav Penev	Reyan Daskalov	Nike	WinBet	—

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.

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ludogorets Razgrad	26	20	4	2	59	18	+41	64	Qualification for the Championship group
2	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	26	15	7	4	41	19	+22	52
3	CSKA Sofia	26	14	8	4	39	20	+19	50
4	Arda	26	12	9	5	36	29	+7	45
5	CSKA 1948	26	10	8	8	34	30	+4	38
6	Beroe	26	10	7	9	38	28	+10	37
7	Cherno More	26	10	7	9	27	25	+2	37	Qualification for the Europa Conference League group
8	Tsarsko Selo	26	9	7	10	29	27	+2	34
9	Levski Sofia	26	7	7	12	25	27	−2	28
10	Botev Plovdiv	26	5	9	12	25	46	−21	24
11	Slavia Sofia	26	6	5	15	19	40	−21	23	Qualification for the Relegation group
12	Botev Vratsa	26	6	4	16	26	39	−13	22
13	Etar	26	4	10	12	20	45	−25	22
14	Montana	26	4	8	14	21	46	−25	20

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.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 20 December 2020

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mathias Coureur	Cherno More	15
2	Martin Kamburov	CSKA 1948	9
3	Alioune Fall	Beroe	8
	Atanas Iliev	Botev Plovdiv
	Claudiu Keșerü	Ludogorets
	Ivan Kokonov	Arda
7	Ali Sowe	CSKA Sofia	7
	Dimitar Iliev	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
10	Daniel Genov	Botev Vratsa	6
	Preslav Borukov	Etar
12	Gaius Makouta	Beroe	5
	Galin Ivanov	CSKA 1948
	Spas Delev	Arda
15	Alex Santana	Ludogorets	4
	Bircent Karagaren	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
	Borislav Tsonev	Levski
	Dinis Almeida	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
	Georgi Minchev
	Higinio Marín	Ludogorets
	Paulinho	Levski
	Toni Tasev	Montana

Most assists

As of 20 December 2020

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Ismail Isa	Cherno More	5
	Parvizdzhon Umarbayev	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
3	Aleksandar Aleksandrov	CSKA 1948	4
	Dominik Yankov	Ludogorets
	Emil Martinov	Arda
	Steve Furtado	Beroe
	Todor Nedelev	Botev Plovdiv
8	Cauly Oliveira	Ludogorets	3
	Claudiu Keșerü	Ludogorets
	Petar Atanasov	Botev Vratsa
	Tiago Rodrigues	CSKA Sofia

Clean sheets

As of 18 December 2020

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Daniel Naumov	CSKA 1948	6
	Martin Lukov	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
3	Hristiyan Vasilev	Beroe	5
	Ivan Karadzhov	Arda
5	Georgi Argilashki	Botev Plovdiv	4
	Gustavo Busatto	CSKA Sofia
	Ivan Dyulgerov	Cherno More
	Johny Placide	Tsarsko Selo
	Krasimir Kostov	Botev Vratsa
	Nikolay Mihaylov	Levski
11	Hristo Ivanov	Etar	3
	Plamen Iliev	Ludogorets
	Renan	Ludogorets

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