2023–24 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

	League stub This article about 2023–24 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) is a stub, an article too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject. You can help The Football Database Wiki by expanding it.

First Professional Football League 2023–24
Season information
Dates	14 July 2023–May 2024
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League
Europa League
Conference League
Season statistics
Matches played	99
Goals scored	245
Top goalscorer	Atanas Iliev Duckens Nazon Georgi Nikolov (7 goals)
← 2022–23	2024–25 →

The 2023–24 First Professional Football League, also known as efbet League for sponsorship reasons, was 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.

Ludogorets Razgrad are the 12-time defending champions.

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. 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.

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.

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	Balgarska Armia	Ivaylo
Capacity: 6,250	Capacity: 2,500	Capacity: 22,995	Capacity: 18,000
Hebar			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	Aleksandar Tunchev	Ivan Kokonov	Uhlsport	efbet	IK Nataliya Ltd.
Beroe	José Acciari	Bozhidar Penchev	Dryworld	efbet	—
Botev Plovdiv	Dušan Kerkez	Lachezar Baltanov	Macron	WinBet	—
Botev Vratsa	Hristo Yanev	Krasimir Kostov	Nike	WinBet	Vratsa Municipality, SportRespect, Inex, Predsednik Ltd.
Cherno More	Ilian Iliev	Daniel Dimov	Uhlsport	Armeets	Planex Ltd.
CSKA 1948	Nikolay Panayotov	Daniel Naumov	Puma	efbet	Bachkovo
CSKA Sofia	Nestor El Maestro	Jurgen Mattheij	Macron	WinBet	Haval
Etar	Svetoslav Petrov	Krum Stoyanov	Nike	WinBet	—
Hebar	Lyuboslav Penev	Petar Debarliev	Jako	efbet	Pazardzhik Municipality
Krumovgrad	Nemanja Miljanović	Bozhidar Katsarov	Uhlsport	Compass Cargo Airlines	PIMK
Levski Sofia	Nikolay Kostov	Andrian Kraev	Adidas	PalmsBet	—
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Aleksandar Tomash	Dimitar Iliev	Joma	WinBet	Money+, Fuel Card Distribution
Lokomotiv Sofia	Danilo Dončić	Krasimir Miloshev	Joma	Betano	Casa Boyana, Malizia, Intesa, VIA 2000, Club 33
Ludogorets Razgrad	Ivaylo Petev	Anton Nedyalkov	Nike	efbet	Vivacom, Huvepharma
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Ivo Trenchev	Aleksandar Dyulgerov	Uhlsport	8888.bg	—
Slavia Sofia	Ivan Kolev	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
Beroe	Veselin Penev		14 June 2023		Gustavo Aragolaza	15 June 2023
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Hristo Yanev	End of contract	17 June 2023		Radoslav Mitrevski	17 June 2023
Slavia Sofia	Angel Slavkov	End of interim period	22 June 2023		José Mari Bakero	23 June 2023
CSKA Sofia	Saša Ilić	Sacked	29 July 2023	5th	Nestor El Maestro	29 July 2023
CSKA 1948	Atanas Ribarski	Resigned	15 August 2023	7th	Nikolay Panayotov	15 August 2023
Botev Plovdiv	Stanislav Genchev	Mutual agreement	22 August 2023	14th	Rafael Ferreira (interim)	22 August 2023
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Radoslav Mitrevski	Sacked	27 August 2023	15th	Ivo Trenchev	31 August 2023
Botev Plovdiv	Rafael Ferreira	End of interim period	4 September 2023	11th	Dušan Kerkez	4 September 2023
Lokomotiv Sofia	Stoycho Stoev	Resigned	4 September 2023	12th	Danilo Dončić	4 September 2023
Botev Vratsa	Daniel Morales		18 September 2023	13th	Hristo Yanev	19 September 2023
Beroe	Gustavo Aragolaza	Sacked	18 September 2023	6th	José Acciari	20 September 2023
Slavia Sofia	José Mari Bakero		19 September 2023	14th	Ivan Kolev	20 September 2023
Etar	Emanuel Lukanov		30 September 2023	16th	Marin Stefanov (interim)	30 September 2023
Etar	Marin Stefanov	End of interim period	2 October	16th	Svetoslav Petrov	October 2023

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	13	9	3	1	27	12	+15	30	Championship group
2	Cherno More	13	8	5	0	23	10	+13	29
3	CSKA Sofia	12	7	4	1	17	7	+10	25
4	Ludogorets Razgrad	11	7	2	2	30	8	+22	23
5	Levski Sofia	12	7	2	3	21	9	+12	23
6	Arda	11	7	1	3	21	8	+13	22
7	CSKA 1948	11	6	3	2	13	7	+6	21	Conference League group
8	Krumovgrad	13	5	2	6	13	18	−5	17
9	Hebar	13	4	4	5	15	15	0	16
10	Beroe	13	4	2	7	11	20	−9	14
11	Lokomotiv Sofia	13	4	1	8	10	23	−13	13	Relegation group
12	Botev Plovdiv	13	3	3	7	15	18	−3	12
13	Pirin Blagoevgrad	13	3	2	8	7	19	−12	11
14	Botev Vratsa	13	3	1	9	6	22	−16	10
15	Slavia Sofia	12	2	2	8	7	23	−16	8
16	Etar	12	1	1	10	9	26	−17	4

Updated to match(es) played on 8 October 2023. 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.

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	BER	BPD	BVR	CHM	CSK	CSS	ETA	HEB	KRU	LEV	LPD	LSO	LUD	PIR	SLA
Arda	—	11 Nov		4–0	3–3			3–0	3–1		1 Nov		1–0	22 Oct
Beroe	1–0	—				0–0	0–3			2–0	27 Oct		0–1		3 Nov	3–0
Botev Plovdiv	0–2	4–1	—				1–2			1–2	1–3	3 Nov	26 Oct			3–1
Botev Vratsa		1–0	21 Oct	—	0–1	1–2	0–2						6 Nov	0–5		2–0
Cherno More	7 Nov	2–0	1–0		—			2–1	1–0			2–2		1–0	26 Oct
CSKA 1948			1–0		1–1	—		1–0	1–1		7 Nov	26 Oct			3–0
CSKA Sofia	27 Oct				1–1	2–0	—		6 Nov	1–0	1–1		2–0			1–1
Etar		2–2	1–2	25 Oct			1 Nov	—	2–5			0–1		12 Nov	0–2	0–1
Hebar		1–0	1–0	1–1	11 Nov		0–0		—	0–0		3–4			1–2	22 Oct
Krumovgrad	1–3			1–0	1–3	1–0	12 Nov	20 Oct		—	2–2		2–0	3–1
Levski Sofia			12 Nov	1–0	22 Oct	1–2	a	1–0	1–0		—		6–0	0–1	2–0	a
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	1–0	20 Oct	1–1	4–0			0–2			4–0	2–1	—	10 Nov			2–0
Lokomotiv Sofia				1–0	0–0	21 Oct		1–3	0–1			2–4	—	1–3	2–0	a
Ludogorets Razgrad		5–0	2–2				3–0	5–0	29 Oct	5 Nov		1–1		—	4–0
Pirin Blagoevgrad	0–2	1–2	0–0	0–1		11 Nov	21 Oct			1–0		0–1			—	1–1
Slavia Sofia	1–0			10 Nov	1–5	0–2		6 Nov		27 Oct	0–2		1–2	2 Nov		—

Updated to match(es) played on 8 October 2023. 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.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 8 October 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Atanas Iliev	Cherno More	7
	Duckens Nazon	CSKA Sofia
	Georgi Nikolov	Hebar
4	Giovanny	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	6
	Preslav Borukov	Arda
6	Ivelin Popov	Botev Plovdiv	5
	Rwan Cruz	Ludogorets Razgrad
8	Antoine Baroan	Botev Plovdiv	4
	Aleksandar Kolev	Krumovgrad
	Bernard Tekpetey	Ludogorets Razgrad
	Ewandro	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
	Jawad El Jemili	Levski Sofia
	Ivaylo Chochev	CSKA 1948
	Martin Sekulić	Botev Plovdiv
	Matheus Machado	Cherno More
	Ricardinho	Levski Sofia
	Vinni Triboulet	Beroe

Most assists

As of 8 October 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Giovanny	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	6
2	Template:Country data CAR Amos Youga	CSKA Sofia	5
	Mazire Soula	Cherno More
2	Aboubacar Toungara	Arda	4
	Caio Vidal	Ludogorets Razgrad
	Róbert Mazáň	Hebar
	Welton Felipe	Levski Sofia
6	Alex Fernandes	Cherno More	3
	Tobias Heintz	CSKA Sofia
	Dimitar Iliev	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
	Ismail Isa	Cherno More
	Ivan Yordanov	Ludogorets Razgrad
	Serkan Yusein	Krumovgrad

Clean sheets

As of 8 October 2023

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	Clean sheets
1	Gustavo Busatto	CSKA Sofia	7
2	Dinko Horkaš	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	6
	Ivan Dyulgerov	Cherno More
4	Anatoli Gospodinov	Arda	5
	Daniel Naumov	CSKA 1948
	Plamen Andreev	Levski Sofia
7	Aleksandar Lyubenov	Lokomotiv Sofia	4
	Matvei Igonen	Hebar
	Simon Sluga	Ludogorets
	Yanko Georgiev	Krumovgrad
11	Rodrigo Accinelli	Beroe	3
	Maksym Kovalyov	Pirin Blagoevgrad

Hat-tricks

As of 30 September 2023

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Georgi Nikolov	Hebar	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	3–4 (H)	25 August 2023
Antoine Baroan	Botev Plovdiv	Beroe	4–1 (H)	30 September 2023

Template:BG A PFG Template:A Group seasons Template:2023–24 in Bulgarian football