2018–19 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

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95th season of top-tier football league in Bulgaria

Football league season

First Professional Football League

Season	2018–19
Dates	20 July 2018 – 30 May 2019
Champions	Ludogorets Razgrad (8th title)
Relegated	Vereya[1] Septemvri Sofia[2]
Champions League	Ludogorets Razgrad
Europa League	CSKA Sofia Levski Sofia Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Matches played	252
Goals scored	615 (2.44 per match)
Top goalscorer	Stanislav Kostov (24 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Vytautas Černiauskas (20 clean sheets)
Biggest home win	Levski Sofia 7–0 Vereya (26 October 2018)[3]
Biggest away win	Cherno More 1–5 Septemvri Sofia (4 August 2018)[4]
Highest scoring	Slavia Sofia 3–5 Dunav Ruse (12 April 2019)[5]
Longest winning run	11 games by Ludogorets[6]
Longest unbeaten run	19 games Ludogorets[6]
Longest winless run	32 games Vereya[6]
Longest losing run	10 games Septemvri Sofia[6]
Highest attendance	23,000 CSKA Sofia 0–1 Levski Sofia (29 September 2018)[7]
Lowest attendance	30 Septemvri Sofia 2–1 Dunav Ruse (9 December 2018)[8]
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 29 May 2019.

The 2018–19 First Professional Football League was the 95th 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 3rd season of the

Cherno More Varna.^[9]

Teams

Fourteen teams are competing in the league – the top thirteen teams from the previous season, and one team promoted from the Second League.^[10]

Botev Vratsa were promoted as champions of the 2017–18 Second League.^[11] The promoted club replaced Pirin Blagoevgrad, who were relegated after elimination in the relegation play-offs by Vitosha Bistritsa. Botev Vratsa return to the top tier after a 5-year absence, while Pirin Blagoevgrad ended a 3-year stay in the top flight.^[12]

Stadia and locations

Botev
Lokomotiv

Botev Vratsa

Vitosha

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Location of teams in 2018–19 First League

CSKA

Levski

Septemvri

Slavia

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Sofia 2018–19 First League football clubs

Personnel and sponsorship

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
Beroe	Aleksandar Tomash	Martin Kamburov	Uhlsport[13]	—	Refan, Ajax Group
Botev Plovdiv	Nikolay Kirov	Lachezar Baltanov	Uhlsport[14]	WinBet[15]	—
Botev Vratsa	Sasho Angelov	Ivaylo Mihaylov	Joma	WinBet	Kozloduy NPP
CSKA Sofia	Dobromir Mitov	Nikolay Bodurov	adidas	A1 Bulgaria	WinBet, Baristo
Cherno More	Ilian Iliev	Georgi Iliev	Uhlsport	Armeets	—
Dunav	Lyudmil Kirov	Martin Kovachev	Joma	WinBet	SanSi
Etar	Krasimir Balakov	Ivan Stoyanov	Joma[16]	WinBet	—
Levski Sofia	Georgi Todorov	Zhivko Milanov	Nike	Efbet	Strabag
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Bruno Akrapović	Bircent Karagaren	Uhlsport[17]	Efbet	General Broker
Ludogorets	Stoycho Stoev	Svetoslav Dyakov	Umbro[18]	Efbet[19]	Vivacom, Spetema
Septemvri Sofia	Hristo Arangelov	Boris Galchev	Uhlsport[20]	Efbet[20]	—
Slavia Sofia	Zlatomir Zagorčić	Georgi Petkov	Joma	bet365	—
Vereya	Ivan Vutov	Ivo Ivanov	Uhlsport	Efbet	Spetema
Vitosha Bistritsa	Rosen Kirilov	Georgi Amzin	Jumper[21]	Efbet[22]	—

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
Vitosha Bistritsa	Kostadin Angelov	Promoted to Director of football	30 May 2018	Pre-season	Rosen Kirilov	1 June 2018[23]
Vereya	Elias	Demoted to assistant1	4 June 2018		Ivan Kolev	4 June 2018[24]
Ludogorets	Dimitar Dimitrov	Mutual consent	6 June 2018		Paulo Autuori	6 June 2018[25]
CSKA Sofia	Hristo Yanev	End of caretaker tenure	7 June 2018		Nestor El Maestro	7 June 2018[26]
Levski Sofia	Delio Rossi	Mutual consent	18 July 2018		Todor Simov (caretaker)	18 July 2018[27]
	Todor Simov	End of caretaker tenure	31 July 2018	4th	Slaviša Stojanovič	31 July 2018[28]
Vereya	Ivan Kolev	Mutual consent	14 August 2018	14th	Nebojša Miličić	14 August 2018[29]
Dunav	Malin Orachev	Mutual consent	17 September 2018	12th	Tsvetomir Mladenov (caretaker)	17 September 2018[30]
Septemvri	Nikolay Mitov	Mutual consent	28 September 2018	13th	Hristo Arangelov (caretaker)	28 September 2018[31]
Dunav	Tsvetomir Mladenov	End of caretaker tenure	1 October 2018	12th	Lyudmil Kirov	1 October 2018[32]
Ludogorets	Paulo Autuori	Mutual consent	9 October 2018	2nd	Antoni Zdravkov	9 October 2018[33]
Vereya	Nebojša Miličić	Mutual consent	10 January 2019[34]	14th	Oleksandr Sevidov	18 January 2019[35]
Levski Sofia	Slaviša Stojanovič	Mutual consent	21 January 2019[36]	3rd	Georgi Dermendzhiev	21 January 2019[37]
CSKA Sofia	Nestor El Maestro	Mutual consent	7 February 2019	2nd	Lyuboslav Penev	8 February 2019[38]
Ludogorets	Antoni Zdravkov	Mutual consent	6 March 2019	1st	Stoycho Stoev	6 March 2019[39]
Vereya	Oleksandr Sevidov	Mutual consent	25 March 2019	14th	Ivan Vutov	26 March 2019[40]
Levski Sofia	Georgi Dermendzhiev	Mutual consent	29 April 2019[41]	3rd	Georgi Todorov (caretaker)	29 April 2019
CSKA Sofia	Lyuboslav Penev	Resigned	3 May 2019[42]	2nd	Dobromir Mitov (caretaker)	3 May 2019

1.^ No license for First League.

Regular season

League table

Results

Positions by round