The 2022–23 First Professional Football League, also known as efbet League for sponsorship reasons, will be the 99th season of the top division of the

Bulgarian football league system The Bulgarian football league system or the Bulgarian football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Bulgaria. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and ...

, the 75th since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid, and also the 7th season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. Ludogorets Razgrad are the 11-time defending champions. The season began on 8 July 2022. Due to the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, the last round before winter break was held on 11–12 November. The league will resume on 11 February 2023.

Teams

From this season, the league was expanded from 14 to 16 teams, with 12 teams returning from last season, three teams promoted from the 2021–22 Second League, as well as the winner of the promotion/relegation playoff. The first team to earn promotion from the Second League was Spartak Varna, who mathematically secured a top three finish after winning their game against

Sozopol Sozopol ( bg, Созопол , el, Σωζόπολη, translit=Sozopoli) is an ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Today it is one of the major seaside resorts in the country, known for the ...

on May 5, coupled with Etar losing to CSKA 1948 II. Spartak return to the top level after a 13-year absence. The second team to earn promotion from the Second League was

Septemvri Sofia Septemvri ( bg, Септември) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the First League, the first tier of Bulgarian football. Its home ground is the Septemvri Stadium, but due to i ...

, who mathematically secured a top three finish after drawing with Sportist Svoge on May 9. Septemvri Sofia return to the top level after a 3-year absence. The third team to earn promotion from the Second League was Hebar, who secured a top three finish in the very last round of the Second League, on May 21. Hebar return to the top level of Bulgarian football after a 21-year absence. Additionally,

Botev Vratsa Botev ( bg, Ботев) is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921. Since 1948, Botev have played their home games at St ...

managed to defeat Etar with a score of 3–2 in the promotion/relegation playoff, thus maintaining its place in the First League.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

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 by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

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

Regular season

League table

Results

Results by round

Season statistics

Top scorers

Most assists

Clean sheets

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:First League 2022-23 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) seasons

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...