The 2025–26 First Professional Football League, also known as efbet League for sponsorship reasons, will be the 102nd 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 78th since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid, and also the 10th season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. The season will begin on 18 July 2025 and will finish on 31 May 2026.

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

are the 14-time defending champions.

Teams

As in the last season, 16 teams will compete in the league this year. Two teams were promoted from the 2024–25 Second League, and two places are for the winners of the promotion/relegation playoffs. The first team to earn promotion from the Second League was

Dobrudzha Dobruja or Dobrudja (; or ''Dobrudža''; , or ; ; Dobrujan Tatar: ''Tomrîğa''; Ukrainian and ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeastern Europe that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgari ...

, who mathematically secured a top two finish after winning against

Lovech Lovech (, ) is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast from the capital city of Sofia. Near Lovech are the towns of ...

on 11 May. Dobrudzha return to the top level after a 22-year absence. The second team to earn promotion from the Second League was

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, who mathematically secured a top two finish after

Pirin Blagoevgrad Football club Pirin (), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the Second League, the second division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 2008, after a merger ...

lost to Dobrudzha on 16 May. Montana return to the top level after a 4-year absence. Additionally,

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

and

Botev Vratsa Botev () is a Bulgarian professional association football, football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921. Si ...

remained in the First League after winning against Marek and Pirin Blagoevgrad, respectively, in the promotion/relegation playoffs.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

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 The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

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

Season statistics

Top scorers

Clean sheets

Hat-tricks

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:First League 2025-26 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) seasons

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...