August 7, 2020
After just a three week break following the end of the
promotion/relegation play-offs the new season in Bulgaria begins on Friday.
History
The Bulgarian Championship was first competed for in
1924 but as a knock-out competition, with a league structure only being
introduced in 1948.
Historically the Championship has been dominated by
Sofia based teams, who have won the title 70 times out of the 93 competitions.
CSKA have won 31 titles, Levski 26, Slavia 7 and Lokomotiv Sofia 4. However,
this dominance has been ended by provincial Ludogorets Razgrad, who have won 9
consecutive championships since their first success in 2012.
The Bulgarian Parva Liga is currently ranked 27th
by UEFA, below Belarus but above Romania, Poland and Slovakia. For sponsorship
reasons the league is referred to as the Efbet League, but is also known as the
First Professional League or the Bulgarian First League.
The
National Side
The
national side are currently 59th in the FIFA world rankings, making them 31th
best in Europe, below Finland but above Montenegro and Slovenia.
Bulgaria had a disastrous Euro 2020 qualifying
campaign winning only the last match ( Czech
Republic 1-0 ), drawing twice with Montenegro, losing at home to Kosovo and
getting hammered 0-4 and 0-6 by England, with the 0-6 loss in Sofia being
marred by racist chanting. They do however, still have a one-off play-off match
at home to Hungary, with the winner playing the winner of Iceland and Romania
for a place in the Euro 2020 finals
The national side’s best tournament performance was in
the 1994 World Cup, when the golden generation of Hristo Stoichkov, Krasimir
Balakov, Yordan Lechkov, Nasko Sirakov, Trifan Ivanov and the famous hair of
keeper Mikhailov beat Argentina, Greece, Mexico and Germany before losing 1-2
to Italy in the semi-final.
Unlike in the mid-1990s Bulgaria doesn’t now have any
major footballing stars and there are no Bulgarians playing in a major European
League. In the last two squads the majority of the players are playing in their
domestic league, although there are players plying their trade in Turkey,
Austria, Portugal, Hungary, Croatia and Kazakhstan, and three in Russia.
League
Structure
The league consists of 14 sides who play each other
home and away. At that point the top six form a Championship group and the
bottom 8 form two relegation groups.
The Championship group sides play each other again
twice for a 36 game season. Points from the regular season are carried forward,
and the winners qualify for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions
League with the runners-up and the winner of the Bulgarian Cup qualifying for
the UEFA Conference League. The final European place goes to the winner of a
play-off between the side finishing 3rd ( or 4th if the
Cup Winner finishes in the top three ) and the side finishing top of the
relegation round.
The teams in relegation round groups play each other
twice for a 32 game season. The top two sides in each group then play a semi
final and then a final to determine the team to contest the final European
place play-off. The side with the lowest
number of points is relegated whilst the other three sides play another
relegation group but without any points carried forward. The two worst sides
then go into play-offs on neutral grounds against the sides finishing 2nd
and 3rd in the Second League. I hope that is clear !
The Second League consists of 18 teams, of which the
bottom two are relegated to the Third Leagues.
Teams can register five non-EU nationals in their
squad, but only three can be part of the match-day squad. Non-EU nationals with
EU ancestry can claim dual nationality, whilst those with no EU ancestry can
claim Bulgarian citizenship after five years in Bulgaria.
Last
Season
The 2019/20 season started on 12th July but
was suspended on March 13th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season
resumed on June 5th with a shortened season with the championship
and relegation rounds only playing each other once rather than twice. The final
play-off match was played on July 19th, over a year after the season
started !
Defending champions Ludogorets successfully defended
their title with 4 rounds to spare, and finished 13 points clear of CSKA,
losing only one match all season, and that was after the championship had been
secured. Lokomotiv Plovdiv finished the regular season in second place, but
lost 4 of their 5 group matches to finish fifth. However, they won the
Bulgarian Cup for the second year in a row, beating CSKA on penalties after a
0-0 draw to qualify for Europe. Slavia were the other team to qualify for
Europe, winning the play-off against Botev Plovdiv after finishing third.
At the bottom Vitosha were directly relegated, picking
up only 6 points all season to be replaced by CSKA-1948 Sofia. Tsarsko Selo
Sofia reprieved themselves by beating Septemvri Sofia 2-0 in their play-off but
Dunav Rose lost 1-4 to Montana to go down.
In the Champions League, Ludogorets were shocked by
Ferencvaros in the first qualifying round but won three ties in the Europa
League to reach the group stages where they got revenge on Ferencvaros to get
out of a group also including CSKA Moscow and Espanyol. In the round of 32,
Inter Milan were too strong.
In the Europa League, CSKA won ties against Titograd
of Montenegro and Osijek of Croatia before being eliminated by Zorya Luhansk
from the Ukraine. Lokomotiv Plovdiv got past Spartak Trnava of Slovakia on away
goals before being knocked out 0-2 on aggregate by Strasbourg. Levski eliminated
Ruzemberok, another Slovak side, before being hammered by Cypriot side AEK
Larnaca
Attendances
When football resumed after the COVID suspension,
crowds of up to 30% of the stadium capacity were permitted, which was shortly
after increased to 50% and then with a maximum of 1,000 people per stand.
However, due to the surge in reported cases, matches after July 10th
were played before closed doors.
Prior to these restrictions the average attendance in
the Parva Liga was 1,754, with Levski being the best supported team with an
average of 4,988, followed by CSKA on 3,196 and Lokomotiv Plovdiv with 2,428.
Champions Ludogorets only attracted an average of 1,665.
Slavia just 424 and
Tsarsko Selo and Vitosha had the lowest averages with 342 and 319 respectively.
The highest attendance was 24,687 for the Levski vs
CSKA match in February.
For the new season, spectators will be allowed inside
grounds, limited to 50% of capacity and a maximum of 1,000 per sector. No
standing is permitted, and distancing of 1.5 metres should be maintained.
How To
Watch
Coverage of the Parva league is patchy at best. The
YouTube EFBET Bulgaria channel was posting highlights of all league matches but
stopped after the first week of the resumption. Some highlights have belatedly
appeared on the EFBET Liga channel. Ludogorets, CSKA, Lokomotiv Plovdiv and
Arda post highlights on their YouTube channels and CSKA 1948 were posting
highlights of their matches in the Second League.
Highlights of matches can also be found on www.vbox7.com
but this site is in Cyrillic and so not too easy to navigate. Links to matches on
vbox7 can be found via the Sofascore website though.
Preview
The traditional curtain raiser, the Super Cup between
the Champions and the Cup Winners, was
held last weekend with Lokomotiv Plovdiv surprisingly beating Ludogorets 1-0 in
Razgrad. The winning goal came from Dimitar Illev with a volley on the turn in
the 89th minute after Ludogorets had DR Congo defender Ikoko
sent-off for violent conduct in the 65th minute. Even before the
sending off Lokomotiv had looked the better side, having a goal chalked off for
a suspect offside decision, and they had good claims for a penalty from a
handball, after which Ikoko saw red in the subsequent skirmishes.
Despite this loss, Ludogorets will be odds on
favourites to win a 10th consecutive title, after losing only one
match in 2019/20, and winning all but three drawn matches at home. Even their
exit from the Bulgarian Cup to CSKA was only after a penalty shoot-out.
However, they failed to win any of their three matches against their biggest two
rivals, with three draws against CSKA ( and a fourth in the Cup ) and two draws
and a loss against Slavia, but were much more consistent against the lesser
sides.
Located in Razgrad, 335km north-east of Sofia, and
owned by one of Bulgaria’s most successful businessmen, they are the wealthiest
team in the league. Consequently they have a very cosmopolitan squad, with
players from Brazil, Russia, Romania, Israel, Poland, Guinea-Bissau, Congo, DR
Congo, Senegal, Ghana and Madagascar as well as naturalised Brazilian Wanderson,
who has been at the club since 2014 and is now a full International for
Bulgaria. Marcelino, another naturalised Brazilian who had been at Ludogorets
since 2011 announced his departure in the close season after over 300
appearances and nearly 100 goals for the club.
The coach is Pavel Vrba, formally coach of Czech
Republic and Viktoria Plzen. Romanian International Claudiu Kesuru was the top
league scorer with 12 goals whilst Congolese Mavis Tchibota was on target 7
times. Alongside Wanderson, keeper Plamen Iliev, defenders Georgi Terzev &
Anton Nedyalkov are current Bulgarian internationals, although Renan ( a
Brazilian with an Italian passport ) had displaced Iliev as first choice keeper
at the end of the season. Veteran midfielder and former International Svetoslav
Dyakov has made over 300 appearances for Ludogorets. New signing Brazilian
midfielder Alex Santana played in the Super Cup Final, whilst Ghanian forward
Bernard Tekpetey has signed on loan from Schalke.
The Huvepharma arena currently holds 10,422 although
there are plans to increase capacity, and the club colours are all green
CSKA were unbeaten in
all matches against Ludogorets, Slavia and Levski but losses to Cherno More (
1-3 at home ), Beroe ( 1-2 ), Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( 0-1 ) and lowly Tsarsko Selo
( 1-2 ) prevented any realistic challenge for the title. However, 5 unbeaten
matches in the championship round helped clinch second place.
CSKA was formally the team of the Central Army,
although has been in private ownership since the fall of communism. Their
colours are all red and they play at the 22,995 capacity Bulgarian Army
Stadium.
Gambian striker Ali Sowe was top scorer with 13 goals,
with Brazilian Evandro next with 8. However, Evandro has now moved to Fehervar
in Hungary for 1M Euros. Mainstays of the side included national defenders
Peter Zanev and Ivan Turitsov, and international midfielders Kristyan Malinov
and Valentin Antov. International defender Bozhidar Chorbadzhiyski returned from loan to Steaua Bucharest after
the winter break and other players of note include ex St Mirren, Ross County
and Plymouth Argyle Irish winger Graham Carey, Italian striker Stefano Beltrame
and Portuguese midfielder Tiago Rodrigues. Two players who featured in 2019/20
but are no longer with the club were Scottish International forward Tony Watt
and ex-Birmingham defender Viv Soloman-Otabor ( who played 12 matches for
Oxford City in 2014 ! ).
Amongst the new signings are goal-keeper Dimitar
Evtimov from Accrington Stanley, centre-back Jurgen Mattheij from Sparta
Rotterdam, Senegal left wing-back Younousse Sankhare from Bordeaux and Central
African Republic midfielder Amos Youga from Le Havre
After finishing 5th in the regular league
season, Slavia Sofia took 10 points from their 5 Championship round
matches, including inflicting the only defeat of the season on champions Ludogorets
( and being undefeated in 3 matches with them ) to finish 3rd and to
have a play-off match with the winner of the Relegation round for a place in
the Europa League qualifiers. The match
against Botev Plovdiv was won 2-1 with the goals scored by long serving Yanis
Karabelyov and Ivailo Dimitov
Stadion Slavia holds 25,556 and they play in all
white. The derby with Levski is named “the oldest city derby”, in recognition
of them being the two oldest sides in Sofia.
32 year old midfielder Galin Ivanov scored was top
scorer with 7 goals but he has signed for CSKA 1948 for 2020/21. 21 year old full
back Andrea Hristov was called into the national squad but is still to pick up
a full cap. The Club Captain is 44 year old goalkeeper Georgi Petkov but he only
made 2 appearances in 2019/20, with Greek Antonis Stergiakis being the regular
keeper in the end of season run in. The only other foreigner to appear for
Slavia last season was veteran Macedonian midfielder Darko Taveski, who scored once in 11 appearances. 18 year
old full back/winger Filip Krastev was signed by Manchester City’s Belgian
affiliate Lommel in 2019 and loaned back to Slavia and made 18 appearances with
2 goals. However, he is unlikely to figure this season. Winger Radislav Kirilov
has 2 caps and has played for a number of sides in Italy’s Serie B and C. The
one new signing announced so far is the return of 37 year old forward Dimitar
Rangelov from Energie Cottbus.
Levski’s fourth
place finish meant they failed to qualify for Europa for the first time in 5
years. Formerly the side of the Interior Ministry they are known as the Blues
and they play at the 25,000 capacity Vivacom Arena, formerly known as the
Georgi Asparuhov Stadium.
They lost all three matches against Ludogorets, drew
all three matches with CSKA, and won one lost two with Slavia.
Top scorer with 11 goals was Nigel Robertha, who is
Dutch but qualifies to play for Curacao, and Brazilian Paulinho was next with
8. The core of the side is made up of Bulgarian internationals, with Ivan
Goranov and Deyan Lozev in defence, Simeon Slavchev in midfield and Stanislav
Ivanov up front. Montenegrin keeper Milan Mijatovic has been released, giving Internationals
Nikolay Mihaylov and Georgi Georgiev the chance to battle for the No 1
position. The only addition to the squad so far is 33 year old defender Orlin
Starokin, who returns to Bulgaria after playing in Cyprus.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv finished
the regular season in second place, but 4 losses out of five in the
Championship round saw them end up 5th. However, the triumph over
Ludogorets in the Super Cup should give encouragement for a promising season
and winning the Bulgarian Cup will see them play football in Europe.
Plovdiv is 140km south-east of Sofia, and Lokomotiv
play at the 13,220 capacity Stadion Lokomotiv. The shirt worn in the Super Cup
was a nice dark blue and white hoops.
There has been little change to their squad, although Georgi
Minchev has joined from Tsarsko. Dimitar Illev was the top scorer with 14 goals
and Birsent Karagaren scored 7 times for both to earn their first Bulgarian
caps in February. Keeper Martin Lukov was also called up but is yet to make his
debut.Croatian Ante Aralica chipped in with 5 goals, Tajik Parvizchon Umarbaev
was a regular in midfield and Serbian Milos Petrovic was the regular right
back. Left footed Brazilian midfielder Lucas Salinas joined after the winter
break and looked lively.
Botev Plovdiv
finished 9th in the regular season but won two out of three
Relegation round group matches, and two knock-out matches to reach the Europa
League play-off final against Slavia, in which Brazilian Anderson Barbosa
scored his only goal of the season in a 1-2 defeat, having made 4 appearances
as a substitute. Fellow Brazilian, defender Johnathan Perreira was sent off for
foul play at the end of that match. Colombian midfielder Faider Burbano made 7
appearances at the tail end of the season. Top scorer was 28 year old
midfielder Todor Nedelev, who has 28 caps, with 9 goals.
Botev play in yellow and black and their Hristo Botev
stadium is planned to have a capacity of over 18,000 if it ever gets finished.
Botev will be targeting a top 6 finish.
Briefly looking at the remaining sides, who are likely
to be in the relegation round :
CSKA 1948
Location : Sofia
Stadium : Vasil Levski ( 44,000 Capacity )
Colours : All red
Player Movements : Martin Kamburov from Beroe, Daniel
Mladenov from Etar, Dimitar Pirgov from Botev Plovdiv, Galin Ivanov from
Slavia, Serkan Yusein on loan from Ludogorets; Valentin Yoskov on loan to Etar
Internationals/Key Players : Daniel Naumov ( young
keeper called up to national squad but yet to play ), Daniel Mladenov ( winger
– 2 caps ), Galin Ivanov ( midfield – 10 caps ), Ventsislav Vasilev ( defender
– 3 caps ), Andon Gushterov ( winger and captain ), Martin Kamburov
Comment : Formed as a break-away club from CSKA in 2016
they have risen through the leagues to now play their first season in the Parva
Liga. The coach is golden generation star and ex-national manager Krasimir
Balakov, and they have been busy signing experienced domestic journeyman, and
should comfortably survive this season The signings of 39 year old Kamburov,
Ivanov & Mladenov should ensure plenty of goals. Their first match is
intriguingly against CSKA !
Prediction : 7th
Cherno More
Location : Varna ( on the Black Sea, 440km east of
Sofia )
Stadium : Ticha ( 8,250 capacity )
Colours : Green and White hoops, Black shorts
Player Movements : Stefan Velev from OSK Sepsi (
Romania ); Martin Minchev to Sparta Prague, Miodrag Mitrovic ( released )
Internationals/Key Players : Viktor Popov ( young full
back – 2 caps ), Ismail Isa ( forward – 5 caps ), Vasil Panayotov ( midfield –
1 cap ),Tsevtomir Panov ( right back – 1 cap ), Rodrigo ( Brazilian winger )
Top Scorer : 13 – Ismail Isa
Comment : Cherno More ( which means Black Sea ) finished
three points outside of the Championship round and lost in the European
play-off semi-final to Botev. They will miss talented 19 year old Minchev, and
the departure of experienced keeper Mitrovic assumes they have confidence in
understudy Dyulgerov. They might not do as well as last season
Prediction : 8th
Beroe
Location: Stara Zagora – 230km east of Sofia
Stadium : Stadion Beroe ( 12,128 capacity )
Colours : Green shirts, White shorts
Player Movements : Dimo Balakov from Ludogorets,
Illias Hassani from Arda, Keelan Lebon from Creteil ; Martin Kamburov to CSKA
1948, Milen Zhelev to Arda, Viktor Genev to Botev Plovdiv, Ahmed Touba loan
return to Club Brugge
Internationals/Key Players : Alexsandat Tsvetkov (
midfield – 5 caps ), Dusan Pernis ( keeper – 6 caps for Slovakia &
ex-Dundee United ), Teddy Mezague ( French defender – ex Leyton Orient ),
Ibrahima Conte ( winger – 33 caps for Guinea ), Alexsandar Vasilev ( left back
), Zoran Josipovic ( Swiss striker )
Top Scorer : 18 Martin Kamburov
Comment : Finished 6th in the regular
season but lost 4 out of 5 championship round matches. The loss of the league’s
top scorer to CSKA 1948 leaves a big hole and other experienced leavers don’t
appear to have been adequately replaced yet.
Prediction : 9th
Etar
Location : Veliko Tarnovo – 220km north east of Sofia
Stadium : Stadion Ivaylo ( 15,000 capacity )
Colours : All Violet
Player Movements : Valentin Yoskov on loan from CSKA
1948, Plamen Krachunov from Lokomotiv Sofia; Daniel Mladenov to CSKA 1948
Internationals/Key Players : Hristo Ivanov ( keeper
and captain – 1 cap ), Zdravko Iliev ( defender ), Mitcho Angelov |( forward )
Top Scorer : 7 – Daniel Mladenov
Comment : Etar finished 10th in the regular
season, and were beaten by Botev in the European play-off. Mladenov will be
missed and the ageing line-up, currently all the squad are Bulgarian, is
unlikely to do better this season
Prediction : 10th
Arda
Location : Kardzhali – 280km south-east of Sofia
Stadium : Arena Arda ( 15,000 capacity )
Colours : All Blue
Player Movements : Milen Zhelev from Beroe,
Lachezar Kotev from Vitosha ; Connor Randall to Ross County
Internationals/Key Players : Spas Delev ( winger – 25
caps ), Svetoslav Kovachev ( young winger on loan from Ludogorets – 1 cap ),
Matheus Leoni ( Brazilian defender ), Radoslav Vasilev ( striker )
Top Scorer : 10 - Radoslav Vasilev
Comment : Arda comfortably survived their first season
back in the Parva Liga, finishing second in their relegation group before
losing in the European play-offs to Etar. They didn’t score many goals but
didn’t concede many either. They do have a decent YouTube channel though !
Prediction : 11th
Botev Vratsa
Location : Vratsa – 115km north of Sofia
Stadium : Stadion Hristo Bonev ( 25,000 capacity )
Colours : All Green
Player Movements : Yuliyan Nenov from Dunav,
Alexsandar Stanisavljevic from Radnik ( Serbia ); Angel Lyaskov loan return to
CSKA
Internationals/Key Players : Alassane N’Diaye (
French midfielder – ex Crystal Palace, Swindon, Southend & Barnet ), Tom (
Brazilian winger ), Petar Atanasov ( forward )
Top Scorer : 7 – Petar Atanasov
Comment : Botev finished the regular season in 12th,
but were top of the three team relegation group to avoid the play-offs.
Unlikely to do any better with virtually the same squad.
Prediction : Relegation play-off
Tsarsko Selo
Location : Sofia
Stadium : Tsarsko Selo Sports Complex ( 1,500
capacity )
Colours : All Red
Player Movements : Mihail Ivanov from Eskilstuna (
Sweden ), Stefan Hristov from Dunav; Georgi Minchev to Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Internationals/Key Players : Mihail Ivanov ( keeper –
1 cap ), Dylan Bahamboula ( midfield – 1 Congo cap ), Simeon Mechev ( midfield
), Reyan Daskalov ( defender ), Miroslav Budinov ( striker ), Rodney Antwi (
Dutch winger/striker ), Wesley Nata ( Brazilian midfielder ), Anderson Costa (
Brazilian winger ), Johny Placide ( ex- Oldham Haitian goalkeeper – 54 caps )
Top Scorer : 8 – Rodney Antwi
Comment : Founded in 2015, Tsarsko survived their
first season in the Parva League by winning a relegation play-off against
Septemvri Sofia 2-0 ( who lost in these play-offs for the second season running
), thanks to goals from Minchev and Mechev. Top scorer Antwi scored all his
goals before leaving on loan to Egypt before Christmas and Tsarsko struggled
for goals afterwards, replacement Budinov scored just once in 10 games.
Prediction : Relegation play-off
FC Montana
Location : Montana – 100km north of Sofia
Stadium : Ogosta Stadium ( 8,000 capacity )
Colours : All Blue
Player Movements : Preslav Petrov on loan from
Ludogorets II; Antas Iliev to Botev Plovdiv
Internationals/Key Players : Toni Tasev ( winger ),
Vladimir Aytov ( midfield ), Ivan Mihov ( centre back ), Nikolay Minkov (
midfield )
Top Scorer : 14 – Antas Iliev
Comment : Montana won promotion via a 4-1 win over
Dunav Rose after being in third place when the Second League was suspended.
They have lost their top scorer and all the new signings have come from
Bulgarian teams outside of the top division. The all Bulgarian squad has
virtually zero experience of the Parva Liga
Prediction : Relegation
Matches in Round 1
Friday 7th August
CSKA 1948 vs CSKA
Saturday 8th August
Montana vs Arda
Botev Vratsa vs Ludogorets
Sunday 9th August
Botev Plovdiv vs Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Slavia vs Cherno More
Monday 10th August
Levski vs Beroe
Tuesday 11th August
Tsarsko Selo vs Etar
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