Bulgarian State Football Championship Explained

Bulgarian State Football Championship
Founded:1924
Teams:5–26
Country:Bulgaria
Most Champs:Slavia Sofia (6 titles)
Folded:1944
Related Comps:Republic Championship
Bulgarian A Football Group

The State Football Championship was the first national football competition in Bulgaria. It was organised between 1924 and 1944 by the Bulgarian National Sport Federation.

The championship did not finish in years 1924, 1927 and 1944 because of different reasons. After 1944 it was replaced by the Republic Championship.

Format

The championship was a knockout tournament featuring six clubs that had won six regional divisions. These divisions were round-robin tournaments that included football clubs that were founded in different geographic areas. The winners of each division were drawn in pairs at random for each of the three one-match rounds. Two of the clubs qualified directly for the second round (the semi-final stage) and the other four had to play two quarter-final matches.

The championship had many changes in its format during the years, mainly in the number of legs played in each round and the number of teams that qualified from the regional divisions. In seasons 1937–38, 1938–39 and 1939–40 the championship was reorganised to a 10 club National Football Division but it proved to be an unsuccessful decision and from season 1940–41 the division was reverted to a knockout tournament.

Winners

width=50 Seasonwidth=150 Champions (titles)width=150 Runner-upwidth=150 Third place
1924
1925Vladislav Varna (1)Levski Sofia
1926Vladislav Varna (2)Slavia Sofia
1927
1928Slavia Sofia (1)Vladislav Varna
1929Botev Plovdiv (1)Levski Sofia
1930Slavia Sofia (2)Vladislav Varna
1931AS 23 Sofia (1)Spartak Varna
1932Spartak Varna (1)Slavia Sofia
1933Levski Sofia (1)Spartak Varna
1934Vladislav Varna (3)Slavia Sofia
1935Sportklub Sofia (1)Ticha Varna
1936Slavia Sofia (3)Ticha Varna
1937Levski Sofia (2)Levski Ruse
1937–38Ticha Varna (1)Vladislav VarnaShipka Sofia
1938–39Slavia Sofia (4)Vladislav VarnaTicha Varna
1939–40ZhSK Sofia (1)Levski SofiaSlavia Sofia
1941Slavia Sofia (5)ZhSK Sofia
1942Levski Sofia (3)Makedonia Skopie
1943Slavia Sofia (6)Levski Sofia
1944

Performances

Performance by club

Key
Italics indicates defunct clubs.

width=110Clubwidth=90 Winnerswidth=90 Runners-upwidth=90 Third place
Slavia Sofia631
Vladislav Varna34
Levski Sofia34
Shipchenski Sokol12
Ticha Varna121
ZhSK Sofia11
Botev Plovdiv
Athletic Slava 19231
Sportklub Sofia1
Levski Ruse1
Makedonia Skopie1
Shipka Sofia1

Performance by city

width=110Citywidth=90 Winnerswidth=90 Runners-upwidth=90 Third place
Sofia1282
Varna581
Plovdiv1
Ruse1
Skopje

See also

References