Bulgarian Supercup Explained

Bulgarian Football Supercup
Pixels:150
Country:Bulgaria
Confed:UEFA
Founded:
2004; (restored)
Teams:2
Champions:Ludogorets Razgrad (7th title)
Most Successful Club:Ludogorets Razgrad (7 titles)
Website:pfl.bg/super_cup (archived)

The Bulgarian Supercup (Bulgarian: Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and the holder of the Bulgarian Cup at that time. In case the champion of Bulgaria has also won the cup, the Bulgarian Cup finalist competes with the champion in the match for the trophy.

The Supercup match is usually held during the weekend before the start of a new season. Since 2004 the Supercup game has been an annual event. The most successful club in the event is Ludogorets Razgrad with six Supercup titles and four times being runners-up. Ludogorets is the club that has participated in most seasons of the Supercup with ten appearances. The competition has been dominated by Sofia-based teams. The Sofia teams have won together a total number of 7 titles.

History

Inaugural Event 1989

The first match for the Bulgarian Supercup was held in 1989. The match was proposed by Kiril Zaharinov, sports editor at the Bulgarian News Agency and secretary of the union of the Bulgarian sport journalists at that time.

The match was held at 9th September Stadium in Burgas, opposing 1988-89 Bulgarian champion and Cup holder CFKA Sredets (now CSKA Sofia) and the runner-up in the 1988–89 edition of the Bulgarian Cup Chernomorets Burgas. CSKA won the match 1-0 thanks to a goal by Hristo Stoichkov.

The first Supercup trophy was made in Italy and was 80 cm tall, weighing 15 kg. Today it is kept in the CSKA Sofia museum.

Since 2004

After the political changes of 1989 in Eastern Europe the Bulgarian Supercup match was suspended. Fourteen years later the Bulgarian Professional Football League in association with the Bulgarian Football Union decided to restore the event organising a Supercup match between the champion of the 2003-04 season, PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv and the 2003–04 Bulgarian Cup holder, PFC Litex Lovech. The match was held at Naftex Stadium in Burgas and Lokomotiv won 1-0 after a last-minute goal by Ivan Paskov.

Since the restoration of the tournament in 2004 ten teams have participated in the event and eight of them have managed to win the trophy - PFC Litex Lovech (winners in 2010), PFC Beroe Stara Zagora (winners in 2013), PFC Cherno More Varna (winners in 2015), PFC Botev Plovdiv (winners in 2017), Lokomotiv Plovdiv (winners in 2004 and 2020), PFC Levski Sofia (winners in 2005, 2007 and 2009), PFC CSKA Sofia (winners in2006, 2008 and 2011) and PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (winners in 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021).

In 2021 the winner of the cup Ludogorets Razgrad became the single most successful team in the event, winning their fifth trophy as they beat CSKA Sofia with final score 4-0. Also, as of 2021 Ludogorets Razgrad has participated nine times in the Supercup match - most of all other participants.

From 2004 onwards a brand new trophy is made for every event as it was decided by the organisers that each Supercup winner should retain the trophy in perpetuity. However, three designs have been used for the trophy as of 2004 - one for the Supercups of 2004–2006, another for the trophies of 2007-2010 and the third from 2011 onwards. The current trophy was designed in Italy in 2007 and is 100 cm tall.

Supercup finals

width=5%Seasonwidth=5%Datewidth=25%Winnerwidth=7%Scorewidth=25%Runner-upwidth=15%Venuewidth=6%Attendancewidth=10%Report
198915 July 1989CFKA Sredets (1)
Winner of 1988–89 A Group and 1988–89 Bulgarian Cup
1 – 0Chernomorets Burgas
Runner-up of 1988–89 Bulgarian Cup
9th September Stadium,
Burgas
20,000Report
200431 July 2004Lokomotiv Plovdiv (1)
Winner of 2003–04 A Group
1 – 0Litex
Winner of 2003–04 Bulgarian Cup
Naftex Stadium,
Burgas
4,300Report
200531 July 2005Levski Sofia (1)
Winner of 2004–05 Bulgarian Cup
1 – 1
CSKA Sofia
Winner of 2004–05 A Group
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
9,894Report
200630 July 2006CSKA Sofia (2)
Winner of 2005–06 Bulgarian Cup
0 – 0
Levski Sofia
Winner of 2005–06 A Group
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
9,751Report
200726 July 2007Levski Sofia (2)
Winner of 2006–07 A Group and 2006–07 Bulgarian Cup
2 – 1 Litex
Runner-up of 2006–07 Bulgarian Cup
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
14,000Report
20083 August 2008CSKA Sofia (3)
Winner of 2007–08 A Group
1 – 0Litex
Winner of 2007–08 Bulgarian Cup
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
8,950Report
20091 August 2009Levski Sofia (3)
Winner of 2008–09 A Group
1 – 0Litex
Winner of 2008–09 Bulgarian Cup
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
2,300Report
201012 August 2010Litex (1)
Winner of 2009–10 A Group
2 – 1 Beroe
Winner of 2009–10 Bulgarian Cup
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
1,700Report
201130 July 2011CSKA Sofia (4)
Winner of 2010–11 Bulgarian Cup
3 – 1Litex
Winner of 2010–11 A Group
Lazur Stadium,
Burgas
12,620Report
201211 July 2012Ludogorets Razgrad (1)
Winner of 2011–12 A Group and 2011–12 Bulgarian Cup
3 – 1Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Runner-up of 2011–12 Bulgarian Cup
Lazur Stadium,
Burgas
2,730Report
201310 July 2013Beroe (1)
Winner of 2012–13 Bulgarian Cup
1 – 1
Ludogorets Razgrad
Winner of 2012–13 A Group
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
1,070Report
201413 August 2014Ludogorets Razgrad (2)
Winner of 2013–14 A Group and 2013–14 Bulgarian Cup
3 – 1Botev Plovdiv
Runner-up of 2013–14 Bulgarian Cup
Lazur Stadium,
Burgas
4,400Report
201512 August 2015Cherno More (1)
Winner of 2014–15 Bulgarian Cup
1 – 0Ludogorets Razgrad
Winner of 2014–15 A Group
Lazur Stadium,
Burgas
1,810Report
2016Not held
20179 August 2017Botev Plovdiv (1)
Winner of 2016–17 Bulgarian Cup
1 – 1
Ludogorets Razgrad
Winner of 2016–17 First League
Lazur Stadium,
Burgas
3,800Report
20185 July 2018Ludogorets Razgrad (3)
Winner of 2017–18 First League
1 – 0Slavia Sofia
Winner of 2017–18 Bulgarian Cup
Trace Arena,
Stara Zagora
850Report
20193 July 2019Ludogorets Razgrad (4)
Winner of 2018–19 First League
2 – 0Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Winner of 2018–19 Bulgarian Cup
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
3,800Report
20202 August 2020Lokomotiv Plovdiv (2)
Winner of 2019–20 Bulgarian Cup
1 – 0Ludogorets Razgrad
Winner of 2019–20 First League
Huvepharma Arena,
Razgrad
0Report
202117 July 2021Ludogorets Razgrad (5)
Winner of 2020–21 First League
4 – 0CSKA Sofia
Winner of 2020–21 Bulgarian Cup
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
8,800Report
20221 September 2022Ludogorets Razgrad (6)
Winner of 2021–22 First League
2 – 2
Levski Sofia
Winner of 2021–22 Bulgarian Cup
Vasil Levski,
Sofia
21,342Report
202310 February 2024Ludogorets Razgrad (7)
Winner of 2022–23 First League
1 – 1
CSKA 1948 Sofia
Runner-up of 2022–23 Bulgarian Cup
Stadion Ivaylo,
Veliko Tarnovo
1,344Report
§ Note: The 2016 Bulgarian Supercup was meant to be the 14th Bulgarian Supercup, an annual Bulgarian football match played between the winners of the previous season's A PFG and Bulgarian Cup. The game was to be played between CSKA Sofia, winners of the 2016 Bulgarian Cup, and Ludogorets Razgrad, champions of the 2015–16 A PFG. However, prior to the match CSKA Sofia went into bankruptcy, followed by taking another team's professional license. As a consequence, the 2016 Bulgarian Supercup final was not held.

Performance

Performance by club

ClubWinnersRunners-upYear(s) WonYear(s) lost
Ludogorets Razgrad2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 20232013, 2015, 2017, 2020
CSKA Sofia1989, 2006, 2008, 20112005, 2021
Levski Sofia2005, 2007, 20092006, 2022
Lokomotiv Plovdiv2004, 20202012, 2019
Litex20102004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011
Beroe20132010
Botev Plovdiv20172014
Cherno More2015
Chernomorets Burgas1989
Slavia Sofia2018
CSKA 1948 Sofia2023

Performance by city

CityWinsClubs
Sofia7CSKA (4), Levski (3)
Razgrad7Ludogorets (7)
Plovdiv3Lokomotiv (2), Botev (1)
Lovech1Litex (1)
Stara Zagora1Beroe (1)
Varna1Cherno More (1)

External links