Bulgarian State Football Championship

Bulgarian State Football Championship
SportFootball
Founded1924
Ceased1944
No. of teams5–26
CountryBulgaria
Most titlesSlavia Sofia (6 titles)
Related
competitions
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

Season Champions (titles) Runner-up Third place
1924
Not finished
1925 Vladislav Varna (1) Levski Sofia
1926 Vladislav Varna (2) Slavia Sofia
1927
Not held
1928 Slavia Sofia (1) Vladislav Varna
1929 Botev Plovdiv (1) Levski Sofia
1930 Slavia Sofia (2) Vladislav Varna
1931 AS 23 Sofia (1) Spartak Varna
1932 Spartak Varna (1) Slavia Sofia
1933 Levski Sofia (1) Spartak Varna
1934 Vladislav Varna (3) Slavia Sofia
1935 Sportklub Sofia (1) Ticha Varna
1936 Slavia Sofia (3) Ticha Varna
1937 Levski Sofia (2) Levski Ruse
1937–38 Ticha Varna (1) Vladislav Varna Shipka Sofia
1938–39 Slavia Sofia (4) Vladislav Varna Ticha Varna
1939–40 ZhSK Sofia (1) Levski Sofia Slavia Sofia
1941 Slavia Sofia (5) ZhSK Sofia
1942 Levski Sofia (3) Makedonia Skopie
1943 Slavia Sofia (6) Levski Sofia
1944
Not finished, due to World War II

Performances

Performance by club

Key
Italics indicates defunct clubs.

Club Winners Runners-up Third place
Slavia Sofia 6 3 1
Vladislav Varna 3 4
Levski Sofia 3 4
Shipchenski Sokol 1 2
Ticha Varna 1 2 1
ZhSK Sofia 1 1
Botev Plovdiv
1
Athletic Slava 1923 1
Sportklub Sofia 1
Levski Ruse 1
Makedonia Skopie 1
Shipka Sofia 1

Performance by city

City Winners Runners-up Third place
Sofia 12 8 2
Varna 5 8 1
Plovdiv 1
Ruse 1
Skopje[a]
1
  1. ^ Skopje, was part of Bulgaria when Makedonia Skopie reached the championship final in 1942.

See also

References