Cup (Bulgaria)

Bulgarian Cup (Bulgaria) (Kupa na Bulgaria, Bulgarian Cup) - Bulgaria’s main domestic knockout cup organised by the Bulgarian Football Union together with the Bulgarian Professional Football League. Regulations: the competition is staged in two phases, a preliminary phase and a final phase, where the preliminary phase starts with eligible amateur-status clubs from the Third League and regional groups, the zonal councils produce 16 representatives, and those teams then play a second preliminary round together with 16 Second League clubs, with the 16 winners advancing to the final phase. The final phase features 32 teams, the 16 preliminary winners and the 16 First League clubs, with single-leg ties in the round of 32, round of 16 and quarter-finals, two-legged semi-finals, and a one-match final, with the final venue set by the organiser and in some seasons specified as the national stadium. If a knockout match is level after 90 minutes, two 15-minute periods of extra time are played and, if still level, the winner is decided by a penalty shootout. The winner qualifies for European club competitions, while the exact competition and entry round follow the UEFA access list and eligibility rules, with reallocation handled under UEFA and domestic regulations when places overlap.