First League (Bulgaria)

First League (Bulgaria) (First Professional Football League, commonly known as Parva Liga and currently efbet League for sponsorship reasons) - the top professional club division in Bulgaria organised under the Bulgarian Football Union and the Bulgarian Professional Football League. Regulations: 16 clubs take part, the season is played in two phases, in the first phase teams play a double round-robin (30 rounds), then the league is split into three groups based on the table after 30 rounds - 1-4, 5-8 and 9-16, with groups 1-4 and 5-8 playing a further 6 rounds home and away (36 matches in total) and group 9-16 playing a further 7 rounds (37 matches in total), with points from the first phase carried over. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss, if teams are level on points the tie-breakers are applied in order as number of wins, goal difference, goals scored, goals conceded, fewest red cards, fewest yellow cards, then drawing of lots. In UEFA competitions, the champion takes a UEFA Champions League qualifying place and the national cup winner takes a UEFA Europa League qualifying place, while the remaining places are allocated via the final league standings and league-defined play-offs for a UEFA Conference League place, including reallocation if the cup winner has already qualified through the league, subject to club licensing. At the end of the season the teams finishing 14th-16th in the 9-16 group are relegated to the Second League and the 13th-placed team plays a one-off relegation play-off against the Second League runner-up, with extra time and penalties if required.