Second League (Bulgaria)

Second League (Bulgaria) (Vtora liga) - the second tier professional club league in Bulgaria under the Bulgarian Football Union, with support from the Bulgarian Professional Football League. Regulations: the competition is played as a single league of 18 clubs in a double round robin format with home and away matches, teams earn 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss, standings are determined by points, if two teams are level on points the higher place goes to the team with the better head to head results or the greater number of away goals in the head to head matches, then overall goal difference and overall goals scored are applied, followed by fair play ranking and, if still level, drawing lots, if three or more teams are level a mini-table of matches among the tied teams is used first and, if needed, the same overall criteria follow. The champions are promoted directly to the Bulgarian First League, the runners-up play a one match promotion play-off against the 13th placed First League club hosted by the First League club, if level after 90 minutes extra time is played and penalties decide the winner. The bottom four clubs are relegated to the Third League on a territorial principle, and reserve sides may participate but are not eligible for promotion. The league does not award direct UEFA places, access to UEFA club competitions comes via promotion to the First League where UEFA quotas are allocated.