Region Bulgaria | Number of teams Various | |
 | ||
Founded 1938; 79 years ago (1938) Current champions CSKA Sofia
(20th title) Most successful club(s) Levski Sofia
(25 titles) Television broadcasters Nova Broadcasting Group | ||
The Bulgarian Cup (Bulgarian: Купа на България) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it.
Contents
- History
- Competition format
- Qualification phase
- Final phase
- Sponsorship
- Official winners
- Tsars Cup 19381942
- Cup of the Soviet Army 19451982
- Bulgarian Cup 1982present
- Performances
- Performance by club
- References
The tournament's format is single-elimination, with all matches being one-legged, except the semi-finals. The competition's winner gets the right to take part in the UEFA Europa League. If the winner has already secured a place through the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, the team that has come fourth in the championship substitutes it.
The competition has been dominated by Sofia-based teams. The Sofia teams have won together a total number of 61 titles. The two most successful teams are Levski Sofia (25 cups) and CSKA Sofia (20 cups). The most recent winners of the Bulgarian Cup is CSKA Sofia, who beat Montana 1–0 in the 2016 Bulgarian Cup Final.
History
The Bulgarian Cup as a domestic cup knock-out tournament, has its roots in several tournaments held in Bulgaria through the early 20th century, simultaneously or successively starting in the 1910s with regional Sofia competitions.
The first Bulgarian national tournament was the Tsar's Cup ("King's Cup"). The competition is officially recognised as the foundation of the modern domestic cup by the Bulgarian Football Union. From 1924 until 1937 the tournament was the de facto state championship to determine the Bulgarian national football champions and winners of the tournament for those years are recognised as such by the BFU). The trophy was decided over a series of direct knock-out matches in which the champions of the country's oblasts played in one-legged single-elimination rounds.
In 1937 the first national league was created to determine the football champion of Bulgaria. The tournament for the Tsar's Cup, however, remained a prestigious competition in the country. The winners of the trophy between 1938 and 1942 are officially recognised as domestic cup holders by the BFU.
The competition was not held between 1942 and 1945 due to World War II and only returned in 1946. Bulgaria was now under Communist rule, and reformed their football league structure and competitions along the lines of other Soviet states. The new Central Football Committee created the Soviet Army Cup (Bulgarian: Купа на Съветската армия) in time for the 1945-46 season. For the remainder of the communist period in Bulgaria (between 1945 and 1990), an annual two-legged knock-out tournament was held. The tournament had a national scope but initially included only top tier clubs. It served as the primary means of qualification to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup between 1960 and 1982.
In 1981, in honour of the 1300th anniversary of the country, another national knock-out football tournament took place awarding the winner the Cup of Bulgaria. The tournament for the Cup of the Soviet Army gradually lost its importance due to the success of the Bulgarian Cup and in 1983 it ceded primacy to the new competition.
The Bulgarian Football Union recognises the historic winners of the Soviet Army Cup as official domestic cup holders for the seasons between 1945–46 and 1981–82, while holders of the Bulgarian Cup are the official domestic cup holders from 1982-83 onwards. Levski Sofia, as the club to have won the Soviet Army Cup most times, were awarded the original trophy to keep in their collection.
Competition format
The Bulgarian Cup tournament is divided in two phases - the Qualification phase and the Final phase.
Qualification phase
In this phase are participating teams from the four groups of the amateur division V AFG (3rd level of the Bulgarian football league system) and teams from Bulgarian A Regional Football Group (A RFG) (4th level of the Bulgarian football league system).
Final phase
In this phase are participating the teams that have won their matches in the Qualification phase, with the 20 teams from the two groups of B PFG (10 teams from West B PFG and 10 teams from East B PFG) and 16 teams from A PFG. The team from a lower league division is the home team. In matches between teams from same division the home team is determined by lot.
Sponsorship
From 1997 to 2011 the Bulgarian Cup is sponsored by the American car manufacturer Ford and its official distributor in Bulgaria Moto-Pfohe.
From season 2011–12 the Bulgarian Cup is sponsored by the Bulgarian Corporate Commercial Bank.
Official winners
The performance of various clubs is shown in the following tables:
Tsar's Cup (1938–1942)
Tsar's Cup (English: Cup of the King) is the first name of the present tournament Bulgarian Cup.
Cup of the Soviet Army (1945–1982)
Notes:
Bulgarian Cup (1982–present)
Notes:
Performances
The totals below include the Tsar's Cup (1938–1942), Cup of the Soviet Army (1945–1982) and Bulgarian Cup (1982–present).
Performance by club
Notes: