2016–17 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

The **2016–17 First Professional Football League** (Bulgarian: Първа професионална футболна лига 2016/17, _Parva profesionalna futbolna liga 2016/17_) was the 93rd season of top division football in Bulgaria. It was played from 29 July 2016 to 4 June 2017. Ludogorets Razgrad won the tournament. The top scorer was Claudiu Keșerü, with 22 goals.

## Regular season

|width="20"||width="200"|Team|width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="300"|Qualification or relegation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left align=center|1|align=left|Ludogorets Razgrad||26||21||4||1||69||19||+50||**67**|rowspan=6|Championship round|
|align=left align=center|2|align=left|Levski Sofia||26||15||6||5||38||17||+21||**51**|||
|align=left align=center|3|align=left|CSKA Sofia||26||13||7||6||35||16||+19||**46**|||
|align=left align=center|4|align=left|Cherno More Varna||26||12||7||7||30||24||+6||**43**|||
|align=left align=center|5|align=left|Lokomotiv Plovdiv||26||10||9||7||35||30||+5||**39**|||
|align=left align=center|6|align=left|Dunav Ruse||26||10||8||8||32||31||+1||**38**|||
|align=left align=center|7|align=left|Botev Plovdiv||26||10||5||11||36||42||−6||**35**|rowspan=8|Relegation round|
|align=left align=center|8|align=left|Beroe Stara Zagora||26||10||5||11||27||28||−1||**35**|||
|align=left align=center|9|align=left|Pirin Blagoevgrad||26||10||4||12||30||36||−6||**34**|||
|align=left align=center|10|align=left|Vereya||26||8||6||12||22||36||−14||**30**|||
|align=left align=center|11|align=left|Slavia Sofia||26||8||4||14||30||45||−15||**28**|||
|align=left align=center|12|align=left|Neftochimic Burgas||26||7||5||14||27||37||−10||**26**|||
|align=left align=center|13|align=left|Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa||26||5||7||14||22||39||−17||**22**|||
|align=left align=center|14|align=left|Montana||26||3||3||20||16||49||−33||**12**|||

## Championship round

Points and goals will carry over in full from the regular season.

|width="20"||width="200"|Team|width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="300"|Qualification or relegation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left align=center|1|align=left|Ludogorets Razgrad **(C)**||36||25||8||3||87||28||+59||**83**|rowspan=1|Champions League second qualifying round|
|align=left align=center|2|align=left|CSKA Sofia||36||19||10||7||51||21||+30||**67**|rowspan=1||
|align=left align=center|3|align=left|Levski Sofia||36||18||9||9||50||31||+19||**63**|rowspan=1|European play-off final|
|align=left align=center|4|align=left|Dunav Ruse||36||15||10||11||46||44||+2||**55**|rowspan=1|Europa League first qualifying round|
|align=left align=center|5|align=left|Lokomotiv Plovdiv||36||14||10||12||50||52||−2||**52**|rowspan=2||
|align=left align=center|6|align=left|Cherno More Varna||36||13||8||15||39||45||−6||**47**|||

## Relegation round

Points and goals will carry over in full from the regular season.

### Group A

|width="20"||width="200"|Team|width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="300"|Qualification or relegation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left align=center|1|align=left|Vereya||32||13||6||13||31||40||−9||**45**|rowspan=1|European play-off quarter-finals|
|align=left align=center|2|align=left|Botev Plovdiv||32||13||5||14||51||50||+1||**44**|rowspan=1|Europa League first qualifying round|
|align=left align=center|3|align=left|Slavia Sofia||32||11||4||17||37||55||−18||**37**|rowspan=2|Relegation play-offs|
|align=left align=center|4|align=left|Montana **(R)**||32||4||3||25||24||66||−42||**15**|||

### Group B

|width="20"||width="200"|Team|width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="32"||width="300"|Qualification or relegation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=left align=center|1|align=left|Beroe Stara Zagora||32||12||8||12||35||33||+2||**44**|rowspan=2|European play-off quarter-finals|
|align=left align=center|2|align=left|Pirin Blagoevgrad||32||12||7||13||41||44||−3||**43**|||
|align=left align=center|3|align=left|Neftochimic Burgas **(R)**||32||8||7||17||33||47||−14||**31**|rowspan=2|Relegation play-offs|
|align=left align=center|4|align=left|Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa **(R)**||32||7||9||16||32||51||−19||**30**|||

### Top goalscorers

**22 goals**

- Claudiu Keșerü (Ludogorets Razgrad)

**17 goals**

- Martin Kamburov (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)

**14 goals**

- Marcelo Nascimento da Costa (Ludogorets Razgrad)

**13 goals**

- João Paulo da Silva Araújo (Ludogorets Razgrad and Botev Plovdiv)
- Wanderson Cristaldo Farias (Ludogorets Razgrad)

**11 goals**

- Todor Nedelev (Botev Plovdiv)
- Daniel Mladenov (Pirin Blagoevgrad)
- Junior Mapuku (Beroe Stara Zagora)

## Other websites

- First League (uefa.com)
- bulgarian-football.com

## Infobox (football league season)

- **competition**: First Professional Football League
- **season**: 2016–17
- **dates**: 29 July 2016 – 4 June 2017
- **winners**: PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, Ludogorets Razgrad
6th title
- **relegated**: PFC Neftochimic Burgas, Neftochimic Burgas
FC Montana, Montana
FC Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa, Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
- **continentalcup1**: 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, Champions League
- **continentalcup1 qualifiers**: PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, Ludogorets Razgrad
- **continentalcup2**: 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, Europa League
- **continentalcup2 qualifiers**: PFC Botev Plovdiv, Botev Plovdiv
FC Dunav Ruse, Dunav Ruse
PFC Levski Sofia, Levski Sofia
- **league topscorer**: Claudiu Keșerü (22)
- **matches**: 240
- **total goals**: 616
- **prevseason**: 2015–16 A Group, 2015–16
- **nextseason**: 2017–18 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), 2017–18