2017–18 First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)
The 2017–18 First Professional Football League was the 94th season of the top division of the Bulgarian football league system, the 69th since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid and also the 2nd season of the First Professional Football League, which decides the Bulgarian champion. The season is the second with a new league structure and strict financial criteria where 14 clubs play each other home and away, until the league is split up in championship and relegation playoffs. The new  league structure, inspired by the ones used by the Belgian First Division A and Danish Superliga, was approved by the Bulgarian Football Union on 6 June 2016. The fixture list was released on 22 June 2017. On 29 April 2018, four rounds before the end of the championship, Ludogorets Razgrad managed to secure the title for a seventh consecutive and overall time. Teams. A total of 14 teams would be contesting the league. Etar were promoted as champions of the 2016–17 Second League, sealing their title on the final day of the season with a 2–2 away draw against Nesebar , coupled with Septemvri Sofia's 0–2 away defeat to Oborishte. The promoted club replaced Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa, who suffered an immediate return to the second tier after elimination in the relegation play-offs by Montana. Septemvri Sofia, runners-up of the 2016–17 Second League, won the play-off against Montana and return to the top flight after an 18-year absence, for the first time since the 1998–99 season. Montana return to the second tier after two seasons in the top flight. Vitosha Bistritsa, who finished 3rd in the 2016–17 Second League, defeated Neftochimic in the play-off and won  promotion to the top division for the first time in their history. Neftochimic spent only one season in the First League. Stadia and locations. a. b. c. d. Managerial changes. 1. Regular season. League table. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Championship round. Points and goals will carry over in full from regular season. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Positions by round. Below the positions per round are shown. As teams did not all start with an equal number of points, the initial pre-playoffs positions are also given. Relegation round. Points and goals will carry over in full from regular season. Group A. < onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Group B. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude> Relegation play-offs. Bracket. Winners of matches 3, 5 and 6 will play in the top division next season Second round. "Pirin Blagoevgrad are relegated to the Second League."