The Eternal derby of Bulgarian football or simply The Eternal derby () is the name of the local derby football match between the two most popular and successful football clubs in Sofia and Bulgaria: Levski Sofia and CSKA Sofia. The dominant forces in Bulgarian football have won 27 and 31 national championship titles and 27 and 22 Bulgarian Cup titles, involved into 13 and 11 Doubles, respectively. The rivalry was chosen by COPA90 as the 2nd Maddest Derby in Eastern Europe.The Maddest Derbies in Eastern Europe YouTube
History The rivalry started in the late 1940s when the newly founded club of CSKA became a champion in their first year in competitive football in 1948. Both the 1948–49 and 1950 seasons ended with the two teams facing each other in Soviet Army Cup finals with Levski Sofia winning on both occasions after extra time of the second final replay, as the previous two final matches had finished as draws.
During the years, as the two teams became more and more successful, they gained large supporter bases. The confrontations between the clubs and their fans became commonplace and often resulted in tense encounters on the pitch and hooligan clashes between the fans off the pitch.
The hostility reached its climax on 19 June 1985 during the Bulgarian Cup final held at Vasil Levski National Stadium when, after many disputable referee decisions, both teams demonstrated poor sportsmanship which resulted in regular fights between them on the pitch. On 21 June, the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party issued a decree that disbanded both teams. CSKA Septemvriysko zname had to be re-founded as Sredets and Levski-Spartak as Vitosha. Six players (including Hristo Stoichkov and Borislav Mihaylov) were banned for life from playing competitive football; many other players and staff members were banned for three months to one year. A year later, the decision was abolished and the players continued their sport careers.
Although both Levski and CSKA are still regarded as the two most popular and supported teams in Bulgaria, neither of the two sides had been crowned champion between 2008 and 2025. This has been mostly because of the rise of other clubs in the country, such as Litex Lovech and Ludogorets Razgrad. Litex won two consecutive titles in 2010 and 2011, while Ludogorets won 14 consecutive titles from 2012 to 2025. Despite this, the Eternal derby games are still usually the most attended ones in the league. In the 2010s, both CSKA and Levski experienced financial instability, with CSKA even being relegated to the third level of Bulgarian football after the 2014–15 season, while Levski was in very serious financial problems and ownership issues and was close to bankruptcy but the fans stepped in and saved the club. Since 2nd of June 2020 Nasko Sirakov has been a major owner and the club has been more stable financially in the last years.
Venues During the years, all the matches between Levski and CSKA were held at a neutral venue, in most cases at the Vasil Levski National Stadium. During the 2000s the clubs started to play their eternal derby matches at their own stadiums Georgi Asparuhov and Balgarska Armia but soon they decided to move the matches between them back to the National Stadium because of its higher capacity and the damages done on club stadiums by the visiting supporters.
Only once in the history of the Eternal derby it was held outside Sofia – in 1991, Levski won the Bulgarian Cup quarter-final 2–0 in a match that was played at Tundzha Stadium in Yambol.
Results Competition Matches Levski wins draws CSKA wins Goal difference League 169 59 49 61 220:231 Cup 41 22 10 9 69:45 Other 14 6 2 6 16:22 Total 224 87 61 76 305:298
Matches list
A PFG / First League (1948–49 – present)