The State Football Championship was the first national football competition in Bulgaria. It was organised between 1924 and 1944 by the Bulgarian National Sport Federation.
The championship did not finish in the years 1924, 1927 and 1944 because of different reasons. After 1944 it was replaced by the Republic Championship.
Format The championship was a knockout tournament featuring six clubs that had won six regional divisions. These divisions were round-robin tournaments that included football clubs that were founded in different geographic areas. The winners of each division were drawn in pairs at random for each of the three one-match rounds. Two of the clubs qualified directly for the second round (the semi-final stage) and the other four had to play two quarter-final matches.
The championship had many changes in its format over the years, mainly in the number of legs played in each round and the number of teams that qualified from the regional divisions. In the 1937–38, 1938–39 and 1939–40 seasons, the championship was reorganised to a 10-club National Football Division but it proved to be an unsuccessful decision and from the 1940–41 season the division was reverted to a knockout tournament.
Winners SeasonChampions (titles)Runner-upThird place1924 1925Vladislav Varna (1)Levski Sofia–1926Vladislav Varna (2)Slavia Sofia–1927 1928Slavia Sofia (1)Vladislav Varna–1929Botev Plovdiv (1)Levski Sofia–1930Slavia Sofia (2)Vladislav Varna–1931AS 23 Sofia (1)Spartak Varna–1932Spartak Varna (1)Slavia Sofia–1933Levski Sofia (1)Spartak Varna–1934Vladislav Varna (3)Slavia Sofia–1935Sportklub Sofia (1)Ticha Varna–1936Slavia Sofia (3)Ticha Varna–1937Levski Sofia (2)Levski Ruse–1937–38Ticha Varna (1)Vladislav VarnaShipka Sofia1938–39Slavia Sofia (4)Vladislav VarnaTicha Varna1939–40ZhSK Sofia (1)Levski SofiaSlavia Sofia1941Slavia Sofia (5)ZhSK Sofia–1942Levski Sofia (3)Makedonia Skopie–1943Slavia Sofia (6)Levski Sofia–1944
Performances Performance by club
Key Italics indicates defunct clubs.
ClubWinnersRunners-upThird placeSlavia Sofia631Vladislav Varna34—Levski Sofia34—Shipchenski Sokol12—Ticha Varna121ZhSK Sofia11—Botev Plovdiv——Athletic Slava 19231——Sportklub Sofia1——Levski Ruse—1—Makedonia Skopie—1—Shipka Sofia——1
Performance by city CityWinnersRunners-upThird placeSofia1282Varna581Plovdiv1——Ruse—1—Skopje
See also Bulgarian Republic Football Championship (Champions 1945–1948) Bulgarian A Football Group (Champions 1948–present)
References Bulgarian-football.com - State Championship. Retrieved 2009-05-26.