After 14 consecutive championships, Ludogorez Razgrad’s dominance has come to an end. On Saturday evening, Levski Sofia clinched the Bulgarian championship with four matchdays remaining—thus preventing a European record.
For 14 years, there was only one champion in Bulgaria: Ludogorez Razgrad. Since the 2011/12 season, the club—financed by Bulgarian pharmaceutical entrepreneur Kyril Domuschiev—had dominated the Parva Liga at will. But that is now over: On Saturday evening, Levski Sofia dethroned the reigning champions thanks to a 1-0 victory over CSKA 1948 Sofia with four matchdays remaining in the season, celebrating its 26th championship title in club history—the first since 2009.
Levski Sofia had already led the table by ten points over Razgrad at the end of the regular season. In the championship round, in which the league’s top four—Levski and Ludogorez, along with the two Sofia clubs CSKA 1948 Sofia and CSKA Sofia—compete against each other in a home-and-away series to determine the champion, the lead continued to grow. With five games remaining, Ludogorez can no longer make up the 16-point deficit, not even in the head-to-head match this coming Saturday (5:45 p.m.).
No solo record for Razgrad
This brings an end to the longest active championship streak in Europe’s leagues. Bad timing for Razgrad: Had Ludogorez added another championship title to its streak, the club from northern Bulgaria would have set a solo record with 15 consecutive titles. Skonto Riga from Latvia (1991 to 2004) and the Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar (2003 to 2016). In the German Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen ended FC Bayern’s previous 11-year championship streak in 2024 (2013 to 2023).
From Razgrad’s perspective, the season must therefore be considered a complete failure. At the end of April, the reigning cup champion had already been eliminated by CSKA Sofia in the semifinals of the Kupa na Bulgaria (1-2, 0-0) and no longer has a chance at the fifth cup title in the club’s history. In the championship round, Ludogorez now aims to finish at least in second place before embarking on a new championship run next season.