Bulgaria men's national football team

History

1922–1945: early history

The Bulgaria national football team was formed in 1922. In 1923, the Bulgarian Football Union was formed and the team's first match was held in Vienna on 21 May 1924, which resulted in a 6–0 defeat against Austria. Bulgaria also participated in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris a few days later.

After being unable to compete in the 1930 World Cup, the Bulgarian side did not qualify for any major tournament for nearly 30 years, narrowly falling short of qualification on numerous occasions. The national team had gone on a streak of finishing 2nd or 3rd in their qualifying groups along with proceeding to the play-offs, but in the end, failing to qualify. Despite their qualifying problems, the national team did manage to defeat many elite teams during memorable international friendlies during those years. The only tournaments they managed to qualify for were smaller ones, such as the Balkan Cup, which they won three times (1931, 1932 and 1973–76), thus being the competition's second most successful team only behind Romania with four titles.

1960s and 1970s

Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup for the first time in its history in 1962 and followed that up with consecutive appearances in 1966, 1970 and 1974. The team, however, did not have much success and finished in third place in their group two out of the four times.

Bulgaria took part in qualifiers for the European Championship in 1968 and went on to win their group with impressive wins over Norway, Sweden, and Portugal. Although they would go on to lose to the eventual champions and hosts Italy in a two-legged qualifying play-off.

At the 1968 Summer Olympics, the team won the silver medal. They finished first in Group D by defeating Thailand 7–0, Guatemala 2–1, and drawing 2–2 against Czechoslovakia. They advanced to the quarter-finals by defeating Israel and then the semi-finals by defeating favored hosts Mexico. In the Olympic Final, the team was defeated by Hungary, in what many would say was a hard-fought match for both sides.

Despite winning the Balkan Cup twice in 1931 and 1932, the Bulgaria national team added two more trophies to their case as they went on to win the tournament in 1973 and 1976. In both 1973 and 1976, Bulgaria had used their previous World Cup experience to create a very tactical team. This paid off quite well, as they had many decisive victories over Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland, Albania and Romania. In fact, the team won the 1976 Balkan Cup by beating Romania in the two-legged final 1–0 and 3–2.

Bulgaria finally qualified for their first World Cup in 1962. Bulgaria was drawn in a tough group with elite opponents in England, powerhouse Argentina and Hungary. Bulgaria opened up their campaign with a narrow 0–1 loss to Argentina. Later on, Bulgaria would lose their second group match by a 6–1 score to Hungary. Bulgaria's hopes of qualifying were over, but the national team impressively drew with England (who would host and win the next tournament) 0–0 and finished fourth in the group with only one point.

Bulgaria qualified for their second straight World Cup, drawn into an even tougher group compared to the previous World Cup. They were placed in the group of death with superpowers Hungary, Portugal and Brazil, with Pelé at the helm. Bulgaria opened their campaign match with a 0–2 loss to Brazil thanks to two free kick goals by Pelé and Garrincha. In their second match Bulgaria loss 0–3 to Eusebio's Portugal. Finally, Bulgaria with no chance of advancing to the next round, finished their last match with a 1–3 loss to Hungary. Bulgaria once again finished fourth with zero points in the group.

1986–2000

Bulgaria qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico by finishing second in Group Four, behind France with 11 points, but ahead of powerful rivals Yugoslavia and East Germany. This was their fifth World Cup appearance. They were drawn in Group A with Italy, Argentina, and South Korea. In the opening match of the World Cup, the Bulgarians held the defending champions Italy to an impressive 1–1 draw. Alessandro Altobelli gave the Italians the lead, but an 85th-minute equalizer by Nasko Sirakov gave the Bulgarians the point they needed. The next match was another 1–1 draw against South Korea with the goal for Bulgaria coming from Plamen Getov in the 11th minute. They lost the final match of the group 2–0 against Argentina, who eventually won the tournament. Despite not recording a win, the Bulgarians advanced to the knockout stage by being the third-best third-placed team. By doing so, Bulgaria along with Uruguay became the first nations to qualify for the knockout stage without winning a game in the first round. In the Round of 16, they faced World Cup hosts Mexico, who were looking for revenge due to their previous home Olympic semi-final loss to Bulgaria in Mexico City in 1968. The match was hard-fought from both sides of the scale but ultimately, Mexico came away with the 2–0 win.

One of the most important dates in Bulgarian football history is 17 November 1993, when Emil Kostadinov scored a deciding goal in the 90th minute to beat France in Paris, allowing Bulgaria to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Under the management of Dimitar Penev, the Bulgarians, led by players such as Hristo Stoichkov, Yordan Lechkov, and Krasimir Balakov, along with other talented players remembered in Bulgaria as the "Golden Generation", made a strong impression by surprisingly reaching the semi-finals. They entered a tough Group D with 1990 World Cup runners-up Argentina with Diego Maradona at the helm, African Nations Cup champions Nigeria, and Balkan rivals Greece. The first match ended with a 3–0 defeat to Nigeria. Despite the bad start, the team made a statement by winning 4–0 against their neighbours Greece – their first ever win in a World Cup. Their third and final match came against Argentina: the Bulgarian side came away with a shocking 2–0 victory. Going into injury-time, Argentina was leading the group but a 91st-minute strike from Nasko Sirakov, however, meant that they'd drop two places and finish third.

Bulgaria continued to the round of 16, where they faced Mexico. Stoichkov opened the scoring in the sixth minute with an strike on a break away from outside the box, tallying his fourth goal. The match ended 1–1 and after no goals were scored in extra time, penalties decided which team would go through. Team captain Borislav Mihaylov saved the first three penalty kicks, breaking the World Cup record. Bulgaria won 3–1 on penalties. In the quarter-finals, Bulgaria faced the defending world champions Germany. At the start of the match, held in Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Bulgarians dominated, hitting the post twice in the process, but eventually found themselves behind after Lothar Matthäus scored the opening goal for the Germans. The Bulgarians, however, managed to turn the game over with a swerving free kick by Hristo Stoichkov and a flying header by Yordan Lechkov, giving them a 2–1 win. In the semi-finals, they controversially lost 2–1 to Italy. Stoichkov scored Bulgaria's only goal in the first half to tally his seventh goal, which led the tournament. In the second half, Bulgaria had penalty call waved off, when an Italian defender committed a handball in the box from a Kostadinov cross. The game ended and instead of playing in the final, it became a third-place play-off. Bulgaria played Sweden for third place, but on a rare off-day were blown away by four first half goals, losing 4-0. Bulgaria's fourth place finish remains their best ever performance in the World Cup as of 2026.

Early 21st century

Bulgaria was once again drawn into a tough group with Denmark and Czech Republic. The group was also the debut of Bulgaria's top-scoring legend Dimitar Berbatov. Bulgaria won the matches against the weaker teams, but lost once and drew once with both Denmark and the Czech Republic. Bulgaria finished third with 17 points, three points behind second-placed Czech Republic, thus failing to make the World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

Bulgaria managed to qualify for the Euro 2004 in Portugal by finishing first with wins over Croatia and Belgium. They drew Sweden, Italy, and Denmark in Group C. All three group stage matches ended up in losses for Bulgaria. Sweden thrashed them 5-0 in the opener, while the 2-0 defeat to Denmark was only marginally better. However in the final game Martin Petrov became the team's lone scorer in the country's 1–2 loss to Italy - a game only lost in the final minute.

Bulgaria failed to qualify for the World Cup in Germany after a run of poor results. They drew with Sweden and Croatia in the first fixtures, but lost the other meetings to the two sides. Although Berbatov scored many goals in the qualifiers including a last-minute equalizer against Croatia, Bulgaria finished third in qualifying with 15 points.

Bulgaria found themselves in a minor tournament in Japan known as the Kirin Cup. They started off well with a 2–1 victory over the hosts Japan. However, Bulgaria lost 5–1 to Scotland, the eventual cup champions. Bulgaria finished as the runners-up and received the silver medal.

Group G of Euro 2008 qualification had Netherlands, Romania, and Bulgaria attempting to qualify for Euro 2008, hosted by Switzerland and Austria. Bulgaria performed well after a run of good results against Romania which gave them the first place. Bulgaria finished third in the group falling short on one point behind the Netherlands.

Bulgaria were drawn against Italy and Ireland in qualifying in Group 8. Bulgaria started the campaign with a series of draws. Manager Plamen Markov was replaced by Stanimir Stoilov in January 2009. The Bulgarians then recorded their first wins of the group over Cyprus, Montenegro and Georgia. They finished in third place with 14 points, therefore failing to qualify to a play-off spot.

2018–present

Bulgaria were drawn in UEFA Nations League C with Norway, Slovenia and Cyprus. Bulgaria opened up the campaign with a 2–1 win over Slovenia and a clean sheet against Norway. The Norwegians eventually avenged their loss to Bulgaria, resulting in a tie for first place. Bulgaria eventually closed out the second round of games with two 1–1 draws against Slovenia and Cyprus, resulting in a second-place finish.

Bulgaria was drawn in Group A with England, Czech Republic, Montenegro and Kosovo. The team began the qualifying campaign with a 1–1 home draw against Montenegro and a 1–1 away draw to Kosovo while losing three major players due to injuries. They later carried on with two more losses which sparked the end of their group campaign. Despite finishing in fourth place, the national side had one more opportunity to qualify for the Euros thanks to the good performance in the Nations League. It sent Bulgaria to the Path A qualifying play-offs, which also included Hungary, Iceland and Romania.

The draw put Bulgaria against Hungary in their first play-off match on their quest to qualify for a major competition since 2004. However, in front of limited number of home fans, Bulgaria fell 1–3 to Hungary, and was eliminated from the tournament.

After appointing Georgi Dermendzhiev as their new head coach, Bulgaria began their brief promotion in League B. Being drawn into Group 4 with Wales, Finland and Republic of Ireland, Bulgaria played its first match against Ireland. A near victory for the Bulgarians until a 90th minute injury time equalizer sealed the draw for the Irish. Bulgaria would then play away to Wales, where they held the hosts leveled 0–0 until another 90th minute injury time goal that resulted in 0–1 loss. The problems would continue with another set of narrow losses to Finland and Wales, forcing Bulgaria to miss out on promotion to League A. With two more matches left, Bulgaria finished winless against Finland and Ireland, relegating the Lions to League C.

Yasen Petrov was hired as the coach prior to the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup. Bulgaria began the campaign horribly, losing at home 1–3 to Switzerland and 0–2 to Italy. The team somewhat improved in the next two games, drawing away at Northern Ireland and Italy, the reigning European champions. Bulgaria then beat Lithuania 1–0 at home, but lost 1–3 away against the same team, ending their hopes for qualification. A 2–1 home win against Northern Ireland was only a brief moment of rejoice before a heavy 0–4 defeat to Switzerland ended a largely miserable attempt for qualifying.

Team image

Bulgaria's traditional colours are white, green and red, taken from the colours of the country's flag. This tricolour is reflected through the use of white shirts, green shorts, and red socks. The team's away kits have usually been red.

Their nickname is The Lions, in tribute of the lions represented in the coat of arms of Bulgaria.

Ultras and controversy

In recent years, ultras of the Bulgarian team have developed a reputation for racism. After racist chanting and monkey noises directed at Ashley Young, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott during a qualifier for Euro 2012, the Bulgarian Football Union was fined €40,000 by UEFA. The BFU denied that racism would be an issue during Euro 2020 qualifiers, claiming that the issue was worse in England. Nevertheless, Bulgarian ultras were accused of racist chants during their matches against Czech Republic, Kosovo and England. As a result, part of the Bulgarian stadium was closed off for the match against England (October 2019), and officials twice halted the game under the UEFA anti-racism protocol. In the following days since the match took place, Bulgarian police identified 15 fans they suspected were responsible for subjecting black English players including Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Tyrone Mings to racist abuse, arresting six of them.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin condemned the alleged abuse calling on the "football family and governments" to "wage war on the racists". Disciplinary proceedings have been launched against both Bulgaria and England.

Home stadium

Traditionally, the Bulgaria national football team's home stadium is the Vasil Levski National Stadium with a capacity of 44,000. The stadium was officially opened in 1953 and reconstructed in 1966 and 2002. It is the second largest stadium in Bulgaria, behind the Plovdiv Stadium with a capacity of 55,000. During the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, the stadium was used for Levski Sofia matches with Barcelona, Chelsea, and Werder Bremen. Similarly, Ludogorets Razgrad used it as their main home venue for their European matches until the 2017–18 season. The Bulgaria national team's home matches, Bulgarian Cup finals and the Eternal derby of Bulgaria are held at the venue, as well as athletics competitions.

The Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad has been occasionally hosting the national team's matches since 2018. Opened in 1954 and renovated in 2011, the stadium has a capacity of ~11,000.

Another stadium that is used for the national team's matches is the freshly renovated Hristo Botev Stadium in Plovdiv, with a capacity of ~20,000.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Win

Draw

Loss

Fixture

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendlies against Montenegro on 1 June and Moldova on 5 June 2026.

Caps and goals as of 5 June 2026, after the match against Moldova.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Bulgarian squad within the last 12 months and are still available for selection.

Player records

As of 10 September 2019.

Players in bold text are still active with Bulgaria.

Youngest debutants

As of 15 November 2021.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place

Head-to-head record

As of 5 June 2026.

Positive Record

Neutral Record

Negative Record

Honours

Global

FIFA World Cup

Fourth place: 1994

Olympic Games

Runners-up: 1968

Third place: 1956

Regional

Balkan Cup

Champions: 1931, 1932, 1976

Runners-up: 1935, 1936

Third place: 1933

Friendly

FIFA Series

Champions: 2026

Cyprus International Football Tournament

Champions: 2007