The league is equivalent to the third level of the Bulgarian football pyramid, with a total of four divisions within it.
The divisions themselves are geographically separated into Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest.
This was the first season following the 2016 reorganization of the Bulgarian football league system, which saw the emergence of new a competition format, including the First and Second Professional Football Leagues.
Chernomorets Balchik refused to participate for financial reasons,[2] while a new club CSKA Sofia was formed with the merger of Chavdar Etropole and Litex Lovech and was invited by the Bulgarian Football Union directly to the newly formed First League.
[3] In return, four teams were relegated to the Third League: Dobrudzha Dobrich, Septemvri Simitli, Lokomotiv Mezdra and Litex Lovech II.