The list consists of sports clubs that in recent years have been members of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU).
[1] Some clubs in the list have undergone slight name changes for administrative or technical purposes but still have the same representative team.
A club may have its membership revoked by the executive committee of the BFU if it has not practised and/or developed football in Bulgaria for more than two years.
Still, some of the teams may have ended the life-cycle of their legal personality (the registered football club), yet reapplied for membership in the BFU under a different legal body (a newly formed club successor of the previous), causing re-licensing and slight change of name but continuation of the team.
For instance, up to and including season 2011-12 the second tier of Bulgarian football consisted of two leagues: East and West divisions of the Bulgarian B Professional Football Group; also, the third level continues to have four divisions (South-West, South-East, North-East, and North-West) that run in parallel.