A Group
Season2002–03
Dates9 August 2002 – 31 May 2003
ChampionsCSKA Sofia
(29th title)
Relegated
Champions LeagueCSKA
UEFA Cup
Matches played182
Goals scored544 (2.99 per match)
Top goalscorerGeorgi Chilikov
(22 goals)

The 2002–03 A Group was the 55th season of the top Bulgarian national football league (commonly referred to as A Group) and the 79th edition of a Bulgarian national championship tournament.

Overview

It was contested by 14 teams, and CSKA Sofia won the championship.[1] The Reds finished with 66 points in total, six points above archrivals Levski Sofia. CSKA Sofia qualified for the 2003-04 Champions League qualifying rounds, while Levski and third placed Litex Lovech qualified for the UEFA Cup for next season. Marek Dupnitsa qualified for the Intertoto Cup.

At the end of the season, Dobrudzha Dobrich and Rilski Sportist were relegated after just one season in the elite. Only two teams were relegated, because the league was expanded the following season from 14 to 16 teams.

Teams

Promotion and Relegation

Beroe, Belasitsa Petrich, and Spartak Pleven were relegated at the end of the last season. The relegated teams were replaced by three teams from B PFG. These teams were Botev Plovdiv, Dobrudzha Dobrich, and Rilski Sportist Samokov. Botev return after a one-year absence, Dobrudzha return after a two-year absence, while Rilski Sportist made their debut in the top tier of Bulgarian football.

Stadia and Locations

Sofia 2002–03 A Group football clubs
Team City Stadium Capacity
Botev Plovdiv Hristo Botev 22,000
Cherno More Varna Ticha 12,000
Chernomorets Burgas Chernomorets 22,000
CSKA Sofia Balgarska Armia 22,015
Dobrudzha Dobrich Druzhba 12,500
Levski Sofia Georgi Asparuhov 29,986
Litex Lovech Lovech 7,050
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) 13,800
Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv (Sofia) 22,000
Marek Dupnitsa Bonchuk Stadium 16,050
Naftex Burgas Lazur 18,037
Rilski Sportist Samokov Iskar 7,000
Slavia Sofia Ovcha Kupel 18,000
Spartak Varna Spartak Stadium 7,500

League standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 CSKA Sofia (C) 26 21 3 2 67 16 +51 66 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 Levski Sofia 26 19 3 4 61 19 +42 60 Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round
3 Litex Lovech 26 17 4 5 49 22 +27 55
4 Slavia Sofia 26 16 3 7 57 30 +27 51
5 Cherno More 26 14 6 6 42 21 +21 48
6 Lokomotiv Plovdiv[lower-alpha 1] 26 16 2 8 56 33 +23 47
7 Spartak Varna 26 10 4 12 25 34 9 34
8 Naftex Burgas 26 10 3 13 31 36 5 33
9 Marek 26 8 6 12 35 42 7 30 Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
10 Lokomotiv Sofia 26 7 4 15 23 37 14 25
11 Chernomorets Burgas 26 7 3 16 32 56 24 24
12 Botev Plovdiv 26 6 3 17 26 61 35 21
13 Dobrudzha Dobrich (R) 26 4 2 20 19 73 54 14 Relegation to 2003–04 B Group
14 Rilski Sportist (R) 26 1 6 19 20 63 43 9
Source: A PFG (in Bulgarian)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head goals scored; 5th head-to-head away goals scored; 6th season goal difference; 7th season goals scored; 8th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9th draw
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Lokomotiv Plovdiv were docked three points for failure to show in the round 17 match.

Results

Home \ Away BOT CHB CHM CSK DOB LEV LIT LPL LSO MAR NAF RIL SLA SPV
Botev Plovdiv 0–0 0–1 1–5 5–1 0–3 0–2 1–2 3–0 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–4 1–1
Chernomorets Burgas 3–0 1–2 2–8 2–1 1–2 1–4 1–1 0–1 2–3 1–0 3–0 2–4 1–2
Cherno More 4–0 2–2 0–1 2–1 0–0 0–0 1–0 3–0 2–0 3–1 4–0 4–0 2–1
CSKA Sofia 2–0 4–1 1–2 3–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 5–2 5–2 2–0 3–1 3–1
Dobrudzha Dobrich 3–0 0–2 1–1 0–5 0–5 0–2 1–2 1–0 0–1 2–1 0–0 1–2 1–3
Levski Sofia 3–0 3–1 1–0 1–1 5–0 3–0 3–1 3–0 2–0 1–0 6–0 1–2 0–0
Litex Lovech 4–1 2–1 0–2 1–0 3–0 3–0 1–1 4–0 0–0 4–1 5–2 2–1 1–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 5–3 4–0 4–1 0–3[lower-alpha 1] 9–1 2–1 4–2 2–1 5–0 1–2 2–1 1–0 2–0
Lokomotiv Sofia 1–0 3–0 0–0 0–2 5–0 0–1 1–2 4–1 2–0 0–2 1–1 0–0 2–1
Marek 6–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 5–0 1–5 0–0 1–2 1–0 2–0 3–1 0–3 3–0
Naftex Burgas 1–2 2–0 2–1 0–1 3–2 0–1 1–3 2–0 2–0 1–1 0–0 3–2 1–0
Rilski Sportist 1–3 1–2 1–3 1–1 0–2 2–4 0–1 0–4 2–0 3–3 1–2 1–3 0–0
Slavia Sofia 5–0 3–1 1–0 0–2 6–1 2–5 1–0 2–0 1–1 1–1 2–1 5–0 4–0
Spartak Varna 2–0 3–0 2–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–2 0–1 2–1 2–1 1–0 2–1 0–3[lower-alpha 2]
Source: A PFG (in Bulgarian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. Match awarded after Lokomotiv Plovdiv did not show up due to the protest for a playing the match in Samokov.
  2. Match awarded because Georgi Mechechiev and Anastas Petrov were ineligible to play for Spartak, match was originally finished 1–0 for the hosts.

Champions

CSKA Sofia
Goalkeepers
1Bulgaria Ivaylo Ivanov1(0)
12Bulgaria Stoyan Kolev24(0)
Defenders
2Bulgaria Georgi Antonov17(0)
3Brazil Fábio Lima10(0)
4Argentina Marcos Charras5(1)
6Bulgaria Aleksandar Tomash16(1)
13Bulgaria Yordan Varbanov4(0)
25Brazil João Carlos24(1)
29Senegal Ibrahima Gueye23(0)
30Bulgaria Yordan Todorov10(1)
Bulgaria Galin Ivanov*1(0)
Midfielders
5Bulgaria Todor Yanchev23(3)
7Bulgaria Hristo Yanev16(1)
10Bulgaria Metodi Deyanov*5(0)
11Bulgaria Stoycho Mladenov, Jr.1(0)
14Bulgaria Svetoslav Petrov24(3)
15North Macedonia Artim Šakiri20(5)
17Bulgaria Borislav Karamatev1(0)
20Portugal João Paulo Brito23(8)
23Bulgaria Emil Gargorov24(14)
26Bulgaria Ivan Pavlov1(0)
27Bulgaria Petar Zlatinov4(0)
Forwards
8Bulgaria Velizar Dimitrov24(13)
9Brazil Agnaldo18(5)
18Bulgaria Gerasim Zakov4(0)
21South Africa MacDonald Mukansi23(8)
24Bulgaria Petar Nikolov2(0)
Manager
Bulgaria Stoycho Mladenov
  • Ivanov and Deyanov left the club during a season.

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Bulgaria Georgi Chilikov Levski Sofia 22
2 Bulgaria Martin Kushev Slavia Sofia 17
3 Bulgaria Emil Gargorov CSKA Sofia 14
4 Bulgaria Velizar Dimitrov CSKA Sofia 13
5 Bulgaria Desislav Rusev Litex Lovech 11
Bulgaria Georgi Vladimirov Slavia Sofia
7 Serbia and Montenegro Velimir Ivanović Slavia Sofia 9
Bulgaria Doncho Donev Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Bulgaria Boyko Velichkov Lokomotiv Sofia
Bulgaria Borislav Dimitrov Botev Plovdiv

References

  1. "Стойчо тропа с юмрук по масата: Няма да ни догоните" (in Bulgarian). temasport.com. 8 September 2013.
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