A Group
Season2008–09
Dates9 August 2008 – 13 June 2009
ChampionsLevski Sofia
(26th title)
RelegatedVihren
Spartak
Belasitsa
Champions LeagueLevski
Europa LeagueCSKA
Cherno More
Litex (via domestic cup)
Matches played240
Goals scored619 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorerMartin Kamburov
(17 goals)
Biggest home winCherno More 6–0 Belasitsa
Levski 6–0 Botev
Biggest away winBelasitsa 1–7 Levski
Highest scoringVihren 3–5 Chernomorets
Belasitsa 1–7 Levski

The 2008–09 A Group was the 85th season of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 61st of A Group as the top tier football league in the country. It began on 9 August 2008 and ended on 13 June 2009. CSKA Sofia were the defending champions, but they were unable to retain it and Levski Sofia won the title, which was their 26th overall.

Promotion and relegation

Three teams were promoted from the 2007–08 B Group. These include the champions of the East and West B Groups, as well as the promotion playoff winner, decided through a one match between the runners-up of the two B Groups. The promoted teams were Lokomotiv Mezdra, Sliven, and Minyor Pernik. Lokomotiv Mezdra made their debut in the top tier of Bulgarian football, Sliven return after a fifteen-year absence, while Minyor Pernik return to the top tier after a seven-year absence. The promoted teams replaced Marek Dupnitsa, Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo and Beroe Stara Zagora, who were relegated after respective top flight spells of seven, one, and four years in the A Group.

Teams promoted from B PFG after the 2007–08 season

Teams relegated to B PFG after the 2007–08 season

Team overview

Sofia 2008–09 A Group football clubs
Club Location Manager Venue Capacity
Belasitsa Petrich Bulgaria Miroslav Mitev Tsar Samuil Stadium 9,500
BotevPlovdiv Bulgaria Kostadin Angelov Hristo Botev Stadium, Plovdiv 22,000
Cherno MoreVarna Bulgaria Nikola Spasov Ticha Stadium 8,250
ChernomoretsBurgas Bulgaria Dimitar Dimitrov Naftex Stadium 18,037
CSKASofia Bulgaria Luboslav Penev Balgarska Armiya Stadium 22,015
LevskiSofia Bulgaria Emil Velev Georgi Asparuhov Stadium 29,800
LitexLovech Bulgaria Stanimir Stoilov Lovech Stadium 7,000
Lokomotiv MezdraMezdra Bulgaria Georgi Bachev Lokomotiv Stadium, Mezdra 5,000
Lokomotiv PlovdivPlovdiv Bulgaria Ayan Sadakov Lokomotiv Stadium, Plovdiv 13,800
Lokomotiv SofiaSofia Serbia Dragomir Okuka Lokomotiv Stadium, Sofia 22,000
MinyorPernik Bulgaria Dimitar Aleksiev Minyor Stadium 16,500
OFC SlivenSliven Bulgaria Georgi Dermendzhiev Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium 10,000
PirinBlagoevgrad Bulgaria Petar Tsvetkov Hristo Botev Stadium, Blagoevgrad 7,500
SlaviaSofia North Macedonia Stevica Kuzmanovski Ovcha Kupel Stadium 18,000
SpartakVarna Serbia Dragoljub Simonović Spartak Stadium 8,000
VihrenSandanski Bulgaria Filip Filipov Sandanski Stadium 6,000

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Levski Sofia (C) 30 21 6 3 57 18 +39 69 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 CSKA Sofia 30 21 5 4 54 22 +32 68 Qualification for Europa League third qualifying round
3 Cherno More 30 18 6 6 48 19 +29 60 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
4 Litex Lovech 30 17 7 6 53 26 +27 58 Qualification for Europa League play-off round[lower-alpha 1]
5 Lokomotiv Sofia 30 16 6 8 52 29 +23 54
6 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 30 12 7 11 40 43 −3 43[lower-alpha 2]
7 Chernomorets Burgas 30 11 10 9 41 37 +4 43[lower-alpha 2]
8 Lokomotiv Mezdra 30 10 7 13 39 41 −2 37[lower-alpha 3]
9 Slavia Sofia 30 11 4 15 41 38 +3 37[lower-alpha 3]
10 Pirin Blagoevgrad 30 10 5 15 35 50 −15 35[lower-alpha 4]
11 Minyor Pernik 30 9 8 13 24 39 −15 35[lower-alpha 4]
12 Sliven 30 8 8 14 32 40 −8 32
13 Botev Plovdiv 30 8 6 16 31 50 −19 30
14 Vihren (R) 30 8 2 20 29 50 −21 26 Relegation to 2009–10 B Group
15 Spartak Varna (R) 30 5 10 15 19 46 −27 25
16 Belasitsa Petrich (R) 30 4 5 21 24 71 −47 17
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 goal difference; 7th goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ↑ Litex Lovech won the 2008–09 Bulgarian Cup and qualified for the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League.
  2. 1 2 Lokomotiv Plovdiv ahead of Chernomorets Burgas on head-to-head record; Chernomorets Burgas–Lokomotiv Plovdiv 1–3, Lokomotiv Plovdiv–Chernomorets Burgas 1–1.
  3. 1 2 Lokomotiv Mezdra ahead of Slavia Sofia on head-to-head record; Slavia Sofia–Lokomotiv Mezdra 0–0, Lokomotiv Mezdra–Slavia Sofia 1–0.
  4. 1 2 Montana ahead of Slavia Sofia on head-to-head record; Minyor Pernik–Pirin Blagoevgrad 0–0, Pirin Blagoevgrad–Minyor Pernik 1–0.

Results

Home \ Away BEL BOT CHM CHB CSK LEV LIT LME LPL LSO MIN OFC PIR SLA SPV VIH
Belasitsa Petrich 0–2 2–0 0–1 0–3 1–7 1–1 1–3 1–2 2–4 0–0 2–1 1–4 2–5 0–0 1–2
Botev Plovdiv 5–0 2–2 0–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 3–1 2–2 0–4 1–2 1–3 1–0 2–1 1–0 3–1
Cherno More 6–0 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 2–0 2–1 1–0 4–0 3–0 1–0 2–0 5–0 2–0
Chernomorets Burgas 2–0 2–1 0–0 0–1 2–2 3–1 2–2 1–3 1–1 1–1 1–1 3–1 2–1 2–0 1–3
CSKA Sofia 1–0 2–1 1–1 2–1 0–2 2–0 2–1 2–0 1–0 2–0 3–0 4–1 2–1 3–0 2–0
Levski Sofia 2–0 6–0 3–0 3–1 1–1 2–0 3–1 1–0 0–3 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 5–0 3–2
Litex Lovech 4–1 5–1 1–0 2–2 1–0 1–2 2–1 3–0 2–1 2–0 2–0 3–0 0–1 2–1 2–0
Lokomotiv Mezdra 3–1 0–0 1–3 1–1 2–2 0–1 2–4 1–1 4–0 3–1 2–0 4–0 1–0 1–1 0–1
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 1–1 3–0 1–0 1–1 1–3 2–3 1–3 0–2 3–2 1–0 2–1 3–2 2–1 2–1 0–1
Lokomotiv Sofia 3–1 2–0 3–2 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 3–0 1–2 5–1 3–2 1–0 0–1 2–2 2–0
Minyor Pernik 0–3 1–0 2–2 1–0 0–1 0–2 0–0 2–0 2–2 0–1 0–2 0–0 1–0 3–1 3–2
OFC Sliven 0–2 3–1 0–1 0–0 3–1 0–0 2–2 2–0 1–1 0–0 0–1 2–1 1–1 0–1 2–0
Pirin Blagoevgrad 2–0 0–3 1–2 2–1 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–2 1–0 0–4 1–0 3–1 3–2 0–0 2–1
Slavia Sofia 3–0 4–0 0–2 2–0 1–2 0–1 0–3 0–0 2–0 2–2 1–1 3–1 2–3 1–2 2–0
Spartak Varna 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–3 0–2 0–1 0–4 2–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 2–2 2–0 1–2 1–1
Vihren 4–1 0–0 0–2 3–5 1–4 1–0 0–1 0–1 1–2 1–0 0–1 0–2 1–3 1–2 2–0
Source: A PFG (in Bulgarian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Champions

Levski Sofia
Goalkeepers
1Bulgaria Georgi Petkov17(0)
12Bulgaria Bozhidar Mitrev7(0)
29Slovakia Daniel Kiss3(0)
31Bulgaria Tsvetan Dimitrov3(0)
Defenders
2Bulgaria Viktor Genev14(0)
3Bulgaria Zhivko Milanov23(2)
5Morocco Youssef Rabeh22(0)
14Bulgaria Veselin Minev18(0)
15Morocco Chakib Benzoukane3(0)
20Czech Republic David Bystroň19(2)
25Bulgaria Lúcio Wagner16(0)
26Bulgaria Martin Dimov1(0)
33Bulgaria Stefan Stanchev1(0)
34Bulgaria Dimitar Dimitrov1(0)
37Bulgaria Simeon Ivanov1(0)
55Bulgaria Yordan Miliev4(0)
Midfielders
4Bulgaria Georgi Chakarov2(0)
6Morocco Rachid Tiberkanine14(3)
8Bulgaria Georgi Sarmov21(2)
16Bulgaria Mariyan Ognyanov1(0)
17Bulgaria Georgi Nedyalkov1(1)
18Bulgaria Miroslav Ivanov20(0)
20Brazil Joãozinho19(4)
21Brazil Zé Soares25(3)
22North Macedonia Darko Tasevski23(6)
24Bulgaria Nikolay Dimitrov17(1)
30Bulgaria Lachezar Baltanov15(0)
45Bulgaria Vladimir Gadzhev23(1)
70Portugal Filipe da Costa8(0)
Bulgaria Boyan Iliev*2(0)
Forwards
7Brazil Jean Carlos*4(1)
9Bulgaria Georgi Ivanov23(12)
10Bulgaria Hristo Yovov11(4)
11Bulgaria Georgi Hristov25(11)
19Bulgaria Ivan Tsachev9(4)
27Bulgaria Enyo Krastovchev3(0)
32Bulgaria Boyan Tabakov1(0)
Manager
Bulgaria Emil Velev
  • Iliev and Jean Carlos left the club during a season.

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Bulgaria Martin Kamburov Lokomotiv Sofia 17
2 Bulgaria Dormushali Saidhodzha CSKA Sofia1 14
3 Bulgaria Georgi Ivanov Levski Sofia 12
4 Bulgaria Yordan Yurukov Cherno More Varna 11
Bulgaria Georgi Hristov Levski Sofia
6 North Macedonia Zoran Baldovaliev Lokomotiv Sofia 10
Serbia Pavle Delibašić Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Brazil Michel Platini Chernomorets Burgas
9 Bulgaria Krum Bibishkov Litex Lovech 9
Argentina Adrián Fernández Chernomorets Burgas2
Bulgaria Miroslav Manolov Cherno More Varna
Serbia Saša Simonović Lokomotiv Mezdra
Bulgaria Ivan Stoyanov Sliven
Bulgaria Yordan Todorov CSKA Sofia

1. Saidhodzha scored 7 goals for Botev Plovdiv and 7 for CSKA Sofia (he was transferred during the winter break)
2. Fernández scored 4 goals for Cherno More Varna and 5 for Chernomorets Burgas (he was transferred during the winter break)

Annual awards

Team of the season

The team have been voted by selected media representatives (Note: First team members are denoted in bold).[1]

Petkov
I. Ivanov
Manolev
Minev
Rabeh
Yanchev
Alex
Joãozinho
Tonev
Kamburov
G. Ivanov
A PFG Team of the season, first squad
Position Name Club
Goalkeepers Kiril Akalski Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Georgi Petkov Levski
Defenders Tanko Dyakov Cherno More
Ivan Ivanov CSKA
Stanislav Manolev Litex
Zhivko Milanov Levski
Veselin Minev Levski
Youssef Rabeh Levski
Midfielders Alex Cherno More
Joãozinho Levski
Dani Kiki Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Aleksandar Tonev CSKA
Todor Yanchev CSKA
Kosta Yanev Sliven
Forwards Spas Delev Pirin
Georgi Ivanov Levski
Martin Kamburov Lokomotiv Sofia
Ivelin Popov Litex
Head coach Emil Velev Levski

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Вижте идеалния отбор на сезона в "А" група - петима от Левски срещу трима от ЦСКА" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 14 June 2009. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
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