2003–04 A Group

The 2003–04 A Group was the 56th season of the top Bulgarian national football league (commonly referred to as A Group) and the 80th edition of a Bulgarian national championship tournament.

A Group
Season2003–04
Dates8 August 2003 – 15 May 2004
ChampionsLokomotiv Plovdiv
(1st title)
Relegated
Champions LeagueLokomotiv Plovdiv
UEFA Cup
Intertoto CupMarek Dupnitsa
Matches played240
Goals scored686 (2.86 per match)
Top goalscorerMartin Kamburov
(25 goals)
Biggest home winLokomotiv Plovdiv 8–1 Cherno More Varna
Biggest away win
Highest scoringLokomotiv Plovdiv 8–1 Cherno More Varna (9 goals)

This is the first season since the revision of the league rules after an unsuccessful attempt for a creation of a so-called Premier Professional Football League.

Overview

In the doorstep of the new millennium the Bulgarian Football Union decided to reform the football league system creating the Premier Professional Football League. The new top tier of Bulgarian football required all of its participants to be licensed as professional football clubs. The reforms also saw the number of teams reduced and introduced relegation play-offs during the years of its existence. The Bulgarian Premier League, however, was unsuccessful so from season 2003–04 the top Bulgarian league was re-established as the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, returning to the traditions of A Republican Football Group and increasing the number of teams participating back to 16. Still, A Group retained the requirement of a professional status of all participants.

In the 2003–04 season Lokomotiv Plovdiv became champions for the first time in their history.[1]

Teams

A total of 16 clubs contested the league, including 12 from the previous season in the tier, and 4 promoted from the second flight.

As before the start of the season, the top flight of Bulgarian football was once again restructured and the number of participants in the league was increased back to the traditional 16 teams from 14 the previous season, there were no promotion play-offs for the right to participate in A Group that season. Instead after the end of season 2002–03 the last two teams in the top level – Dobrudzha Dobrich placed 13th, and Rilski Sportist Samokov placed 14th – were directly relegated to B Group.

The winners and the runners-up from the two divisions of B Group in season 2002–03 – Vidima-Rakovski and Rodopa Smolyan from the East division, and Belasitsa and Makedonska slava from the West division – were directly promoted to the top level of Bulgarian football. Vidima-Rakovski, Rodopa and Makedonska Slava all made their debut in the top tier, while Belasitsa Petrich returned after a one-year absence.

Stadia and Locations
Location of teams in 2003–04 A Group
Sofia 2003–04 A Group football clubs
Team City Stadium Capacity
Belasitsa Petrich Tsar Samuil Stadium 9,500
Botev Plovdiv Hristo Botev Stadium 22,000
Cherno More Varna Ticha 12,000
Chernomorets Burgas Chernomorets 22,000
CSKA Sofia Balgarska Armia 22,015
Levski Sofia Georgi Asparuhov 29,986
Litex Lovech Lovech 7,050
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) 13,800
Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv (Sofia) 22,000
Makedonska slava Blagoevgrad Hristo Botev 11,000
Marek Dupnitsa Bonchuk Stadium 16,050
Naftex Burgas Lazur 18,037
Rodopa Smolyan Septemvri 6,100
Slavia Sofia Ovcha Kupel 18,000
Spartak Varna Spartak Stadium 7,500
Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo Rakovski 8,816

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Lokomotiv Plovdiv (C) 30 24 3 3 74 24 +50 75 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 Levski Sofia 30 22 6 2 59 16 +43 72 Qualification for UEFA Cup second qualifying round
3 CSKA Sofia 30 20 5 5 65 28 +37 65
4 Litex Lovech 30 18 10 2 43 20 +23 64
5 Slavia Sofia 30 18 3 9 57 30 +27 57
6 Cherno More 30 10 8 12 45 53 −8 38[lower-alpha 1]
7 Marek 30 12 2 16 33 50 −17 38[lower-alpha 1] Qualification for Intertoto Cup second round
8 Naftex Burgas 30 9 8 13 49 38 +11 35
9 Lokomotiv Sofia 30 8 9 13 37 48 −11 33[lower-alpha 2]
10 Rodopa Smolyan 30 10 3 17 28 47 −19 33[lower-alpha 2]
11 Belasitsa Petrich 30 8 7 15 34 52 −18 31
12 Vidima-Rakovski 30 6 12 12 32 48 −16 30[lower-alpha 3]
13 Spartak Varna 30 8 6 16 35 46 −11 30[lower-alpha 3]
14 Botev Plovdiv (R) 30 7 6 17 33 60 −27 27 Relegation to 2004–05 B Group
15 Makedonska slava (R) 30 8 2 20 32 58 −26 26
16 Chernomorets Burgas (R) 30 4 6 20 30 68 −38 18
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. Cherno More ahead of Marek on head-to-head record; Cherno More–Marek 3–0, Marek–Cherno More 4–2.
  2. Lokomotiv Sofia ahead of Rodopa Smolyan on head-to-head away goals scored; Lokomotiv Sofia–Rodopa Smolyan 1–0, Rodopa Smolyan–Lokomotiv Sofia 2–1.
  3. Vidima-Rakovski ahead of Spartak Varna on head-to-head record; Vidima-Rakovski–Spartak Varna 1–1, Spartak Varna–Vidima-Rakovski 1–2.

Results
Home \ Away BEL BOT CHM CHB CSK LEV LIT LPL LSO MKS MAR NAF RSM SLA SPV VRA
Belasitsa Petrich 3–0 3–1 1–0 0–4 0–1 1–1 1–2 2–0 2–2 2–1 0–3 3–0 2–2 3–0 2–2
Botev Plovdiv 1–0 3–4 1–1 3–1 1–2 1–1 0–0 0–1 2–1 0–2 0–3 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–1
Cherno More 0–0 3–1 2–2 3–0 0–0 1–2 1–2 2–2 2–0 3–0 2–2 1–0 0–3 1–1 4–1
Chernomorets Burgas 2–0 2–5 0–3 1–3 1–2 0–3 0–1 3–3 3–1 0–1 0–2 2–1 2–5 0–0 3–0
CSKA Sofia 5–1 4–1 2–0 3–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 3–0 4–1 4–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 2–0 3–1
Levski Sofia 4–2 3–1 0–0 3–0 1–1 1–1 3–0 3–0 6–0 3–0 3–0 3–0 1–0 2–0 2–0
Litex Lovech 1–0 0–0 2–0 3–0 0–0 1–0 2–1 3–1 0–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 2–1 2–2
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2–0 3–2 8–1 6–0 3–1 3–1 3–1 3–1 1–0 4–1 2–0 2–0 3–2 1–0 2–0
Lokomotiv Sofia 5–2 0–1 3–2 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 3–1 1–0 2–2 3–0 1–1
Makedonska slava 1–3 4–3 3–4 3–2 0–2 1–2 1–2 0–4 1–0 4–0 2–1 1–0 3–0 1–0 0–0
Marek 0–0 1–0 4–2 1–0 0–3 0–1 1–2 0–3 2–1 3–0 3–0 2–0 1–2 1–2 1–0
Naftex Burgas 3–1 6–0 1–1 1–1 3–3 0–1 1–1 1–2 1–2 3–0 5–0 5–0 0–1 4–1 0–0
Rodopa Smolyan 2–0 2–1 2–0 3–0 1–3 2–1 1–2 1–5 2–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–3 1–1 1–1
Slavia Sofia 3–0 5–0 2–0 3–1 2–4 1–2 2–1 2–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–2 4–0 2–0
Spartak Varna 4–0 4–2 1–2 4–2 0–0 0–2 0–1 1–3 4–0 2–0 2–4 2–0 3–1 0–1 1–2
Vidima-Rakovski 0–0 2–0 3–0 3–1 0–1 0–3 0–2 1–4 3–3 3–2 1–3 1–1 3–2 0–0 1–1
Source: A PFG (in Bulgarian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Champions
Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Goalkeepers
01Bulgaria Vasil Kamburov160(0)
12Bulgaria Rumen Popov000(0)
32Bulgaria Krasimir Petkov140(0)
Defenders
02Bulgaria Vladimir Ivanov280(1)
03Bulgaria Aleksandar Tunchev250(1)
05Bulgaria Georgi Petrov020(0)
06Bulgaria Kiril Kotev300(3)
20Bulgaria Ivan Paskov200(3)
22Bulgaria Trayan Dyankov010(0)
24North Macedonia Robert Petrov290(1)
Midfielders
04Bulgaria Nedyalko Hubenov060(0)
07North Macedonia Žarko Serafimovski*040(0)
10Bulgaria Svetoslav Barkanichkov100(2)
14Bulgaria Velko Hristev050(0)
16Bulgaria Ivo Mihaylov190(2)
17North Macedonia Vančo Trajanov160(0)
19Bulgaria Krasimir Dimitrov220(1)
21Bulgaria Georgi Iliev270(1)
25Serbia and Montenegro Ivan Krizmanić100(0)
Bulgaria Nesim Özgür*060(1)
Bulgaria Atanas Georgiev*020(0)
Forwards
09North Macedonia Boban Jančevski21(11)
11Bulgaria Martin Kamburov29(25)
13Bulgaria Metodi Stoynev200(3)
15Serbia and Montenegro Neško Milovanović100(4)
18Bulgaria Yavor Vandev030(0)
23Nigeria Ekundayo Jayeoba270(9)
Serbia and Montenegro Darko Spalević*100(4)
Manager
Bulgaria Eduard Eranosyan
  • Serafimovski, Özgür, Georgiev and Spalević left the club during a season.

Top scorers
Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Bulgaria Martin Kamburov Lokomotiv Plovdiv 25
2 Bulgaria Stoyko Sakaliev Naftex / CSKA 17
Bulgaria Blagoy Georgiev Slavia Sofia
4 Bulgaria Georgi Chilikov Levski Sofia 14
Bulgaria Emil Gargorov CSKA Sofia
Bulgaria Doncho Donev Lokomotiv Sofia
7 North Macedonia Boban Jančevski Lokomotiv Plovdiv 11
Bulgaria Georgi Vladimirov Slavia Sofia
Romania Eugen Trică Litex Lovech
Bulgaria Hristo Yanev CSKA Sofia
Bulgaria Plamen Krumov Naftex Burgas
Brazil Vavá Belasitsa Petrich

References
  1. ""Черно-бяла" луда шампионска история" (in Bulgarian). blitz.bg. 8 May 2014.
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