2003–04 A Group

The 2003–04 A Group is 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
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, while 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.

Stadia and Locations

Their home grounds are located as follows.

Location of teams in 2003–04 A Group
Sofia 2003–04 A Group football clubs
Team City Stadium Stadium capacity
Belasitsa Petrich Tsar Samuil Stadium 9,500
Botev Plovdiv Hristo Botev Stadium 22,000
Cherno More Varna Ticha 12,000
Chernomorets Burgas Burgas Lazur 18,037
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 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) Champion; (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
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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

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

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