2003–04 A Group

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    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.

    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 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

    B Group
    .

    The winners and the runners-up from the two divisions of

    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

    class=notpageimage|
    Location of teams in 2003–04 A Group
    class=notpageimage|
    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[a]
    7
    Marek
    		 30 12 2 16 33 50 −17 38[a] 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[b]
    10
    Rodopa Smolyan
    		 30 10 3 17 28 47 −19 33[b]
    11
    Belasitsa Petrich
    		 30 8 7 15 34 52 −18 31
    12 Vidima-Rakovski 30 6 12 12 32 48 −16 30[c]
    13 Spartak Varna 30 8 6 16 35 46 −11 30[c]
    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. ^ a b Cherno More ahead of Marek on head-to-head record; Cherno More–Marek 3–0, Marek–Cherno More 4–2.
    2. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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
    01 Bulgaria Vasil Kamburov 16 0(0)
    12 Bulgaria Rumen Popov 00 0(0)
    32 Bulgaria Krasimir Petkov 14 0(0)
    Defenders
    02 Bulgaria Vladimir Ivanov 28 0(1)
    03 Bulgaria Aleksandar Tunchev 25 0(1)
    05 Bulgaria Georgi Petrov 02 0(0)
    06 Bulgaria Kiril Kotev 30 0(3)
    20 Bulgaria Ivan Paskov 20 0(3)
    22 Bulgaria Trayan Dyankov 01 0(0)
    24 North Macedonia Robert Petrov 29 0(1)
    Midfielders
    04 Bulgaria Nedyalko Hubenov 06 0(0)
    07 North Macedonia Žarko Serafimovski* 04 0(0)
    10 Bulgaria Svetoslav Barkanichkov 10 0(2)
    14 Bulgaria Velko Hristev 05 0(0)
    16 Bulgaria Ivo Mihaylov 19 0(2)
    17 North Macedonia Vančo Trajanov 16 0(0)
    19 Bulgaria Krasimir Dimitrov 22 0(1)
    21 Bulgaria Georgi Iliev 27 0(1)
    25 Serbia and Montenegro Ivan Krizmanić 10 0(0)
    Bulgaria Nesim Özgür* 06 0(1)
    Bulgaria Atanas Georgiev* 02 0(0)
    Forwards
    09 North Macedonia Boban Jančevski 21 (11)
    11 Bulgaria Martin Kamburov 29 (25)
    13 Bulgaria Metodi Stoynev 20 0(3)
    15 Serbia and Montenegro Neško Milovanović 10 0(4)
    18 Bulgaria Yavor Vandev 03 0(0)
    23 Nigeria Ekundayo Jayeoba 27 0(9)
    Serbia and Montenegro Darko Spalević* 10 0(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
    Vavá
    		 Belasitsa Petrich

    References

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

    External links