2011–12 A Group

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2011–12 A PFG

)

Kaliakra
Litex 6–2 Lokomotiv
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 A Group was the 88th season of the

A Group as the top tier football league in the country. The season began on 6 August 2011 and ended on 23 May 2012. Ludogorets Razgrad claimed their maiden title in their debut season, after winning the last round clash against CSKA, which were leading by 2 points prior to the match.^[1] Vidima-Rakovski, Kaliakra and Svetkavitsa

were relegated, after finishing at the bottom three places.

Team information

Sliven ended a three-year tenure in the top flight. Furthermore, Pirin (Blagoevgrad) were excluded from A Group due to financial difficulties and demoted to V Group

The relegated teams were replaced by

East B Group and promotion play-off winners Svetkavitsa. Botev Vratsa returned to A Group after twenty-two years, while Ludogorets Razgrad and Svetkavitsa both made their debut on the highest level of Bulgarian football

There was some controversy regarding the relegation/promotion play-offs at the end of season 2010/11. In the original match-up, 14th-placed Vidima-Rakovski lost 3-0 against B Group play-off winners Chernomorets (Pomorie). However, Pomorie did not receive an A Group licence, so Vidima-Rakovski were spared from relegation. In order to fill the void, a second play-off match was scheduled between Svetkavitsa, 4th-placed team of East B Group, and Etar (Veliko Tarnovo), 3rd-placed team of West B Group. Svetkavitsa won this match by a score of 3-1.

Stadia and locations

As in the previous year, the league comprises the best thirteen teams of season 2010-11, the champions of the two B Groups and the winners of the promotion play-offs.

Botev

Location of teams in 2011–12 A Group

Sofia 2011–12 A Group football clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Beroe	Stara Zagora	Beroe	17,800
Botev	Vratsa	Hristo Botev	32,000
Cherno More	Varna	Ticha	8,250
Chernomorets	Burgas	Lazur	18,037
CSKA	Sofia	Balgarska Armiya	22,015
Kaliakra	Kavarna	Kavarna	5,000
Levski	Sofia	Georgi Asparuhov	29,200
Litex	Lovech	Lovech	7,050
Lokomotiv	Plovdiv	Lokomotiv	13,800
Lokomotiv	Sofia	Lokomotiv Sofia¹	22,000
Ludogorets	Razgrad	Ludogorets Arena	6,000
Minyor	Pernik	Minyor	8,000
Montana	Montana	Ogosta	8,000
Slavia	Sofia	Ovcha Kupel	18,000
Svetkavitsa	Targovishte	Dimitar Burkov	8,000
Vidima-Rakovski	Sevlievo	Rakovski	8,816

Notes

Lokomotiv Stadium, had not received approval from the BFU license committee.^{[citation needed}
]

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain^{[citation needed]}	Kit Manufacturer^{[citation needed]}	Shirt Sponsor^{[citation needed]}
Beroe Stara Zagora	Ilian Iliev	Slavi Zhekov	Uhlsport	Bulsatcom
Botev Vratsa	Sasho Angelov	Rosen Vankov	Jumper
Cherno More Varna	Stefan Genov	Georgi Iliev	Misho	Armeets
Chernomorets Burgas	Dimitar Dimitrov	Radostin Kishishev	Macron
CSKA Sofia	Dimitar Penev	Todor Yanchev	Kappa	GLOBUL
Kaliakra	Radostin Trifonov	Ivan Raychev	Uhlsport	Municipality of Kavarna
Levski Sofia	Nikolay Kostov	Hristo Yovov	Nike	VTB Bank
Litex Lovech	Atanas Dzhambazki	Nebojša Jelenković	adidas	b-connect
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Emil Velev	Zdravko Lazarov	Uhlsport	Refan
Lokomotiv Sofia	Anton Velkov	Kristian Dobrev	Puma
Ludogorets Razgrad	Ivaylo Petev	Todor Kolev	adidas	Huvepharma
Minyor Pernik	Stoycho Stoev	Kostadin Markov	Jumper	Municipal Insurance Company
Montana	Stefan Grozdanov	Daniel Gadzhev	Jako	GM Capital
Slavia Sofia	Martin Kushev	Bogomil Dyakov	Puma
Svetkavitsa	Nikola Spasov	Georgi Damyanov	Jako	Vinprom Targovishte
Vidima-Rakovski	Kostadin Angelov	Georgi Stoychev	Asics	VIDEXIM

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager(s)	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Levski Sofia	Yasen Petrov	End of contract	27 May 2011	Pre-season	Georgi Ivanov	27 May 2011^[2]
Slavia Sofia	Emil Velev	Sacked	28 May 2011		Martin Kushev	28 May 2011^[3]
Kaliakra Kavarna	Antoni Zdravkov	End of contract	28 May 2011		Adalbert Zafirov	28 May 2011^[4]
Chernomorets Burgas	Georgi Vasilev	Sacked	30 May 2011		Dimitar Dimitrov	30 May 2011^[5]
Montana	Atanas Dzhambazki	End of contract	2 June 2011		Stefan Grozdanov	11 June 2011
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Saša Nikolić	Sacked	14 June 2011		Dragan Kanatlarovski	17 June 2011
Vidima-Rakovski	Dimitar Todorov	Sacked	16 June 2011		Kostadin Angelov	17 June 2011
Lokomotiv Sofia	Dian Petkov	Sacked	3 October 2011	10th	Anton Velkov	3 October 2011
Kaliakra Kavarna	Adalbert Zafirov	Sacked	19 October 2011^[6]	15th	Radostin Trifonov	19 October 2011^[7]
Svetkavitsa Targovishte	Plamen Donev	Resigned	19 October 2011	16th	Nikola Spasov	23 October 2011^[8]
Litex Lovech	Lyuboslav Penev	Resigned	24 October 2011^[9]	5th	Atanas Dzhambazki	24 October 2011
CSKA Sofia	Milen Radukanov	Sacked	25 October 2011^[10]	2nd	Dimitar Penev	25 October 2011
Levski Sofia	Georgi Ivanov	Resigned	4 November 2011	5th	Nikolay Kostov	7 November 2011^[11]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Dragan Kanatlarovski	Sacked	7 November 2011	6th	Emil Velev	8 November 2011^[12]
Levski Sofia	Nikolay Kostov	Resigned	26 March 2012	4th	Georgi Ivanov (caretaker)	March 2012

Note: Georgi Ivanov subsequently stepped down and was replaced by Yasen Petrov as caretaker manager at the helm of Levski, with Ilian Iliev set to take over prior to the 2012/2013 season.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Ludogorets Razgrad (C)	30	22	4	4	73	16	+57	70	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	CSKA Sofia	30	22	3	5	60	19	+41	69	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
3	Levski Sofia	30	20	2	8	61	28	+33	62	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
4	Chernomorets Burgas	30	17	9	4	57	23	+34	60
5	Litex Lovech	30	17	8	5	57	28	+29	59
6	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	30	17	6	7	44	39	+5	57	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round^[a]
7	Cherno More	30	16	4	10	46	25	+21	52
8	Slavia Sofia	30	15	6	9	42	36	+6	51
9	Minyor Pernik	30	8	12	10	35	40	−5	36
10	Beroe	30	9	8	13	30	37	−7	35
11	Montana	30	8	7	15	29	51	−22	31
12	Botev Vratsa	30	7	8	15	30	44	−14	29
13	Lokomotiv Sofia	30	5	9	16	26	50	−24	24
14	Vidima-Rakovski (R)	30	3	6	21	19	59	−40	15	Relegation to 2012–13 B Group
15	Kaliakra (R)	30	2	5	23	26	77	−51	11
16	Svetkavitsa (R)	30	1	5	24	8	71	−63	8

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:

^ Ludogorets Razgrad won the 2011–12 Bulgarian Cup competition but were qualified for 2012–13 UEFA Champions League via winning the league, hence their Europa League berth was awarded to the cup runners-up, Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

Results

Home \ Away	BSZ	BVR	CHM	CHB	CSK	KAV	LEV	LIT	LPL	LSO	LUD	MIN	MON	SLA	SVE	VRA
Beroe		1–2	2–0	1–2	0–1	3–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–0
Botev Vratsa	1–1		0–1	0–0	2–2	6–2	0–2	1–3	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–4	0–1	1–0	2–2
Cherno More	2–0	1–0		0–2	0–0	7–1	3–1	0–1	1–2	3–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1
Chernomorets Burgas	2–2	3–1	3–2		2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–3	6–0	4–0
CSKA Sofia	1–0	2–0	4–1	1–0		3–1	1–0	4–1	3–0	4–0	2–2	3–1	2–0	1–2	3–0	4–1
Kaliakra	3–1	0–0	0–5	0–4	1–2		1–4	0–2	1–2	0–0	0–4	2–2	2–3	1–2	1–1	3–2
Levski Sofia	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	3–2		3–2	3–2	4–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	7–0	2–1
Litex Lovech	2–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	5–0	1–0		6–2	2–0	2–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	6–0	3–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	4–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–3	2–0	3–2	2–1		2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	3–2
Lokomotiv Sofia	3–0	0–1	0–0	0–4	1–2	3–2	1–1	1–2	2–0		0–1	1–1	1–1	0–3^[a]	4–1	0–1
Ludogorets Razgrad	3–0	3–0	0–2	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	4–0		4–1	3–0	6–0	5–0	4–0
Minyor Pernik	1–1	1–3	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–2	0–0	1–2	0–7		3–1	1–1	3–0	1–0
Montana	0–0	2–0	1–3	2–4	0–5	2–1	0–3	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–4	1–2		1–2	0–0	1–0
Slavia Sofia	0–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	3–0	0–3	0–2	3–0	2–1	3–2	2–1	1–1		2–0	1–1
Svetkavitsa	1–3	0–0	1–3	0–3	0–3	1–0	0–1	1–3	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–2	0–3		0–0
Vidima-Rakovski	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–6	1–1	0–3	2–2	0–5	0–3	1–2	1–2	1–0

Source: A PFG (in Bulgarian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ The match between Lokomotiv Sofia and Slavia Sofia was awarded to Slavia by a score of 3–0.^{[citation needed]} The original fixture was not played after police security for the match could not be provided.^{[citation needed]}

Champions

Ludogorets Razgrad

Goalkeepers
01	Uroš Golubović	28	0(0)
13	Radek Petr	02	0(0)
30	Georgi Argilashki	00	0(0)
	Emil Mihaylov*	00	0(0)

Defenders
03	Marián Jarabica	01	0(0)
04	Tero Mäntylä	03	0(0)
05	Alexandre Barthe	29	0(3)
20	Guilherme Choco	27	0(1)
25	Yordan Minev	28	0(0)
26	Diyan Dimitrov	00	0(0)
33	Ľubomír Guldan	28	0(0)
77	Vitinha	10	0(0)
	Jure Travner*	03	0(0)
	Suvad Grabus*	01	0(0)

Midfielders
06	Georgi Kostadinov	05	0(2)
07	Mihail Aleksandrov	28	0(5)
08	Stanislav Genchev	27	0(6)
18	Svetoslav Dyakov	29	0(1)
19	Dimo Bakalov	14	0(2)
22	Miroslav Ivanov	27	0(4)
36	Mladen Kašćelan	11	0(1)
84	Marcelinho	25	0(9)
	Shener Remzi*	00	0(0)
	Dimo Atanasov*	06	0(0)
	Nikolay Dyulgerov*	02	0(0)

Forwards
11	Juninho Quixadá	11	0(5)
23	Emil Gargorov	26	(13)
27	Christian Kabasele	11	0(3)
73	Ivan Stoyanov	25	(16)
	Todor Kolev*	09	0(1)

Manager
	Ivaylo Petev

Mihaylov, Travner, Grabus, Remzi, Atanasov, Dyulgerov and Kolev left the club during a season.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Below is a list of the top goalscorers at the end of the competition.^[13]

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Júnior Moraes	CSKA Sofia	16
1	Ivan Stoyanov	Ludogorets Razgrad	16
3	Emil Gargorov	Ludogorets Razgrad	13
3	Ianis Zicu	CSKA Sofia	13
5	Juninho	Slavia Sofia / Levski Sofia	12
6	Svetoslav Todorov	Litex Lovech	11
	Ivan Tsvetkov	Levski Sofia	11
	Gerasim Zakov	Kaliakra Kavarna	11
9	Lourival Assis	Chernomorets Burgas	10
	Aatif Chahechouhe	Chernomorets Burgas	10
	Georgi Iliev	Cherno More Varna	10
	Marcelo Nicácio	Litex Lovech	10

Scoring

First goal of the season: 19:08 –
Montana (6 August 2011)^[14]

Fastest goal of the season: 6 seconds –
Montana (22 March 2012)^{[citation needed}
]

Transfers

References

^ ""Лудогорец" победи ЦСКА с 1:0 и спечели титлата при дебюта си в А група" (in Bulgarian). dnevnik. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
^ "Георги Иванов-Гонзо е новият треньор на Левски" (in Bulgarian). btv.bg. 27 May 2011.
^ "Кушев поема Славия" (in Bulgarian). bsport.bg. 28 May 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
^ "Адалберт Зафиров пое Калиакра" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 28 May 2011.
^ "Dimitar Dimitrov is the new head coach of Chernomorets". chernomoretz.bg. 30 May 2011.
^ "Калиакра уволни Адалберт Зафиров" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 19 October 2011.
^ "Стана ясен новият старши-треньор на Калиакра" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 19 October 2011.
^ "Никола Спасов стана треньор на Светкавица" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 23 October 2011.
^ "Любо Пенев напусна Литекс - "оранжевите" представиха новия треньор, изненадата е голяма" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 24 October 2011.
^ "Официално: ЦСКА се раздели с Милен Радуканов" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 25 October 2011.
^ "Официално: Николай Костов ще води Левски до края на сезона" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 4 November 2011.
^ "Емил Велев е новият треньор на Локо Пд, помага му Ники Митов, тренировката е от 11 часа" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 8 November 2011.
^ "Bulgaria - A PFG Top goalscorers". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
^ "Честито! 53 минути за първия гол от новия сезон в А група" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 6 August 2011.

External links

Official website

v t e First Professional Football League
2023–24 clubs	Arda Beroe Botev Plovdiv Botev Vratsa Etar Veliko Tarnovo Cherno More CSKA 1948 CSKA Sofia Hebar Pazardzhik Krumovgrad Levski Sofia Lokomotiv Plovdiv Lokomotiv Sofia Ludogorets Pirin Blagoevgrad Slavia Sofia
Stadiums	Arena Arda Beroe Botev 1912 Football Complex Hristo Botev (Vratsa) Ticha Vasil Levski Balgarska Armia Georgi Asparuhov Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) Lokomotiv (Sofia) Huvepharma Arena Hristo Botev (Blagoevgrad) Slavia Stadion Dragalevtsi Stadion Spartak Stadion Georgi Benkovski
Former clubs*	Akademik Sofia (18) Akademik Svishtov (4) Belasitsa (12) FC Chernomorets (29) PSFC Chernomorets (7) Chernomorets Burgas Sofia (1) Dimitrovgrad (1) Dobrudzha (14) Dunav (25) Etar (24) Etar 1924 (1) Kaliakra (2) Litex (21) Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa (10) Lokomotiv Mezdra (2) Lyubimets 2007 (1) Maritsa (4) Metalurg (2) Minyor (38) Montana (10) Neftochimic (14) Nesebar (1) Pirin 1922 (9) Pirin GD (2) Rilski Sportist (2) Rodopa (4) Rozova Dolina (1) Septemvri (5) Shumen (7) Sliven (25) Spartak Pleven (35) Spartak Plovdiv (17) Spartak Sofia (15) Spartak Varna (43) Sportist (1) Svetkavitsa (1) Velbazhd (7) Vereya (3) Vidima-Rakovski (5) Vihren (4) Vitosha Bistritsa (3) Yantra (7)
Former clubs (from Macedonia & Thrace)	Belomorets Kavala Bitola Gotse Delchev Prilep Makedonija Bitola Makedonija Skopje Vardar Skopje ZhSK Skopje
Competition	Champions Players (foreign)
Associated competitions	Second League Third League Bulgarian Cup Bulgarian Supercup UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Europa Conference League
Seasons	1948–49 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
* In the brackets is the number of seasons in the league.

v t e Bulgarian football championship seasons
State Championship (National Football Division)	1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1941 1942 1943 1944
Republic Championship	1945 1946 1947 1948
A Group	1948–49 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16
First League	2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e 2011–12 in Bulgarian football
Domestic leagues	A Group B Group V Group
Domestic cups	Bulgarian Cup (Final) Bulgarian Supercup
European competitions	Champions League Europa League
Related to national team	UEFA Euro 2012 qualification (Group G) Lothar Matthäus Lyuboslav Penev
Club seasons
A Group	Beroe Botev Vratsa Cherno More Chernomorets CSKA Kaliakra Levski Litex Lokomotiv Plovdiv Lokomotiv Sofia Ludogorets Minyor Montana Slavia Svetkavitsa Vidima-Rakovski
Summer transfers Winter transfers

v t e 2011–12 in European men's football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '11 '12–'13 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '11 '12 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '11 '12 Faroe Islands '11 '12 Finland '11 '12 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '11 '12 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '11 '12 Latvia '11 '12 Lithuania '11 '12 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '11 '12 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '11 '12 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '11 '12 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '11 '12 Finland '11 '12 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '11 '12 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '11 '12 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '11 '12 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '11 '12 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '11 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
League cups	England Finland '11 '12 France Hungary Iceland '12 Israel Northern Ireland Portugal Republic of Ireland '11 '12 Scotland Turkey Wales
Supercups	Albania Belarus Belgium Bulgaria England France Georgia Germany Italy Kazakhstan Moldova Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Russia Slovenia Spain Sweden ~~Turkey~~ Ukraine
UEFA competitions	Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Europa League qualifying phase play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Super Cup