2008–09 Bulgarian Cup

The 2008–09 Bulgarian Cup was the 27th season of the annual knockout football tournament for Bulgaria. The competition started on 15 October 2008 with the preliminary round and ended on 26 May 2009. The defending champions were Litex Lovech, who successfully defended their title against Pirin Blagoevgrad and resultantly qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.

2008–09 Bulgarian Cup

Tournament details
Country	Bulgaria
Final positions
Champions	Litex Lovech (4th title)
Runners-up	Pirin Blagoevgrad
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Preliminary round

Seven teams entered the preliminary round: four teams from the amateur level, plus three teams from the B Group. Six of the teams played against another opponent, while the seventh team, amateur side Almus Bier, received a bye to the first round of the cup. The matches were played on 15 October 2008. Of the professional teams, only Akademik Sofia lost, suffering a 3–0 defeat away to Slivnishki Geroy.^[1]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
15 October 2008
Slivnishki Geroy (III)	3–0	Akademik Sofia (II)
Brestnik 1948 (III)	1–3	Pirin Gotse Delchev (II)
Dorostol 2003 (III)	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Chavdar Etropole (II)
Almus Beer (IV)	bye

Note: Roman numerals in brackets denote the league tier the clubs participated in during the 2008–09 season.

First round

The first round included the four teams advancing from the preliminary round as well as the remaining 28 teams from the B Group. The matches were played on 29 October 2008. Both amateur teams were eliminated in this round. In a close series of matches, five games went to extra time and in three cases the teams were separated after a penalty shootout.^[1]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
29 October 2008
Etar-1924	1–3	Pirin Blagoevgrad (1922)
Belite orli	0–2	Balkan Botevgrad
Slivnishki Geroy	2–2 (a.e.t.) (2–4 p)	Pirin Gotse Delchev
Botev Krivodol	1–0	Beroe
Marek	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Minyor
Almus Beer	0–3	Vidima-Rakovski
Spartak Plovdiv	1–0	Dunav Ruse
Chavdar Etropole	3–1	Kom-Minyor
Sportist Svoge	1–0	Lokomotiv Stara Zagora
Svetkavitsa	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Montana
Lyubimetz 2007	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Svilengrad 1921
Spartak Pleven	0–2	Chernomorets Balchik
Nesebar	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Naftex
Chavdar	2–0	Rilski Sportist
Maritsa	2–1	Shumen
Rodopa Smolyan	2–1	Kaliakra Kavarna

Second round

The 16 teams from A Group entered in the second round, joining the 16 winners from the first round. The matches were played from 11 November to 3 December 2008. Six of the ties required extra time, but no penalty shootouts were required.^[1]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
11 November 2008
Lyubimetz 2007	1–2	Vihren Sandanski
Minyor	0–2	OFC Sliven
12 November 2008
Balkan Botevgrad	1–0	Lokomotiv Mezdra
Spartak Varna	1–2	Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931)
Vidima-Rakovski	1–0	Chavdar Etropole
Litex Lovech	2–0	Botev Plovdiv
CSKA Sofia	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Chavdar	1–2	Spartak Plovdiv
Pirin Gotse Delchev	3–0	Belasitsa Petrich
Maritsa	2–0	Sportist Svoge
Nesebar	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Chernomorets Balchik
Montana	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Pirin Blagoevgrad (1922)
13 November 2008
Botev Krivodol	2–1	Slavia Sofia
Rodopa Smolyan	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Chernomorets Burgas
26 November 2008
Lokomotiv Sofia	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Levski Sofia
3 December 2008
Minyor Pernik	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Cherno More Varna

Third round

The third round was played on 7 December 2008 and featured the 16 winners of round two. The biggest win of the third round was CSKA Sofia's 5–0 victory at Balkan Botevgrad.^[1]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
7 December 2008
Montana	0–2	Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931)
Spartak Plovdiv	2–3	Vihren Sandanski
Maritsa	1–5	Litex Lovech
Balkan Botevgrad	0–5	CSKA Sofia
Vidima-Rakovski	0–3	Minyor Pernik
Rodopa Smolyan	1–3	Botev Krivodol
Nesebar	2–1	Pirin Gotse Delchev
Levski Sofia	2–1 (a.e.t.)	OFC Sliven

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals were held on 4 March 2009. All four away teams won their matches to advance to the semi-final stage.^[1]

Vihren Sandanski v Levski Sofia

4 March 2009	Vihren Sandanski	0–2	Levski Sofia	Kyustendil
14:00 EET		Report	G. Ivanov 13' Tasevski 28'	Stadium: Osogovo Attendance: 1,630 Referee: Nikolay Yordanov

Botev Krivodol v Minyor Pernik

4 March 2009	Botev Krivodol	1–4	Minyor Pernik	Byala Slatina
14:30 EET	Vladinov 87'	Report	Hazurov 17' 33' Janković 63' Rumenov 78'	Stadium: Chavdar Attendance: 2,750 Referee: Ivaylo Stoyanov

Nesebar v Litex Lovech

4 March 2009	Nesebar	1–5	Litex Lovech	Nesebar
14:30 EET	Hristov 9'	Report	Popov 28' 71' Doka 60' Bibishkov 75' Cvetanov 77'	Stadium: Gradski Attendance: 680 Referee: Angel Angelov

CSKA Sofia v Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931)

4 March 2009	CSKA Sofia	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p)	Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931)	Sofia
16:00 EET	Marquinhos 58'	Report	Delev 70'	Stadium: Balgarska Armiya Attendance: 2,130 Referee: Anton Genov
	Penalties
	Todorov Saidhodzha Toshev Marquinhos		Nakov Hazurov Peev Palankov Galchev

Semi-finals

Both semi-finals were held on 29 April 2009. Litex Lovech beat Minyor Pernik, and Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931) defeated Levski Sofia, in each case by a single goal.^[1]

Minyor Pernik v Litex Lovech

29 April 2009	Minyor Pernik	0–1	Litex Lovech	Pernik
14:00 EEST			Bibishkov 57'	Stadium: Minyor Attendance: 5,000 Referee: Stanislav Todorov

Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931) v Levski Sofia

29 April 2009	Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931)	1–0	Levski Sofia	Blagoevgrad
16:30 EEST	Peev 56'			Stadium: Hristo Botev Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Georgi Ignatov

Final

Main article: 2009 Bulgarian Cup final

Last season's winners Litex Lovech defended their title with a 3–0 win against Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931) at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in Sofia.^[1] By winning, Litex Lovech ensured they would enter in the third qualifying round of the following season's UEFA Europa League.^[2] The game was broadcast live on Bulgarian National Television.^[3]

26 May 2009

20:30

Pirin Blagoevgrad (1931)	0–3	Litex Lovech
		Niflore 20' Doka 72' Bibishkov 86'

Georgi Asparuhov, Sofia

Attendance: 9,500

Referee: Stefan Spasov (Pernik)