2009–10 A Group

The 2009–10 A Group was the 86th season of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 62nd of A Group as the top tier football league in the country. It began on 7 August 2009 with the game between Beroe and Lokomotiv Sofia. The last round took place on 16 May 2010. Levski Sofia were the defending champions, but they were unable to defend it and Litex Lovech won the title, which was their third overall.

A Group

Season	2009–10
Dates	7 August 2009 – 16 May 2010
Champions	Litex Lovech (3rd title)
Relegated	Botev Plovdiv Sportist Svoge Loko Mezdra
Champions League	Litex Lovech
Europa League	CSKA Sofia Levski Sofia Beroe (via domestic cup)
Matches played	191
Goals scored	462 (2.42 per match)
Top goalscorer	Wilfried Niflore (19 goals)
Biggest home win	Levski 5–0 Botev Litex 5–0 Loko P. Levski 5–0 Sportist
Biggest away win	Loko M. 0–5 Litex Loko P. 0–5 CSKA Loko M. 0–5 Ch'morets
Highest scoring	Minyor 4–2 Sliven Ch. More 4–2 Loko S. Loko P. 3–3 Minyor Sportist 1–5 Loko S. Sliven 2–4 CSKA Loko P. 2–4 Montana CSKA 5–1 Loko S. Sportist 2–4 Litex
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

Promotion and relegation from 2008–09

Belasitsa Petrich, Spartak Varna and Vihren Sandanski were directly relegated for finishing in the bottom three places. Belasitsa ended a six-year stint in the Bulgarian top flight, while Spartak Varna were relegated for a record ninth time since the introduction of the A PFG, after three years. Vihren ended their four-year tenure in the A PFG, the club's first ever in the top division.

The relegated teams were replaced by Montana, champions of the West B PFG 2008-2009, and Beroe Stara Zagora, champions of the East B PFG 2008-2009. Montana returned to the A PFG after twelve years, while Beroe returned after a one-year absence. Beroe won promotion for the ninth time in its history, therefore equaling the record previously set by Minyor Pernik.

A further place in the league was decided through a one-legged play-off. Sportist Svoge as runner-up in West B PFG had to face Naftex Burgas, who came second in East B PFG. Sportist Svoge won the game 4–2 after a penalty shootout, following a regular time score of 2–2. This was Sportist's first participation in the Bulgarian top flight.

Team overview

Sofia

Botev
Loko Plovdiv

Beroe

Cherno More

Chernomorets

Litex

Lok. Mezdra

Minyor

Montana

Pirin

Sliven

Sportist

Location of teams in 2009–10 A Group

CSKA

Levski

Lokomotiv

Slavia

Sofia 2009–10 A Group football clubs

Club	Location	Manager	Stadium	Capacity	Team captain
Beroe	Stara Zagora	Ilian Iliev	Beroe	17,800[1]	Slavi Zhekov
Botev	Plovdiv	Enrico Piccioni	Hristo Botev (Plovdiv)	21,000[2]	Vasil Vasilev
Cherno More	Varna	Velizar Popov	Ticha	8,250	Georgi Iliev
Chernomorets	Burgas	Krasimir Balakov	Lazur	18,037[3]	Cvetomir Conkov
CSKA	Sofia	Pavel Dochev	Bulgarian Army	22,015[4]	Todor Yanchev
Levski	Sofia	Georgi Ivanov	Georgi Asparuhov	29,200[5]	Georgi Petkov
Litex	Lovech	Angel Chervenkov	Gradski Stadion	7,050[6]	Ivelin Popov
Lokomotiv Mezdra	Mezdra	Voyn Voynov	Lokomotiv (Mezdra)	5,000	Strati Iliev
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Plovdiv	Hristo Bonev	Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)	13,800	Georgi Mechedzhiev
Lokomotiv Sofia	Sofia	Dimitar Vasev	Lokomotiv (Sofia)	22,000[7]	Georgi Markov
Minyor	Pernik	Anton Velkov	Minyor	12,000[8]	Ivaylo Ivanov
Montana	Montana	Atanas Dzhambazki	Ogosta	8,000	Ventsislav Ivanov
Sliven 2000	Sliven	Dragoljub Simonović	Hadzhi Dimitar	10,000	Miroslav Mindev
Pirin	Blagoevgrad	Stefan Grozdanov	Hristo Botev (Bgd)	7,500	Georgi Georgiev
Slavia	Sofia	Velislav Vutsov	Ovcha Kupel	18,000[2]	Yordan Petkov
Sportist	Svoge	Stoycho Stoev	Chavdar Cvetkov	3,500[9]	Todor Kyuchukov

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Litex Lovech (C)	30	22	4	4	59	17	+42	70	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	CSKA Sofia	30	16	10	4	51	25	+26	58	Qualification for Europa League third qualifying round
3	Levski Sofia	30	17	6	7	57	26	+31	57	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
4	Lokomotiv Sofia	30	15	7	8	47	33	+14	52
5	Chernomorets Burgas	30	15	6	9	44	29	+15	51
6	Slavia Sofia	30	14	8	8	34	28	+6	50
7	Cherno More	30	13	9	8	40	28	+12	48
8	Minyor Pernik	30	13	6	11	38	26	+12	45
9	Pirin Blagoevgrad	30	11	10	9	34	32	+2	43
10	Beroe	30	10	8	12	30	36	−6	38	Qualification for Europa League third qualifying round[a]
11	Montana	30	9	9	12	30	37	−7	36
12	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	30	9	6	15	36	52	−16	33
13	Sliven	30	9	5	16	29	40	−11	32
14	Lokomotiv Mezdra (R)	30	7	6	17	30	48	−18	27	Relegation to 2010–11 B Group
15	Sportist Svoge (R)	30	5	4	21	23	59	−36	19
16	Botev Plovdiv[b] (R)	30	1	4	25	12	78	−66	1

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:

1. Beroe won the 2009–10 Bulgarian Cup and qualified for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
2. Botev Plovdiv were expelled from the league during the winter break because they were unable to meet the criteria required to continue the season, and deducted six points for administrative irregularities. All of their remaining matches have been scratched and will be counted as a 3–0 win for their opponents.^[10][11]

Results

Home \ Away	BSZ	BOT	CHM	CHB	CSK	LEV	LIT	LME	LPL	LSO	MIN	MON	OFC	PIR	SLA	SPO
Beroe		3–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–3	3–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–3	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0
Botev Plovdiv	0–3[a]		0–3[a]	0–3[a]	0–1	0–3[a]	0–3[a]	0–3[a]	1–0	0–3[a]	0–3	2–3	0–3[a]	2–2	0–1	1–1
Cherno More	0–0	3–0		2–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	3–2	4–2	1–0	2–1	4–0	1–1	1–1	3–0
Chernomorets Burgas	0–2	2–0	2–1		2–0	1–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	0–2	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–2	3–0
CSKA Sofia	3–0	3–0[a]	2–2	0–0		2–0	1–0	4–0	3–2	5–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	4–1
Levski Sofia	0–1	5–0	3–0	0–1	0–0		2–2	3–1	2–0	1–2	3–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	3–0	5–0
Litex Lovech	3–0	2–1	4–0	2–0	2–0	3–0		3–0	5–0	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–0
Lokomotiv Mezdra	2–1	2–2	1–2	0–5	4–0[b]	1–1	0–5		0–0	1–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	4–0	0–0	2–1
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	1–3	3–0[a]	1–0	2–1	0–5	2–2	0–3	0–1		2–1	3–3	2–4	1–2	2–0	0–2	3–0
Lokomotiv Sofia	2–0	2–2	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–0	0–1	2–1	3–0		1–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	3–2
Minyor Pernik	3–0	3–0[a]	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–2		1–1	4–2	0–1	0–1	1–2
Montana	2–1	3–0[a]	1–2	2–0	1–2	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–3	0–1	0–0		0–0	0–3	2–0	1–0
OFC Sliven	1–1	3–0	0–0	0–1	2–4	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–3	1–3	1–0		4–0	1–2	1–0
Pirin Blagoevgrad	2–2	3–0[a]	1–0	1–3	0–0	0–2	4–1	3–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	2–0		1–0	2–0
Slavia Sofia	3–1	3–0[a]	1–0	3–2	1–3	1–3	1–1	1–0	1–3	0–0	1–0	4–0	2–1	0–0		1–0
Sportist Svoge	1–2	3–0[a]	2–1	0–0	0–2	2–3	2–4	0–4	2–1	1–5	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1

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

1. Matches awarded after Botev's expulsion during the winter break.
2. This match was abandoned after 66 minutes, with Lokomotiv Mezdra leading 1–0, due to a pitch invasion by CSKA supporters. The match was awarded a 4–0 win in favour of Lokomotiv Mezdra; CSKA Sofia were fined $10,370 and their stadium was suspended for three games.^[12]

Champions

Litex Lovech

Goalkeepers
01	Uroš Golubović	19	0(0)
12	Todor Todorov	00	0(0)
30	Evgeni Aleksandrov	00	0(0)
31	Rodrigo Galatto	12	0(0)

Defenders
02	Alexandre Barthe	27	0(2)
03	Petar Zanev	19	0(0)
05	Mihail Venkov	10	0(1)
06	Ivaylo Petkov	15	0(1)
14	Tsvetomir Panov	01	0(0)
18	Iliya Milanov	01	0(0)
22	Plamen Nikolov	27	0(1)
25	Radostin Kishishev	20	0(0)
33	Nikolay Bodurov	18	0(2)

Midfielders
07	Hristo Yanev	26	0(6)
08	Tom	18	0(2)
10	Sandrinho	25	0(1)
13	Maksim Stoykov	01	0(0)
15	Doka Madureira	26	0(6)
17	Georgi Milanov	27	0(2)
21	Aleksandar Tsvetkov	01	0(0)
23	Nebojša Jelenković	24	0(1)
24	Adriano Miranda*	01	0(0)
27	Momchil Tsvetanov	04	0(1)
28	Diego Ferraresso	09	0(0)

Forwards
09	Svetoslav Todorov	12	0(1)
19	Wilfried Niflore	27	(19)
71	Ivelin Popov	18	0(7)
99	Dormushali Saidhodzha*	11	0(1)

Manager
	Angel Chervenkov

• Saidhodzha and Miranda left the club during a season.

Statistics

Top goalscorers Source:Bulgarian PFL official site Rank Scorer Club Goals 1 Wilfried Niflore Litex Lovech 19 2 Martin Kamburov Lokomotiv Sofia 16 3 Ismail Isa Lokomotiv Mezdra 11 Junior Slavia Sofia 11 Georgi Andonov Beroe 11 Hristo Yovov Levski Sofia 11 7 Deyan Hristov Sliven 10 8 Miroslav Antonov Sportist Svoge / Levski Sofia 9 Goran Janković Minyor Pernik 9 10 Ivan Stoyanov CSKA Sofia 8 Yordan Todorov CSKA Sofia / Lokomotiv Plovdiv 8

Top assistants Source:Sportal Archived 2009-12-12 at the Wayback Machine Rank Player Club Assists 1 Wilfried Niflore Litex Lovech 9 2 Daniel Peev Pirin / Slavia Sofia 8 3 Strati Iliev Lokomotiv Mezdra 7 Ivelin Popov Litex Lovech 7 5 Galin Ivanov Slavia Sofia 6 6 Roberto Carboni Chernomorets Burgas 5 Tom Litex Lovech 5 8 Hristo Yanev Litex Lovech 4 Georgi Iliev Cherno More 4 Slavi Zhekov Beroe 4 Todor Kolev Slavia Sofia 4 Velimir Ivanović Minyor Pernik 4 Adrián Fernández Chernomorets Burgas 4

Transfers

• List of Bulgarian football transfers summer 2009
• List of Bulgarian football transfers winter 2010

See also

• 2009–10 B Group
• 2009–10 Bulgarian Cup