2010–11 A Group

The 2010–11 A Group season was the 87th edition of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 63rd of A Group as the top-tier football league in the country. The season commenced on 31 July 2010 and ended with the last games on 28 May 2011. The winter break was between the weekends around 29 November 2010 and 26 February 2011.^[1] Litex Lovech defended their 2009/10 A Group title and were champions for 2 consecutive seasons.

A Group

Season	2010–11
Dates	31 July 2010 – 28 May 2011
Champions	Litex Lovech (4th title)
Relegated	Akademik Sofia Sliven Pirin
Champions League	Litex Lovech
Europa League	Levski Sofia CSKA Sofia Lokomotiv Sofia
Matches played	240
Goals scored	577 (2.4 per match)
Top goalscorer	Garra Dembélé (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Pirin 6–0 Akademik (14 May 2011)
Biggest away win	Akademik 0–4 Slavia (11 September 2010) Chernomorets 0–4 CSKA Sofia (5 March 2011)
Highest scoring	Sliven 6–1 Vidima-Rakovski (18 September 2010) Lokomotiv Sofia 4–3 Slavia (27 November 2010)
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

Team information

Lokomotiv Mezdra, Sportist Svoge and Botev Plovdiv were directly relegated after finishing in the bottom three places. Lokomotiv Mezdra ended a two-year tenure, Sportist Svoge were relegated after a year in A Group, and Botev were excluded from A Group due to financial difficulties at the winter brake, ending a five-year stint in the A Group.

The relegated teams were replaced by Vidima-Rakovski, champions of West B Group and Kaliakra Kavarna, champions of the East B Group. Vidima-Rakovski returned to A Group after two years, while Kaliakra entered the top division for their first time.

A further place in the league was decided by a play-off match between the runners-up teams from the two B Group's. The game was played on 23 May 2010 between Nesebar and Akademik Sofia. Akademik won the match by 2–1 and returned to the top division after 28 years. The last season the club had played in A Group was 1981–82.

Stadia and locations

As in the previous year, the league will comprise the best thirteen teams of season 2009/10, the 2 champions of the West and East B Group's and the winners of the promotion play-off between the runners-up from the West and East B Group's.

The following teams have ensured their participation in A Group for season 2010/11 (listed in alphabetical order):

Sofia

Beroe

Cherno More

Chernomorets

Kaliakra

Litex

Lokomotiv Plovdiv

Minyor

Montana

Pirin

Sliven

Vidima-Rakovski

Location of teams in 2010–11 A Group

Akademik

CSKA

Levski

Lokomotiv

Slavia

Sofia 2010–11 A Group football clubs

Team	City	Stadium	Stadium capacity
Akademik	Sofia	Ovcha Kupel1	18,000
Beroe	Stara Zagora	Beroe	17,800
Cherno More	Varna	Ticha	8,250
Chernomorets	Burgas	Lazur	18,037
CSKA	Sofia	Vasil Levski2	43,632
Kaliakra	Kavarna	Kavarna	5,000
Levski	Sofia	Georgi Asparuhov	29,986
Litex	Lovech	Lovech	7,050
Lokomotiv	Plovdiv	Lokomotiv	13,800
Lokomotiv	Sofia	Vasil Levski3	43,632
Minyor	Pernik	Minyor	8,000
Montana	Montana	Ogosta	8,000
Pirin	Blagoevgrad	Hristo Botev	7,500
Slavia	Sofia	Ovcha Kupel	18,000
Sliven 2000	Sliven	Hadzhi Dimitar	10,000
Vidima-Rakovski	Sevlievo	Rakovski	8,816

Notes

1. Akademik Sofia will play their league home games at Ovcha Kupel Stadium in Sofia because their Akademik Stadium had not received approval from the BFU license committee.
2. CSKA Sofia will play their league home games at Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia because their Balgarska Armiya had not received approval from the BFU license committee.
3. Lokomotiv Sofia will play their league home games at Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia because their Lokomotiv Stadium had not received approval from the BFU license committee.

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit Manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
Akademik Sofia	Boris Angelov	Nikola Asenov	Saller	Bench Mark Group
Beroe Stara Zagora	Ilian Iliev	Slavi Zhekov	GUPA	Bulsatcom
Cherno More Varna	Stefan Genov	Georgi Iliev	Misho	Armeets
Chernomorets Burgas	Georgi Vasilev	Trayan Dyankov	Puma	QUARTO
CSKA Sofia	Milen Radukanov	Todor Yanchev	Uhlsport	GLOBUL
Kaliakra	Anton Zdravkov	Ivan Raychev	Uhlsport	Municipality of Kavarna
Levski Sofia	Yasen Petrov	Hristo Yovov	Nike	M-Tel
Litex Lovech	Lyuboslav Penev	Nebojša Jelenković	Adidas	b-connect
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Saša Nikolić	Zdravko Lazarov	Uhlsport
Lokomotiv Sofia	Dian Petkov	Kristian Dobrev	Puma
Minyor Pernik	Stoycho Stoev	Kostadin Markov	Jumper	Municipal Insurance Company
Montana	Atanas Dzhambazki	Daniel Gadzhev	ASICS	GM Capital
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Kostadin Angelov	Veselin Stoykov	Joma	Beer Pirinsko
Slavia Sofia	Emil Velev	Bogomil Dyakov	Puma
Sliven	Dimcho Nenov	Evgeni Karamanov	Tomy
Vidima-Rakovski	Dimitar Todorov	Georgi Stoychev	ASICS	VIDEXIM

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager(s)	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
CSKA Sofia	Adalbert Zafirov (interim)	End of caretaker contract	16 May 2010	Pre-season	Pavel Dochev	13 May 2010[2]
Slavia Sofia	Velislav Vutsov	Sacked	17 May 2010		Emil Velev	19 May 2010[3]
Levski Sofia	Anton Zdravkov Georgi Ivanov	End of caretaker contract	20 May 2010		Yasen Petrov	20 May 2010[4]
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Stefan Grozdanov	Leaves the club	8 June 2010[5]		Yordan Bozdanski	21 June 2010
Litex Lovech	Angel Chervenkov	Sacked	5 August 2010	1st	Petko Petkov (interim)	5 August 2010[6]
CSKA Sofia	Pavel Dochev	Sacked	16 August 2010[7]	13th	Gjore Jovanovski	16 August 2010[8]
Pirin Blagoevgrad	Yordan Bozdanski	Sacked	30 August 2010	14th	Kostadin Angelov	1 September 2010[9]
Litex Lovech	Petko Petkov (interim)	End of caretaker contract	1 September 2010	4th	Luboslav Penev	2 September 2010[10]
Minyor Pernik	Anton Velkov	Resigned	6 September 2010[11]	16th	Stoycho Stoev	8 September 2010[12]
Kaliakra Kavarna	Filip Filipov	Sacked	6 October 2010[13]	13th	Anton Zdravkov	7 October 2010
CSKA Sofia	Gjore Jovanovski	Sacked	21 October 2010[14]	9th	Milen Radukanov	21 October 2010[15]
Cherno More Varna	Velizar Popov	Resigned	23 October 2010[16]	10th	Stefan Genov	23 October 2010
Lokomotiv Sofia	Dimitar Vasev	Sacked	22 November 2010[17]	5th	Dian Petkov (interim)	22 November 2010
Sliven	Dragoljub Simonović	Resigned	4 December 2010[18]	15th	Dimcho Nenov	10 January 2011[19]
Chernomorets Burgas	Krasimir Balakov	Resigned	7 December 2010[20]	3rd	Anton Velkov	23 December 2010[21]
Chernomorets Burgas	Anton Velkov	Sacked	21 March 2011[22]	7th	Georgi Vasilev	21 March 2011
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Nedelcho Matushev	Sacked	26 April 2011[23]	5th	Saša Nikolić	26 April 2011

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Litex Lovech (C)	30	23	6	1	56	13	+43	75	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Levski Sofia	30	23	3	4	67	24	+43	72	Qualification for Europa League third qualifying round
3	CSKA Sofia	30	18	7	5	53	26	+27	61	Qualification for Europa League play-off round[a]
4	Lokomotiv Sofia	30	16	4	10	47	33	+14	52[b]	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
5	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	30	14	10	6	54	28	+26	52[b]
6	Cherno More	30	15	6	9	36	28	+8	51
7	Beroe	30	13	7	10	33	34	−1	46
8	Chernomorets Burgas	30	9	10	11	19	28	−9	37
9	Minyor Pernik	30	10	6	14	33	45	−12	36
10	Montana	30	8	8	14	30	46	−16	32[c]
11	Slavia Sofia	30	9	5	16	34	38	−4	32[c]
12	Kaliakra	30	8	6	16	19	40	−21	30
13	Pirin Blagoevgrad (R)	30	6	9	15	32	39	−7	27	Relegation to 2011–12 V Group[d]
14	Vidima-Rakovski (O)	30	6	7	17	26	52	−26	25	Qualification for relegation play-off
15	Akademik Sofia (R)	30	5	5	20	16	51	−35	20	Relegation to 2011–12 B Group
16	Sliven (R)	30	4	7	19	22	52	−30	19

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; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. CSKA Sofia have won the 2010–11 Bulgarian Cup competition and therefore qualified for the play-off round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.
2. Lokomotiv Sofia ahead of Lokomotiv Plovdiv on head-to-head record; Lokomotiv Sofia–Lokomotiv Plovdiv 3–0, Lokomotiv Plovdiv–Lokomotiv Sofia 0–0.
3. Montana ahead of Slavia Sofia on head-to-head record; Slavia Sofia–Montana 3–2, Montana–Slavia Sofia 1–0.
4. The team did not receive a license for professional football for the next season.

Results

Home \ Away	AKD	BSZ	CHM	CHB	CSK	KAV	LEV	LIT	LPL	LSO	MIN	MON	PIR	SLA	OFC	VRA
Akademik Sofia		1–3	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–3	0–3	1–2	2–3	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–4	0–1	1–2
Beroe	1–0		0–0	0–0	0–2	2–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–1
Cherno More	1–0	1–0		0–1	1–0	2–0	2–3	0–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	2–1	3–2	3–0	5–0
Chernomorets Burgas	0–0	0–2	1–2		0–4	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–0
CSKA Sofia	3–1	3–2	1–0	1–2		0–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	1–0	2–0	1–0
Kaliakra	0–1	2–2	4–0	1–1	0–3		0–3	0–1	1–3	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–0
Levski Sofia	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–3	3–0		2–0	1–2	3–1	4–0	3–0	4–1	3–0	5–0	2–0
Litex Lovech	2–0	4–0	3–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–1		1–0	1–0	2–1	4–1	2–1	2–0	4–0	4–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	3–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	4–1	5–0	2–3	2–2		0–0	3–0	4–0	2–2	1–1	3–0	3–0
Lokomotiv Sofia	2–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	4–0	0–2	1–3	3–0		0–3	2–0	2–0	4–3	3–0	2–1
Minyor Pernik	1–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–4	1–0	0–0	0–3	2–2	1–3		1–0	1–0	1–2	4–1	2–1
Montana	2–2	2–1	4–0	0–0	1–4	3–2	0–3	0–2	1–1	0–1	3–1		3–0	1–0	2–2	1–1
Pirin Blagoevgrad	6–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–3	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	3–0		0–2	2–1	1–1
Slavia Sofia	2–0	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	1–1		0–0	2–0
OFC Sliven	3–0	0–1	1–3	0–0	1–3	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	1–1		6–1
Vidima-Rakovski	0–1	1–2	0–1	3–0	2–2	1–0	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	2–1

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

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Litex Lovech	1	3	2	5	4	6	5	4	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Levski Sofia	3	1	4	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
CSKA Sofia	14	16	13	11	9	9	9	9	8	9	8	7	6	4	5	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Lokomotiv Sofia	3	9	5	3	3	4	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	6	2	1	4	7	7	7	6	6	6	7	5	5	7	6	4	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	4	5	5	6	6	5	5
Cherno More	1	9	6	8	11	8	8	8	9	7	10	9	9	9	9	9	7	8	6	6	5	7	6	6	6	6	5	5	6	6
Beroe	10	11	9	6	5	3	6	7	7	8	6	8	8	8	7	7	8	7	8	7	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Chernomorets Burgas	8	5	3	1	1	2	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	6	6	6	7	8	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Minyor Pernik	12	15	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	15	16	15	15	13	13	13	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	9
Montana	14	13	8	10	8	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	10
Slavia Sofia	14	8	12	7	6	5	3	5	5	5	5	6	7	6	8	8	9	9	9	9	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	11	11
Kaliakra	3	6	10	12	10	11	11	11	13	12	12	13	11	11	11	11	12	13	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	12	12	13	12	12
Pirin Blagoevgrad	12	7	11	13	13	12	13	12	11	11	11	12	13	13	14	14	15	15	16	15	15	15	13	12	12	13	13	12	13	13
Vidima-Rakovski	6	3	7	9	12	13	14	14	14	16	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	16	16	16	15	15	14	14	14	14	14
Akademik Sofia	8	12	14	15	15	15	16	16	16	14	14	11	12	12	12	12	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	15	15	15	15	15
OFC Sliven	10	14	15	14	14	14	12	13	12	13	13	14	14	14	15	15	14	14	14	14	14	13	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Relegation playoff

Sportist Svoge	1–2	Chernomorets Pomorie
Mladenov 82'	(Report)	Koparanov 38' Kostadinov 41'

8 June 2011

17:00 EEST

Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium, Sliven

Attendance: 600

Referee: Nikolay Yordanov (Sofia)

---

Vidima-Rakovski	0–3	Chernomorets Pomorie
	Report	Atanasov 57' Kaloyanov 60', 80'

12 June 2011

17:00 EEST

Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium, Sliven

Attendance: 800

Referee: Stanislav Todorov (Shumen)

Chernomorets Pomorie wasn't allowed to compete in the next season, so there will be 2 play-offs. The first will be between the teams that lost against Chernomorets Pomorie, Vidima-Rakovski and Sportist Svoge. The other will be between Svetkavitsa and FC Etar Veliko Tarnovo (the 3rd teams in the West and East B Group) for the Pirin Blagoevgrad's place.

Svetkavitsa	3–1	Etar
Genov 24' Stoyanov 46' Shokolarov 90+2'	Report	Kanev 4'

17 June 2011

17:00 EEST

Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium, Sliven

Attendance: 2500

Referee: Aleksandar Kostadinov (Sofia)

---

Sportist Svoge	1–1	Vidima-Rakovski
P. Vasilev 35'	Report	Gospodinov 88' (pen.)
Penalties
Stoev Mladenov Mutafov Borisov Valentinov	2–3	Gospodinov Andonov A. Ivanov Ashimov

26 June 2011

17:00 EEST

Hristo Botev Stadium, Vratsa

Referee: Ahmed Ahmed (Burgas)

Champions

Litex Lovech

Goalkeepers
01	Uroš Golubović	02	0(0)
30	Evgeni Aleksandrov	01	0(0)
31	Vinícius Barrivieira	26	0(0)

Defenders
02	Alexandre Barthe	21	0(3)
03	Petar Zanev	27	0(1)
04	Džemal Berberović	23	0(0)
05	Mihail Venkov	12	0(0)
06	Ivaylo Petkov	05	0(1)
16	Strahil Popov	03	0(0)
18	Iliya Milanov	06	0(0)
22	Plamen Nikolov	24	0(0)
33	Nikolay Bodurov	25	0(2)

Midfielders
07	Hristo Yanev	27	0(5)
08	Tom	18	0(1)
10	Sandrinho	10	0(1)
15	Doka Madureira	22	(12)
17	Georgi Milanov	27	0(4)
19	Rumen Rumenov	06	0(0)
20	Neném	00	0(0)
21	Aleksandar Tsvetkov	14	0(0)
22	Simeon Slavchev	01	0(0)
23	Nebojša Jelenković	22	0(0)
24	Angel Zdravchev	01	0(0)
27	Momchil Tsvetanov	22	0(3)

Forwards
09	Svetoslav Todorov	25	0(8)
11	Papa Diouf	14	0(2)
14	Dejan Djermanović	12	0(3)
	Wilfried Niflore*	12	0(6)
	Ivelin Popov*	03	0(0)
	Florin Bratu*	07	0(2)

Manager
	Lyuboslav Penev

• Niflore, Popov and Bratu left the club during a season.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers Including matches played on 28 May 2011[24] Rank Scorer Club Goals 1 Garra Dembélé Levski Sofia 26 2 Zdravko Lazarov Lokomotiv Plovdiv 14 3 Spas Delev CSKA Sofia 13 4 Doka Madureira Litex Lovech 12 5 Tsvetan Genkov Lokomotiv Sofia 11 Hristo Zlatinski Lokomotiv Plovdiv 11 7 Michel Platini CSKA Sofia 10 Nikolay Bozhov Slavia Sofia 10 Basile de Carvalho Lokomotiv Plovdiv 10 Vladislav Zlatinov Beroe Stara Zagora 10

Top assistants Including matches played on 28 May 2011[25] Rank Player Club Assists 1 Darko Tasevski Levski Sofia 9 2 Tom Litex Lovech 8 Zdravko Lazarov Lokomotiv Plovdiv 8 4 Joãozinho Levski Sofia 7 Hristo Yanev Litex Lovech 7 Spas Delev CSKA Sofia 7 7 Gregory Nelson CSKA Sofia 6 Iskren Pisarov Lokomotiv Sofia 6 Marcho Dafchev Lokomotiv Sofia 6 10 Tsvetan Genkov Lokomotiv Sofia 5 Basile de Carvalho Lokomotiv Plovdiv 5 Serginho Lokomotiv Plovdiv 5 Dragi Kotsev Lokomotiv Plovdiv 5 Emil Gargorov CSKA Sofia 5 Todor Hristov Beroe 5 Doka Madureira Litex Lovech 5 Atanas Chipilov Montana 5

Scoring

• First goal of the season: 18:06, 31 July 2010 – Georgi Filipov for Kaliakra against Slavia (6th minute)
• Fastest goal in a match: 19 seconds – Rumen Trifonov for CSKA against Chernomorets (8 August 2010)
• First own goal of the season: Yordan Petkov (Slavia) for Beroe, 3rd round (15 August 2010)
• First hat-trick of the season: Garra Dembélé (Levski) against Loko Sofia (9 August 2010)
• Quickest hat-trick: 25 minutes – Garra Dembélé (Levski) against Minyor (12 September 2010)
• Widest winning margin: 5 goals
  • Sliven 2000 6–1 Vidima-Rakovski (18 September 2010)
  • Lokomotiv Plovdiv 5–0 Kaliakra (25 September 2010)
  • Cherno More 5–0 Vidima-Rakovski (9 April 2011)
• Most goals in one half: 6 goals
  • Sliven 2000 6–1 Vidima-Rakovski (5–1 at half time) (18 September 2010)
• Most goals scored by losing team: 3 goals
  • Lokomotiv Sofia 4–3 Slavia (27 November 2010)
• Highest scoring draw: 4 goals
  • Vidima-Rakovski 2–2 CSKA (14 August 2010)
  • Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2–2 Litex (22 August 2010)
  • Montana 2–2 Akademik (18 September 2010)
  • Minyor 2–2 Lokomotiv Plovdiv (2 October 2010)
  • Lokomotiv Sofia 2–2 CSKA (4 October 2010)
  • Slavia 2–2 Levski (7 November 2010)

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Radoslav Mitrevski for Pirin against Cherno More, 17 minutes and 25 seconds (31 July 2010)
• First red card of the season: Anton Dimitrov for Kaliakra against Slavia, 87 minutes and 14 seconds (31 July 2010)
• Most yellow cards in a single match: 10
  • Akademik 0–1 Sliven – 6 for Akademik (Pieter Mbemba, Asparuh Vasilev, Ivan Redovski, Nikola Asenov, Marcos Bonfim and Yulian Petkov) and 4 for Sliven (Petar Stoyanov, Nikolay Dimitrov, Miroslav Mindev and Dimo Bakalov) (21 August 2010)
• Most red cards in a single match: 3
  • Cherno More 3–2 Slavia – 1 for Cherno More (Ademar Júnior) and 2 for Slavia (Galin Ivanov, Victor Deniran) (17 October 2010)

See also

• List of Bulgarian football transfers summer 2010
• List of Bulgarian football transfers winter 2010–11