1972–73 A Group

The 1972–73 A Group was the 25th season of the A Football Group, the top Bulgarian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948.

A Group

Season	1972–73
Champions	CSKA Sofia (17th title)
Relegated	Tundzha Volov
European Cup	CSKA
UEFA Cup	Lokomotiv Plovdiv Slavia
Matches played	304
Goals scored	848 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Petar Zhekov (29 goals)
← 1971–72 1973–74 →

Overview

It was contested by 18 teams, and CSKA Sofia won the championship.^[1]

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	CSKA Sofia (C)	34	22	7	5	80	40	+40	51	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	34	18	7	9	62	38	+24	43	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	Slavia Sofia	33	16	11	6	55	33	+22	43
4	Levski Sofia	34	15	10	9	62	37	+25	40
5	Akademik Sofia	34	15	8	11	61	43	+18	38
6	Dunav Ruse[a] (R)	34	14	9	11	42	41	+1	37	Relegation to 1973–74 B Group
7	Lokomotiv Sofia	34	14	9	11	44	44	0	37
8	Botev Vratsa	34	13	7	14	48	55	−7	33
9	Botev Plovdiv	34	12	8	14	44	44	0	32
10	Cherno More Varna	34	12	8	14	51	54	−3	32
11	Spartak Pleven	33	13	5	15	46	51	−5	31
12	Chernomorets Burgas[a] (R)	34	12	7	15	35	44	−9	31	Relegation to 1973–74 B Group
13	Beroe Stara Zagora	34	12	6	16	50	47	+3	30	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
14	Minyor Pernik	34	8	14	12	35	54	−19	30
15	Spartak Varna	33	10	9	14	34	49	−15	29
16	Etar Veliko Tarnovo	34	7	14	13	37	49	−12	28
17	Tundzha Yambol (R)	33	9	7	17	37	55	−18	25	Relegation to 1973–74 B Group
18	Volov Shumen (R)	34	6	6	22	25	70	−45	18

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Following the end of the season, after allegations of match fixing and allocation of funds for briberies, Dunav and Chernomorets were relegated from the group, while the matches Slavia - Spartak Varna and Spartak Pleven - Tundzha were annulled.

Results

Home \ Away	AKD	BSZ	BPD	BVR	CHM	CHB	CSK	DUN	ETA	LEV	LPL	LSO	MIN	SLA	SPL	SPV	TUN	VOL
Akademik Sofia		4–1	0–0	1–0	3–3	2–1	2–3	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–1	7–0	1–1	1–2	4–0	4–0	4–1	1–0
Beroe Stara Zagora	0–2		1–3	4–0	3–1	4–0	2–0	5–1	1–1	1–0	0–3	3–1	4–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	4–0
Botev Plovdiv	3–2	3–1		3–1	1–1	0–0	1–3	0–2	0–0	1–0	3–4	2–3	1–1	2–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	3–0
Botev Vratsa	4–1	3–1	5–2		3–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	3–1	2–1
Cherno More	0–1	1–0	1–1	3–2		3–0	1–3	2–3	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	2–0	3–1	3–1	3–1
Chernomorets Burgas	3–2	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–1		2–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–0
CSKA Sofia	0–2	1–0	3–1	5–3	2–1	3–1		4–0	2–0	2–2	2–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	3–1	4–1	8–1	7–1
Dunav Ruse	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–2		1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	0–0
Etar Veliko Tarnovo	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–1		0–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–3	1–1	2–0	0–0
Levski Sofia	1–2	4–0	2–1	0–0	4–1	3–1	1–2	4–1	5–2		2–1	5–0	4–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	5–1	3–1
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	2–0	1–0	0–1	5–1	1–1	3–3	0–1	4–0	3–0	2–1		5–1	4–1	2–2	3–2	1–1	3–2	1–0
Lokomotiv Sofia	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	3–2	2–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–0		0–1	5–1	4–0	3–3	3–1	2–0
Minyor Pernik	3–3	2–2	0–2	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	0–0		0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	4–1
Slavia Sofia	2–0	1–0	3–2	1–1	3–0	4–1	0–0	4–1	5–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	5–0		1–0	–[a]	3–1	2–0
Spartak Pleven	1–2	2–1	3–0	3–0	3–1	3–1	3–3	1–4	6–3	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–0		3–0	–[a]	2–0
Spartak Varna	1–0	0–4	1–0	3–1	1–3	2–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	2–0		0–0	6–1
Tundzha Yambol	2–1	3–0	0–0	1–2	4–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–1		1–0
Volov Shumen	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–2	0–6	1–2	3–1	0–4	1–3	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–3

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

1. The matches Slavia Sofia – Spartak Varna and Spartak Pleven – Tundzha Yambol were annulled. The games were rated with a goalless defeat.

Champions

CSKA Sofia

Goalkeepers
Stoyan Yordanov	22	0(0)
Yordan Filipov	12	0(0)
Drazho Stoyanov	04	0(0)

Defenders
Kiril Stankov	28	0(1)
Dimitar Penev	24	0(3)
Ivan Zafirov	31	0(1)
Todor Simov	14	0(1)
Boris Gaganelov	34	0(0)
Bozhil Kolev	34	0(6)

Midfielders
Borislav Sredkov	17	0(1)
Asparuh Nikodimov	32	0(2)
Plamen Yankov	27	0(4)
Georgi Denev	33	(12)
Tsvetan Atanasov	21	0(3)
Stoil Trankov	13	0(1)

Forwards
Petar Zhekov	31	(29)
Stefan Mihaylov	25	0(9)
Dimitar Marashliev	22	0(7)
Dimitar Yakimov	01	0(0)

Manager
	Manol Manolov

CSKA Sofia in 1973

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Petar Zhekov	CSKA Sofia	29
2	Hristo Bonev	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	28
3	Nikola Hristov	Dunav Ruse	23
4	Atanas Mihaylov	Lokomotiv Sofia	19
5	Georgi Kamenov	Botev Vratsa	18
	Petko Petkov	Beroe
7	Bozhidar Grigorov	Slavia Sofia	17
8	Georgi Tsvetkov	Levski Sofia	16
	Kiril Milanov	Akademik Sofia
10	Mladen Vasilev	Akademik Sofia	15