2007–08 A Group

The 2007–08 A Group was the 60th season of the Bulgarian A Football Group since its establishment in 1948 and the 84th of a Bulgarian national top football division. The season began on 11 August 2007 and ended on 17 May 2008. CSKA Sofia won their 31st record league title.[1] Last time they scooped the title was in 2004–05 season. CSKA won the league without a single defeat, 16 points ahead of their archrival Levski Sofia.

A Group
Season2007–08
Dates11 August 2007 – 17 May 2008
ChampionsCSKA Sofia
(31st title)
RelegatedBeroe
Vidima-Rakovski
Marek
Champions LeagueLevski Sofia
UEFA CupLokomotiv Sofia
Litex
Cherno More
Intertoto CupChernomorets
Matches played240
Goals scored558 (2.33 per match)
Top goalscorerGeorgi Hristov
(19 goals)
Biggest home winCherno More 7–0 Vidima-Rakovski
Biggest away winBelasitsa 1–6 Chernomorets
Highest scoringLevski 6–2 Botev (8 goals)

Despite the convincing results during the season, CSKA failed to get a UEFA license to participate in the Champions League due to unpaid debts. The guilt for the disaster in the club was taken by their chairman Aleksandar Tomov.[2][3]

The league was contested by 16 teams, thirteen returning from the 2006–07 season and three promoted from the 2006–07 B Group. The defending champion was Levski Sofia. Chernomorets Burgas and Pirin Blagoevgrad gained automatic promotion as winners of East and West B PFG. Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo gained promotion through the Promotion Play-Off beating Naftex Burgas 1–0 on 2 June 2007. The promoted teams replaced Conegliano German, Rodopa Smolyan, and Rilski Sportist Samokov, who were relegated after one, four, and one year in the A Group, respectively.

Teams

Stadia and locations
Location of teams in 2007–08 A Group
Sofia 2007–08 A Group football clubs
Team Location Stadium Capacity
Belasitsa Petrich Tsar Samuil Stadium 9,500
Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe Stadium 13,512
Botev Plovdiv Hristo Botev Stadium 22,000
Cherno More Varna Ticha Stadium 8,250
Chernomorets Burgas Lazur Stadium 18,037
CSKA Sofia Balgarska Armiya Stadium 22,015
Levski Sofia Georgi Asparuhov Stadium 29,200
Litex Lovech Lovech Stadium 7,050
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Lokomotiv 13,800
Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv Sofia 22,000
Marek Dupnitsa Bonchuk Stadium 16,050
Pirin Blagoevgrad Hristo Botev Stadium1 11,000
Slavia Sofia Ovcha Kupel Stadium 18,000
Spartak Varna Spartak Stadium 7,500
Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo Rakovski Stadium 8,816
Vihren Sandanski Sandanski Stadium 6,000

1^. Stadiums of Botev Plovdiv and Pirin Blagoevgrad have the same names, but they are placed in different cities.

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 CSKA Sofia (C) 30 24 6 0 53 11 +42 78 Excluded from European competitions[lower-alpha 1]
2 Levski Sofia 30 19 5 6 56 19 +37 62 Qualification for Champions League third qualifying round
3 Lokomotiv Sofia 30 16 9 5 47 28 +19 57 Qualification for UEFA Cup second qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
4 Litex Lovech 30 16 8 6 51 26 +25 56
5 Cherno More 30 13 9 8 39 28 +11 48 Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
6 Chernomorets Burgas 30 13 8 9 39 32 +7 47 Qualification for Intertoto Cup second round
7 Slavia Sofia 30 13 8 9 38 28 +10 47
8 Pirin Blagoevgrad 30 13 7 10 33 29 +4 46
9 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 30 12 7 11 37 28 +9 43
10 Vihren 30 9 6 15 26 29 −3 33
11 Spartak Varna 30 8 7 15 21 34 −13 31
12 Botev Plovdiv 30 8 6 16 36 54 −18 30
13 Belasitsa Petrich 30 7 5 18 23 43 −20 26
14 Beroe (R) 30 6 8 16 23 39 −16 26 Relegation to 2008–09 B Group
15 Vidima-Rakovski (R) 30 4 6 20 17 61 −44 18
16 Marek (R) 30 5 3 22 16 66 −50 18
Source: soccerway.com
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) Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. CSKA failed to get a license for the competition due to unpaid debts
  2. Litex qualify via 2007–08 Bulgarian Cup

Results
Home \ Away BEL BSZ BOT CHM CHB CSK LEV LIT LPL LSO MAR PIR SLA SPV VRA VIH
Belasitsa Petrich 3–1 3–1 1–1 1–6 1–3 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–2 2–1 1–0 1–0
Beroe 2–1 3–1 0–0 2–1 0–1 0–1 2–2 0–0 1–3 1–1 2–2 2–2 0–0 2–0 2–0
Botev Plovdiv 2–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–3 0–3 1–2 1–2 2–2 4–0 0–0 3–0 2–0 5–0 1–0
Cherno More 1–1 1–0 2–0 2–1 0–2 0–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 7–0 1–0
Chernomorets Burgas 0–0 2–0 3–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–4 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0
CSKA Sofia 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 0–0 2–0 3–1 4–0 3–0 2–0 3–2 3–1 1–0
Levski Sofia 4–0 1–0 6–2 4–0 2–1 0–1 0–1 3–1 0–1 4–2 4–0 2–1 3–0 3–0 1–0
Litex Lovech 2–0 1–1 6–0 1–1 2–1 1–1 2–1 3–1 1–1 4–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 4–1 2–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 1–0 2–0 4–0 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–0 1–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–0 6–1 2–1
Lokomotiv Sofia 1–0 3–0 2–2 4–3 4–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 2–1 2–0 0–3 1–2 1–0 2–0 3–2
Marek 0–3 0–1 1–0 1–4 1–4 1–3 0–4 0–3 2–1 1–4 0–2 1–0 1–0 2–1 0–3
Pirin Blagoevgrad 2–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–3 1–1 1–3 4–0 1–0 1–2 3–1 0–0
Slavia Sofia 3–1 2–0 4–2 3–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 2–1 1–0 5–0 2–0 0–0
Spartak Varna 1–0 1–0 2–2 0–1 1–1 0–2 1–2 0–0 2–1 0–1 2–0 2–0 2–1 0–0 0–1
Vidima-Rakovski 1–0 3–1 0–1 0–3 1–1 0–0 1–3 3–2 0–3 0–0 1–0 0–1 0–2 1–1 0–1
Vihren 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–2 1–2 0–1 2–1 0–2 1–0 3–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1
Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Champions
CSKA Sofia
Goalkeepers
01 Daniel Bekono000(0)
12 Ivaylo Petrov280(0)
22 Ilko Pirgov020(0)
Defenders
02 Nenad Nastić070(0)
03 Aleksandar Tunchev260(3)
06 Kiril Kotev180(0)
13 Nikola Vujadinović240(1)
14 Valentin Iliev*140(1)
15 Robert Petrov000(0)
27 Quido Lanzaat080(0)
30 Yordan Todorov260(1)
84 Filipe Machado150(2)
Midfielders
05 Todor Yanchev280(2)
10 Georgi Iliev160(1)
11 Emil Gargorov130(0)
16 Ivaylo Dimitrov010(0)
17 Zé Rui130(0)
18 Florentin Petre24(11)
20 Yordan Yurukov080(1)
21 Chigozie Udoji230(1)
23 Abderrahman Kabous*080(0)
24 Aleksandar Tonev020(0)
28 Marquinhos250(1)
Forwards
08 Velizar Dimitrov240(4)
09 José Luis Garcés140(3)
19 Evgeni Yordanov080(1)
99 Nei29(14)
Kevin Amuneke*100(2)
Georgi Chilikov*120(3)
Manager
Stoycho Mladenov
  • Iliev, Kabous, Amuneke and Chilikov left the club during a season.

Top scorers
Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Georgi Hristov Botev Plovdiv
19
2 Nei CSKA Sofia
14
3 Marcho Dafchev Lokomotiv Sofia
13
Zoran Baldovaliev Lokomotiv Sofia
5 Aleksandar Aleksandrov Cherno More Varna
12
6 Plamen Krumov Chernomorets Burgas
11
Florentin Petre CSKA Sofia
Ivelin Popov Litex Lovech
9 Germán Pietrobon Pirin Blagoevgrad
10
10 Anatoli Todorov Lokomotiv Plovdiv
9
Miroslav Manolov Cherno More Varna
Ivan Naydenov Spartak Varna

References
  1. "Сезон 2007-08 "Лицензгейт" пука розовите балони на Сашо Томов" (in Bulgarian). temasport.com. 12 October 2013.
  2. CSKA without UEFA license, Tomov takes the guilt
  3. "Part of Aleksandar Tomov's book: How they took the license of CSKA". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
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