2001–02 A Group
54th completed season of top-tier football league in Bulgaria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2001–02 A Group was the 54th season of the A Football Group, the top Bulgarian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948.
| Season | 2001–02 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 3 August 2001 – 30 May 2002 |
| Champions | Levski Sofia (23rd title) |
| Relegated | |
| Champions League | Levski |
| UEFA Cup | |
| Matches | 268 |
| Goals | 681 (2.54 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Vladimir Manchev (21 goals) |
← 2000–01 2002–03 → | |
Defending champions Levski Sofia won their third consecutive title, and 23rd title overall.
Overview
The format of the league was changed from last season, with the intention of making the league more competitive. This resulted in the league being divided into two groups after the regular season. The top 6 teams from the regular season would continue in the championship round, while the bottom 8 teams would play in the relegation round. It was contested by 14 teams, and Levski Sofia won the championship.[1]
Teams
Fourteen teams competed in the league. The promoted teams from the 2000–01 B Group were Spartak Pleven (returning to the top flight after a three-year absence) and Marek Dupnitsa (returning after a nineteen-year absence). The league also included Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Belasitsa Petrich after mergers with Velbazhd Kyustendil and Hebar Pazardzhik respectively.
These teams replace Botev Plovdiv and Minyor Pernik, who were relegated at the end of the last season.
Stadiums and Locations
Location of teams in 2001–02 A Group
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belasitsa | Petrich | Tsar Samuil | 9,500 |
| Beroe | Stara Zagora | Beroe | 22,500 |
| Cherno More | Varna | Ticha | 8,250 |
| Chernomorets | Burgas | Chernomorets | 22,000 |
| CSKA | Sofia | Balgarska Armia | 22,015 |
| Levski | Sofia | Georgi Asparuhov | 29,200 |
| Litex | Lovech | Gradski | 7,050 |
| Lokomotiv | Plovdiv | Lokomotiv | 24,000 |
| Lokomotiv | Sofia | Lokomotiv | 22,000 |
| Marek | Dupnitsa | Bonchuk | 16,050 |
| Naftex | Burgas | Lazur | 18,037 |
| Slavia | Sofia | Slavia | 32,000 |
| Spartak | Pleven | Slavi Aleksiev | 21,940 |
| Spartak | Varna | Spartak | 7,500 |
Personnel and kits
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belasitsa |  Mihail Valchev |
Vitosha AD | ||
| Beroe | Venelin Sivriev |
Vanyo Shishkov |
 Erima |
|
| Cherno More | Aleksandar Stankov |
Ventsislav Marinov |
BURGELOF |
St. Elias |
| Chernomorets | Ivan Tsvetanov |
Kostadin Dzhambazov |
||
| CSKA Sofia |  Luigi Simoni |
Georgi Antonov |
Lotto |
— |
| Levski Sofia |  Slavoljub Muslin |
Stanimir Stoilov |
Diadora |
Mobiltel |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | Dimitar Dimitrov |
 Asics |
VAI Holding | |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | Emil Dimitrov |
Adidas |
Delta-G | |
| Litex | Ferario Spasov |
Vitomir Vutov |
Asics |
Litex Commerce |
| Marek | Dimitar Aleksiev |
Velizar Dimitrov |
 Nike |
|
| Naftex | Dimitar Stoychev |
Stanimir Dimitrov |
Puma |
Petrol AD |
| Slavia Sofia | Žarko Olarević |
Veselin Vachev |
Adidas |
Sofiyski Imoti |
| Spartak Pleven | Angel Stankov |
Slavcho Pavlov |
Asics |
VIS-2 |
| Spartak Varna | Stefan Grozdanov |
Valentin Stanchev |
||
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beroe | Tsvetomir Parvanov |
Mutual consent | 1 June 2001 | Pre-season | Ivan Vutov |
21 June 2001[2] |
| Chernomorets | Nikolay Rusev |
Mutual consent | 1 June 2001 | Pre-season | Mihail Valchev |
22 June 2001[3] |
| Marek Dupnitsa | Petar Zehtinski |
Mutual consent | 8 September 2001 | 12th | Yanko Dinkov |
10 September 2001[4] |
| Chernomorets | Mihail Valchev |
Sacked | 9 September 2001 | 14th | Ivan Tsvetanov |
12 September 2001[5] |
| Levski Sofia | Ljupko Petrović |
Mutual consent | 10 September 2001[6] | 1st | Georgi Todorov (caretaker) |
10 September 2001 |
| Slavia Sofia | Kiril Kachamanov |
Sacked | 25 September 2001 | 10th | Žarko Olarević |
25 September 2001 |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | Angel Kolev |
Sacked | 28 October 2001[7] | 9th | Emil Dimitrov |
28 October 2001 |
| CSKA Sofia | Asparuh Nikodimov |
Sacked | 4 December 2001 | 3rd | Luigi Simoni |
10 December 2001 |
| Marek Dupnitsa | Yanko Dinkov |
Mutual consent | 2 January 2002 | 13th | Dimitar Aleksiev |
2 January 2002[8] |
| Levski Sofia | Georgi Todorov |
End of caretaker tenure | 3 January 2002 | 1st | Rüdiger Abramczik |
3 January 2002 |
| Beroe | Ivan Vutov |
Mutual consent | 4 January 2002 | 14th | Tsvetomir Parvanov |
4 January 2002 |
| Levski Sofia | Rüdiger Abramczik |
Sacked | 11 March 2002[9] | 1st | Slavoljub Muslin |
17 March 2002[10] |
| Beroe | Tsvetomir Parvanov |
Sacked | 12 March 2002 | 14th | Iliya Iliev |
17 March 2002 |
| Spartak Pleven | Velislav Vutsov |
Mutual consent | 12 March 2002 | 7th | Angel Stankov |
18 March 2002 |
| Belasitsa | Voyn Voynov |
Sacked | 12 May 2002 | 12th | Mihail Valchev |
13 May 2002[11] |
First stage
League standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levski Sofia | 26 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 58 | 21 | +37 | 65 | Qualification for championship group |
| 2 | Litex Lovech | 26 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 50 | 27 | +23 | 55 | |
| 3 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 26 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 42 | 23 | +19 | 53 | |
| 4 | CSKA Sofia | 26 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 48 | 17 | +31 | 52 | |
| 5 | Naftex Burgas | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 42 | |
| 6 | Slavia Sofia | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 30 | 32 | −2 | 37 | |
| 7 | Spartak Pleven | 26 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 40 | 44 | −4 | 33 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 8 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 33 | 32 | +1 | 29 | |
| 9 | Spartak Varna | 26 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 29 | 39 | −10 | 26 | |
| 10 | Chernomorets Burgas | 26 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 24 | 54 | −30 | 26 | |
| 11 | Marek | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 22 | 42 | −20 | 24 | |
| 12 | Cherno More | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 28 | 36 | −8 | 24 | |
| 13 | Belasitsa Petrich | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 21 | 35 | −14 | 23 | |
| 14 | Beroe | 26 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 13 | 46 | −33 | 14 |
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 season goal difference; 7th season goals scored; 8th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9th draw.
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 season goal difference; 7th season goals scored; 8th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9th draw.
Results
Championship group
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levski Sofia (C) | 36 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 77 | 27 | +50 | 56 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Litex Lovech | 36 | 23 | 8 | 5 | 66 | 34 | +32 | 50 | Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | CSKA Sofia | 36 | 19 | 7 | 10 | 60 | 29 | +31 | 38 | |
| 4 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 36 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 34 | |
| 5 | Slavia Sofia | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 42 | 48 | −6 | 32 | |
| 6 | Naftex Burgas | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 44 | 40 | +4 | 30 |
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 season goal difference; 7th season goals scored; 8th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9th draw.
(C) Champions
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 season goal difference; 7th season goals scored; 8th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9th draw.
(C) Champions
Results
Relegation group
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Marek | 40 | 14 | 8 | 18 | 46 | 57 | −11 | 38 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round |
| 8 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 40 | 14 | 9 | 17 | 49 | 48 | +1 | 37 | |
| 9 | Spartak Varna | 40 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 50 | 51 | −1 | 36 | |
| 10 | Chernomorets Burgas | 40 | 13 | 9 | 18 | 41 | 69 | −28 | 35 | |
| 11 | Cherno More | 40 | 12 | 11 | 17 | 47 | 51 | −4 | 35 | |
| 12 | Spartak Pleven (R) | 40 | 15 | 4 | 21 | 58 | 66 | −8 | 33 | Relegation to 2002–03 B Group |
| 13 | Belasitsa Petrich (R) | 40 | 12 | 7 | 21 | 34 | 50 | −16 | 32 | |
| 14 | Beroe (R) | 40 | 4 | 8 | 28 | 19 | 70 | −51 | 13 |
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 season goal difference; 7th season goals scored; 8th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9th draw.
(R) Relegated
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 season goal difference; 7th season goals scored; 8th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9th draw.
(R) Relegated
Results
Champions
- Levski Sofia
| Goalkeepers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgi Petkov | 27 | (0) |
| 12 | Georgi Sheytanov | 1 | (0) |
| 27 | Dimitar Ivankov | 9 | (0) |
| Defenders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Martin Stankov | 15 | (0) |
| 3 | Stanimir Stoilov | 30 | (0) |
| 5 | Georgi Markov* | 16 | (0) |
| 11 | Elin Topuzakov | 26 | (5) |
| 13 | Ivo Trenchev | 19 | (1) |
| 14 | Vladimir Ivanov | 11 | (0) |
| 20 | Stanislav Angelov | 28 | (5) |
| 22 | Ilian Stoyanov | 25 | (0) |
| 23 |  Dalibor Dragić | 24 | (5) |
| 26 | Tsanko Tsvetanov | 6 | (0) |
| 28 | Bogomil Dyakov | 1 | (0) |
| Midfielders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Biser Ivanov | 24 | (1) |
| 6 | Stanislav Genchev | 21 | (3) |
| 7 |  Péter Kabát | 15 | (5) |
| 15 | Saša Simonović | 6 | (3) |
| 17 |  Konstantin Golovskoy | 20 | (0) |
| 18 |  Brent Rahim | 11 | (0) |
| 21 | Dimitar Telkiyski | 30 | (4) |
| 25 | Yordan Terziev* | 4 | (0) |
| 30 | Dimitar Krastev | 3 | (0) |
| Asen Nikolov* | 3 | (0) | |
 William Batista* | 1 | (0) | |
| Svetoslav Barkanichkov* | 2 | (0) | |
| Forwards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Georgi Bachev | 18 | (8) |
| 9 | Georgi Ivanov | 19 | (13) |
| 10 | István Ferenczi | 4 | (3) |
| 16 | Martin Kushev | 15 | (6) |
| 19 | Georgi Chilikov | 27 | (10) |
| 24 | Miodrag Pantelić | 29 | (4) |
| 29 | Dimitar Makriev | 1 | (0) |
| Rogério Gaúcho* | 8 | (0) | |
| Todor Kolev* | 2 | (0) | |
| Manager | |
|---|---|
| Slavoljub Muslin | |
- Markov, Terziev, Nikolov, Batista, Barkanichkov, Gaucho and Kolev left the club during a season.
Top scorers
Attendances
| # | Club | Average | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neftochimik | 8,750 | 18,000 |
| 2 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 7,650 | 20,000 |
| 3 | Levski | 7,250 | 18,000 |
| 4 | Marek | 4,150 | 15,000 |
| 5 | CSKA Sofia | 4,111 | 18,000 |
| 6 | Pleven | 3,590 | 18,000 |
| 7 | Beroe | 3,547 | 9,000 |
| 8 | Chernomorets | 3,505 | 8,000 |
| 9 | Lovech | 3,094 | 6,000 |
| 10 | Cherno More | 3,028 | 8,500 |
| 11 | Belasitsa | 2,825 | 10,000 |
| 12 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 2,030 | 9,000 |
| 13 | Slavia Sofia | 1,850 | 8,000 |
| 14 | Spartak Varna | 1,565 | 7,000 |
Source:[12]