The 2008–09 A Group was the 85th season of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 61st of A Group as the top tier football league in the country. It began on 9 August 2008 and ended on 13 June 2009. CSKA Sofia were the defending champions, but they were unable to retain it and Levski Sofia won the title, which was their 26th overall.
Promotion and relegation
Three teams were promoted from the 2007–08 B Group. These include the champions of the East and West B Groups, as well as the promotion playoff winner, decided through a one match between the runners-up of the two B Groups. The promoted teams were Lokomotiv Mezdra, Sliven, and Minyor Pernik. Lokomotiv Mezdra made their debut in the top tier of Bulgarian football, Sliven return after a fifteen-year absence, while Minyor Pernik return to the top tier after a seven-year absence. The promoted teams replaced Marek Dupnitsa, Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo and Beroe Stara Zagora, who were relegated after respective top flight spells of seven, one, and four years in the A Group.
Teams promoted from B PFG after the 2007–08 season West group champions: Lokomotiv Mezdra East group champions: OFC Sliven Play-offs: Minyor Pernik
Teams relegated to B PFG after the 2007–08 season Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo Marek Dupnitsa Beroe Stara Zagora
Team overview
Club Location Manager Venue CapacityBelasitsaPetrich Tsar Samuil Stadium9,500BotevPlovdiv Hristo Botev Stadium, Plovdiv22,000Cherno MoreVarna Ticha Stadium8,250ChernomoretsBurgas Naftex Stadium18,037CSKASofia Balgarska Armiya Stadium22,015LevskiSofia Georgi Asparuhov Stadium29,800LitexLovech Lovech Stadium7,000Lokomotiv MezdraMezdra Lokomotiv Stadium, Mezdra5,000Lokomotiv PlovdivPlovdiv Lokomotiv Stadium, Plovdiv13,800Lokomotiv SofiaSofia Lokomotiv Stadium, Sofia22,000MinyorPernik Minyor Stadium16,500OFC SlivenSliven Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium10,000PirinBlagoevgrad Hristo Botev Stadium, Blagoevgrad7,500SlaviaSofia Ovcha Kupel Stadium18,000SpartakVarna Spartak Stadium8,000VihrenSandanski Sandanski Stadium6,000
League table
Results
Champions Levski Sofia Goalkeepers1 Georgi Petkov 17 (0)12 Bozhidar Mitrev 7 (0)29 Daniel Kiss 3 (0)31 Tsvetan Dimitrov 3 (0) Defenders2 Viktor Genev 14 (0)3 Zhivko Milanov 23 (2)5 Youssef Rabeh 22 (0)14 Veselin Minev 18 (0)15 Chakib Benzoukane 3 (0)20 David Bystroň 19 (2)25 Lúcio Wagner 16 (0)26 Martin Dimov 1 (0)33 Stefan Stanchev 1 (0)34 Dimitar Dimitrov 1 (0)37 Simeon Ivanov 1 (0)55 Yordan Miliev 4 (0) Midfielders4 Georgi Chakarov 2 (0)6 Rachid Tiberkanine 14 (3)8 Georgi Sarmov 21 (2)16 Mariyan Ognyanov 1 (0)17 Georgi Nedyalkov 1 (1)18 Miroslav Ivanov 20 (0)20 Joãozinho 19 (4)21 Zé Soares 25 (3)22 Darko Tasevski 23 (6)24 Nikolay Dimitrov 17 (1)30 Lachezar Baltanov 15 (0)45 Vladimir Gadzhev 23 (1)70 Filipe da Costa 8 (0) Boyan Iliev* 2 (0) Forwards7 Jean Carlos* 4 (1)9 Georgi Ivanov 23 (12)10 Hristo Yovov 11 (4)11 Georgi Hristov 25 (11)19 Ivan Tsachev 9 (4)27 Enyo Krastovchev 3 (0)32 Boyan Tabakov 1 (0) Manager Emil Velev
Iliev and Jean Carlos left the club during a season.
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals1 Martin KamburovLokomotiv Sofia172 Dormushali SaidhodzhaCSKA Sofia1143 Georgi IvanovLevski Sofia124 Yordan YurukovCherno More Varna11 Georgi HristovLevski Sofia6 Zoran BaldovalievLokomotiv Sofia10 Pavle DelibašićLokomotiv Plovdiv Michel PlatiniChernomorets Burgas9 Krum BibishkovLitex Lovech9 Adrián FernándezChernomorets Burgas2 Miroslav ManolovCherno More Varna Saša SimonovićLokomotiv Mezdra Ivan StoyanovSliven Yordan TodorovCSKA Sofia
1. Saidhodzha scored 7 goals for Botev Plovdiv and 7 for CSKA Sofia (he was transferred during the winter break) 2. Fernández scored 4 goals for Cherno More Varna and 5 for Chernomorets Burgas (he was transferred during the winter break)
Annual awards
Team of the season The team have been voted by selected media representatives (Note: First team members are denoted in bold).
Position Name Club Goalkeepers Kiril Akalski Lokomotiv Plovdiv Georgi Petkov Levski Defenders Tanko Dyakov Cherno More Ivan Ivanov CSKA Stanislav Manolev Litex Zhivko Milanov Levski Veselin Minev Levski Youssef Rabeh Levski Midfielders Alex Cherno More Joãozinho Levski Dani Kiki Lokomotiv Plovdiv Aleksandar Tonev CSKA Todor Yanchev CSKA Kosta Yanev Sliven Forwards Spas Delev Pirin Georgi Ivanov Levski Martin Kamburov Lokomotiv Sofia Ivelin Popov Litex Head coach Emil Velev Levski
Attendances
# Club Average attendance 1 Levski 5,967 2 Cherno More 5,289 3 Sliven 4,989 4 CSKA Sofia 4,272 5 Botev 4,158 6 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 3,667 7 Chernomorets 3,129 8 Minyor 2,720 9 Pirin 2,167 10 Varna 1,670 11 Lokomotiv Mezdra 1,433 12 Lovech 1,385 13 Slavia Sofia 1,343 14 Lokomotiv Sofia 1,333 15 Vihren 1,143 16 Belasitsa 1,129 Source:
See also 2008–09 B Group
References
External links 2008–09 Statistics of A Group at a-pfg.com