The 2011–12 A Group was the 88th season of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 64th of A Group as the top tier football league in the country. The season began on 6 August 2011 and ended on 23 May 2012. Ludogorets Razgrad claimed their maiden title in their debut season, after winning the last round clash against CSKA, which were leading by 2 points prior to the match. Vidima-Rakovski, Kaliakra and Svetkavitsa were relegated, after finishing at the bottom three places.
Team information Akademik Sofia and Sliven were directly relegated after finishing in the bottom two places of the table at the end of season 2010/11. Akademik were relegated after one year in the top league of Bulgarian football, while Sliven ended a three-year tenure in the top flight. Furthermore, Pirin (Blagoevgrad) were excluded from A Group due to financial difficulties and demoted to V Group.
The relegated teams were replaced by Botev Vratsa, champions of West B Group, Ludogorets Razgrad, champions of East B Group and promotion play-off winners Svetkavitsa. Botev Vratsa returned to A Group after twenty-two years, while Ludogorets Razgrad and Svetkavitsa both made their debut on the highest level of Bulgarian football.
There was some controversy regarding the relegation/promotion play-offs at the end of season 2010/11. In the original match-up, 14th-placed Vidima-Rakovski lost 3-0 against B Group play-off winners Chernomorets (Pomorie). However, Pomorie did not receive an A Group licence, so Vidima-Rakovski were spared from relegation. In order to fill the void, a second play-off match was scheduled between Svetkavitsa, 4th-placed team of East B Group, and Etar (Veliko Tarnovo), 3rd-placed team of West B Group. Svetkavitsa won this match by a score of 3-1.
Stadia and locations As in the previous year, the league comprises the best thirteen teams of season 2010-11, the champions of the two B Groups and the winners of the promotion play-offs.
Team Location Stadium CapacityBeroeStara ZagoraBeroe 17,800BotevVratsaHristo Botev 32,000Cherno MoreVarnaTicha 8,250ChernomoretsBurgasLazur 18,037CSKASofiaBalgarska Armiya 22,015KaliakraKavarnaKavarna 5,000LevskiSofiaGeorgi Asparuhov 29,200LitexLovechLovech 7,050LokomotivPlovdivLokomotiv 13,800LokomotivSofiaLokomotiv Sofia1 22,000LudogoretsRazgradLudogorets Arena 6,000MinyorPernikMinyor 8,000MontanaMontanaOgosta 8,000SlaviaSofiaOvcha Kupel 18,000SvetkavitsaTargovishteDimitar Burkov 8,000Vidima-RakovskiSevlievoRakovski 8,816 Notes Lokomotiv Sofia play their home matches at Vasil Levski National Stadium as their own ground, Lokomotiv Stadium, had not received approval from the BFU license committee.
Personnel and sponsoring TeamManagerCaptainKit ManufacturerShirt SponsorBeroe Stara Zagora Ilian Iliev Slavi ZhekovUhlsportBulsatcomBotev Vratsa Sasho Angelov Rosen VankovJumperCherno More Varna Stefan Genov Georgi IlievMishoArmeetsChernomorets Burgas Dimitar Dimitrov Radostin KishishevMacronCSKA Sofia Dimitar Penev Todor YanchevKappaGLOBULKaliakra Radostin Trifonov Ivan RaychevUhlsportMunicipality of KavarnaLevski Sofia Nikolay Kostov Hristo YovovNikeVTB BankLitex Lovech Atanas Dzhambazki Nebojša Jelenkovićadidasb-connectLokomotiv Plovdiv Emil Velev Zdravko LazarovUhlsportRefanLokomotiv Sofia Anton Velkov Kristian DobrevPumaLudogorets Razgrad Ivaylo Petev Todor KolevadidasHuvepharmaMinyor Pernik Stoycho Stoev Kostadin MarkovJumperMunicipal Insurance CompanyMontana Stefan Grozdanov Daniel GadzhevJakoGM CapitalSlavia Sofia Martin Kushev Bogomil DyakovPumaSvetkavitsa Nikola Spasov Georgi DamyanovJakoVinprom TargovishteVidima-Rakovski Kostadin Angelov Georgi StoychevAsicsVIDEXIM
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager(s) Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment Levski Sofia Yasen PetrovEnd of contract 27 May 2011Pre-season Georgi Ivanov 27 May 2011 Slavia Sofia Emil VelevSacked 28 May 2011 Martin Kushev 28 May 2011 Kaliakra Kavarna Antoni ZdravkovEnd of contract 28 May 2011 Adalbert Zafirov 28 May 2011 Chernomorets Burgas Georgi VasilevSacked 30 May 2011 Dimitar Dimitrov 30 May 2011 Montana Atanas DzhambazkiEnd of contract 2 June 2011 Stefan Grozdanov 11 June 2011 Lokomotiv Plovdiv Saša NikolićSacked 14 June 2011 Dragan Kanatlarovski 17 June 2011 Vidima-Rakovski Dimitar TodorovSacked 16 June 2011 Kostadin Angelov 17 June 2011 Lokomotiv Sofia Dian PetkovSacked 3 October 201110th Anton Velkov 3 October 2011 Kaliakra Kavarna Adalbert ZafirovSacked 19 October 201115th Radostin Trifonov 19 October 2011 Svetkavitsa Targovishte Plamen DonevResigned 19 October 201116th Nikola Spasov 23 October 2011 Litex Lovech Lyuboslav PenevResigned 24 October 20115th Atanas Dzhambazki 24 October 2011 CSKA Sofia Milen RadukanovSacked 25 October 20112nd Dimitar Penev 25 October 2011 Levski Sofia Georgi IvanovResigned 4 November 20115th Nikolay Kostov 7 November 2011 Lokomotiv Plovdiv Dragan KanatlarovskiSacked 7 November 20116th Emil Velev 8 November 2011 Levski Sofia Nikolay KostovResigned 26 March 20124th Georgi Ivanov (caretaker) March 2012
Note: Georgi Ivanov subsequently stepped down and was replaced by Yasen Petrov as caretaker manager at the helm of Levski, with Ilian Iliev set to take over prior to the 2012/2013 season.
League table
Results
Champions Ludogorets Razgrad Goalkeepers1 Uroš Golubović 28 (0)13 Radek Petr 2 (0)30 Georgi Argilashki 0 (0) Emil Mihaylov* 0 (0) Defenders3 Marián Jarabica 1 (0)4 Tero Mäntylä 3 (0)5 Alexandre Barthe 29 (3)20 Guilherme Choco 27 (1)25 Yordan Minev 28 (0)26 Diyan Dimitrov 0 (0)33 Ľubomír Guldan 28 (0)77 Vitinha 10 (0) Jure Travner* 3 (0) Suvad Grabus* 1 (0) Midfielders6 Georgi Kostadinov 5 (2)7 Mihail Aleksandrov 28 (5)8 Stanislav Genchev 27 (6)18 Svetoslav Dyakov 29 (1)19 Dimo Bakalov 14 (2)22 Miroslav Ivanov 27 (4)36 Mladen Kašćelan 11 (1)84 Marcelinho 25 (9) Shener Remzi* 0 (0) Dimo Atanasov* 6 (0) Nikolay Dyulgerov* 2 (0) Forwards11 Juninho Quixadá 11 (5)23 Emil Gargorov 26 (13)27 Christian Kabasele 11 (3)73 Ivan Stoyanov 25 (16) Todor Kolev* 9 (1) Manager Ivaylo Petev
Mihaylov, Travner, Grabus, Remzi, Atanasov, Dyulgerov and Kolev left the club during a season.
Season statistics
Top goalscorers Below is a list of the top goalscorers at the end of the competition. RankScorerClubGoals1 Júnior MoraesCSKA Sofia16 Ivan StoyanovLudogorets Razgrad163 Emil GargorovLudogorets Razgrad13 Ianis ZicuCSKA Sofia135 JuninhoSlavia Sofia / Levski Sofia126 Svetoslav TodorovLitex Lovech11 Ivan TsvetkovLevski Sofia11 Gerasim ZakovKaliakra Kavarna119 Lourival AssisChernomorets Burgas10 Aatif ChahechouheChernomorets Burgas10 Georgi IlievCherno More Varna10 Marcelo NicácioLitex Lovech10
Scoring
First goal of the season: 19:08 – Georgi Bozhilov for Cherno More against Montana (6 August 2011) Fastest goal of the season: 6 seconds – Miroslav Manolov (Cherno More) against Montana (22 March 2012)
Transfers List of Bulgarian football transfers summer 2011 List of Bulgarian football transfers winter 2011–12
Attendances
No. Club Average Highest 1 CSKA Sofia 4,227 8,800 2 Ludogorets 3,919 6,000 3 Beroe 3,559 7,000 4 Levski 3,133 15,000 5 Botev 2,937 8,000 6 Chernomorets 2,619 8,900 7 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2,589 7,200 8 Cherno More 2,355 8,780 9 Svetkavista 1,818 5,400 10 Montana 1,597 5,000 11 Lovech 1,550 7,000 12 Minyor 1,481 3,900 13 Vidima-Rakovski 547 1,300 14 Slavia Sofia 532 2,300 15 Lokomotiv Sofia 505 2,370 16 Kaliakra 499 1,680 Source:
References
External links Official website