2007–08 A Group Explained

Competition:A Group
Season:2007–08
Dates:11 August 2007 – 17 May 2008
Winners:CSKA Sofia
(31st title)
Relegated:Beroe
Vidima-Rakovski
Marek
Continentalcup1:Champions League
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers:Levski Sofia
Continentalcup2:UEFA Cup
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers:Lokomotiv Sofia
Litex
Cherno More
Continentalcup3:Intertoto Cup
Continentalcup3 Qualifiers:Chernomorets
League Topscorer:Georgi Hristov
(19 goals)
Biggest Home Win:Cherno More 7–0 Vidima-Rakovski
Biggest Away Win:Belasitsa 1–6 Chernomorets
Highest Scoring:Levski 6–2 Botev (8 goals)
Matches:240
Total Goals:558
Prevseason:2006–07
Nextseason:2008–09

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.

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]

Teams

Team changes

At the end of the last season, Conegliano German, Rodopa Smolyan, and Rilski Sportist Samokov were relegated after finishing in the bottom three places of the 2006–07 season. Conegliano and Rilski Sportist survived only one season in the elite, while Rodopa ended a four-year stint in the A Group.

The relegated teams were replaced by three teams from the 2006–07 B Group, including the winners of the East and West B Groups, as well as the playoff winner decided between the runner-ups of the two B Groups. Chernomorets Burgas and Pirin Blagoevgrad were promoted directly, while Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo defeated Naftex Burgas to gain the last promotion spot. Chernomorets made its debut in the top tier of Bulgarian football, Pirin return after a one-year absence, while Vidima-Rakovski return after a two-year absence.

Stadia and locations

TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
BelasitsaPetrichTsar Samuil Stadium9,500
BeroeStara ZagoraBeroe Stadium13,512
BotevPlovdivHristo Botev Stadium22,000
Cherno MoreVarnaTicha Stadium8,250
ChernomoretsBurgasLazur Stadium18,037
CSKASofiaBalgarska Armiya Stadium22,015
LevskiSofiaGeorgi Asparuhov Stadium29,200
LitexLovechLovech Stadium7,050
LokomotivPlovdivLokomotiv13,800
LokomotivSofiaLokomotiv Sofia22,000
MarekDupnitsaBonchuk Stadium16,050
PirinBlagoevgradHristo Botev Stadium111,000
SlaviaSofiaOvcha Kupel Stadium18,000
SpartakVarnaSpartak Stadium7,500
Vidima-RakovskiSevlievoRakovski Stadium8,816
VihrenSandanskiSandanski Stadium6,000
1^. Stadiums of Botev Plovdiv and Pirin Blagoevgrad have the same names, but they are placed in different cities.

League table

Champions

CSKA Sofia
Goalkeepers
10 (0)
1228 (0)
222 (0)
Defenders
27 (0)
326 (3)
618 (0)
1324 (1)
14 Valentin Iliev* 14 (1)
150 (0)
278 (0)
3026 (1)
8415 (2)
Midfielders
528 (2)
1016 (1)
1113 (0)
161 (0)
1713 (0)
1824 (11)
208 (1)
2123 (1)
23 Abderrahman Kabous* 8 (0)
242 (0)
2825 (1)
Forwards
824 (4)
914 (3)
198 (1)
9929 (14)
Kevin Amuneke* 10 (2)
Georgi Chilikov* 12 (3)

Top scorers

RankScorerClubGoals
1 Georgi HristovBotev Plovdiv
2 NeiCSKA Sofia
3 Marcho DafchevLokomotiv Sofia
Zoran BaldovalievLokomotiv Sofia
5 Aleksandar AleksandrovCherno More Varna
6 Plamen KrumovChernomorets Burgas
Florentin PetreCSKA Sofia
Ivelin PopovLitex Lovech
9 Germán PietrobonPirin Blagoevgrad
10 Anatoli TodorovLokomotiv Plovdiv
Miroslav ManolovCherno More Varna
Ivan NaydenovSpartak Varna

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Сезон 2007-08 "Лицензгейт" пука розовите балони на Сашо Томов. temasport.com. 12 October 2013. Bulgarian.
  2. http://dariknews.bg/view_article.php?article_id=258773 CSKA without UEFA license, Tomov takes the guilt
  3. Web site: Part of Aleksandar Tomov's book: How they took the license of CSKA . 2012-11-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233411/http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=1568810 . 2016-03-03 . dead .