2013–14 A PFG

The 2013–14 A Group is the 90th season of A Football Group, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The season started on Friday, 19 July 2013 with the opening game between Chernomorets and Cherno More and will end with the last games in the middle of May 2014.^[1] For the first time after twelve years the championship is going to be divided in two phases - Regular season with every team playing 26 matches and Playoffs, with teams divided into Championship group (first seven) and Relegation group (bottom seven). Ludogorets Razgrad will go into the season as defending champions.^[2]

Competition format

The current season has some changes in the playing format compared to season 2012–13. For the first time since season 2001-02 the championship is divided in two phases. In the first phase, the Regular season, every team must play two times against each of the other teams on home-away basis for a subtotal of 26 matches. In the second phase, the teams are divided into Championship group (first seven) and Relegation group (bottom seven). In those two parallel played groups every team has to play two times, again on home-away basis, only against the remaining six teams in the group for a subtotal of 12 matches.

At the end of the season, the champion earns place to the UEFA Champions League qualification rounds, the next two teams (2nd and 3rd) in the final standings to the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. The last four teams (from 11th to 14th) will be directly relegated to B Group and only two will be promoted making it two less teams (12 teams) in A Group for the next season.

Teams

A total of fourteen teams are contesting the league, including the best 12 sides from the previous 2012/13 season, plus two promoted clubs from the 2012/13 B Group.

As finishing in the bottom four places of the table at the end of season 2012/13, Botev Vratsa, Minyor Pernik, Montana and Etar 1924 were relegated to B Group and only two teams were promoted from B Group with the object of decreasing the number of teams from 16 to 14 only for the current season.

The relegated teams were replaced by Neftochimic Burgas, the 2012/13 B Group champions and Lyubimets 2007, the 2012/13 B Group runner-up. On 8 May 2013 Neftochimic earned promotion after winning their match against Shumen 2010 with result of 3:1 and returned to A Group after seven years of absence, and with their participation A Group will include the Burgas derby between them and Chernomorets. Lyubimets 2007 on the other hand made their debut in the highest level of Bulgarian football.

Stadia and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

CSKA
Levski
Lokomotiv
Slavia

Beroe

Cherno More

Lyubimets

Ludogorets

Chernomorets
Neftochimic

Litex

Botev
Lokomotiv

Pirin

Location of teams in 2013–14 A Group

Personnel and sponsoring

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Beroe Stara Zagora	Petar Hubchev	Georgi Andonov	Joma	BEROE
Botev Plovdiv	Stanimir Stoilov	Ivan Tsvetkov	Uhlsport	KTB AD
Cherno More Varna	Georgi Ivanov	Georgi Iliev	Joma	Armeets
Chernomorets Burgas	Dimitar Dimitrov	Vančo Trajanov	Sportika	Masterhaus
CSKA Sofia	Stoycho Mladenov	Emil Gargorov	Legea	—
Levski Sofia	Antoni Zdravkov	Stanislav Angelov	Puma	VTB Bank, M-tel
Litex Lovech	Zlatomir Zagorčić	Nikolay Bodurov	adidas	—
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Aleksandar Stankov	Zdravko Lazarov	Uhlsport	—
Lokomotiv Sofia	Stefan Genov	Marquinhos	Joma	Casa Boyana
Ludogorets Razgrad	Stoycho Stoev	Svetoslav Dyakov	adidas	Navibulgar
Lyubimets 2007	Krasimir Mechev	Anton Ognyanov	adidas	—
Neftochimic Burgas	Atanas Atanasov	Stanimir Mitev	Krasiko	—
Pirin Gotse Delchev	Kostadin Angelov	Petar Lazarov	Erreà	—
Slavia Sofia	Milen Radukanov	Georgi Petkov	Joma	—

First phase

League table

Updated to games played on 16 December 2013.
Source: A PFG (Bulgarian)
Rules for classification: 1^st points; 2^nd head-to-head points; 3^rd head-to-head goal difference; 4^th head-to-head goals scored; 5^th head-to-head away goals scored; 6^th season goal difference; 7^th season goals scored; 8^th "sportsmanship" (R & Y cards); 9^th draw.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Each team will play twice against every other team for a total of 26 matches.

Round by Round

Last updated: 16 December 2013.
Source: sportal.bg

Notes:

Positions by round

Notes:

Second phase

Championship group

The best seven teams of the first phase will play twice against every other team for a total of 12 matches.

• Teams already qualified for the Championship group:

Ludogorets, Litex, Levski

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Relegation group

The last seven teams of the first phase will play twice against every other team for a total of 12 matches.

• Teams with no chance to qualify for the Championship group:

Pirin GD, Neftochimic, Lyubimets,Chernomorets, Slavia, Lokomotiv (Sf)

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Season statistics

Top scorers Rank Scorer Club Goals[5] 1 Martin Kamburov Lokomotiv Plovdiv 15 2 Wilmar Jordán Litex Lovech 13 3 Simeon Slavchev Litex Lovech 11 Garry Rodrigues Levski Sofia 11 5 Roman Bezjak Ludogorets Razgrad 10 Marquinhos Lokomotiv Sofia 10 Atanas Kurdov Slavia Sofia 10 8 Anicet Abel Botev Plovdiv 9 Romario Kortzorg Botev Plovdiv 9 10 Marcelinho Ludogorets Razgrad 8 Bacari Cherno More Varna 8 Jurgen Gjasula Litex Lovech 8 Armando Vajushi Litex Lovech 8 Emil Gargorov CSKA Sofia 8 Ventsislav Hristov Beroe Stara Zagora 8 16 David Caiado Beroe Stara Zagora 7 17 Virgil Misidjan Ludogorets Razgrad 6 Najib Ammari Chernomorets Burgas 6 Simeon Raykov Cherno More Varna 6 Ivaylo Chochev CSKA Sofia 6 21 Todor Nedelev Botev Plovdiv 5 Dimitar Makriev Levski Sofia 5

Top assists Rank Player Club Assists[6] 1 Zdravko Lazarov Lokomotiv Plovdiv 10 2 Armando Vajushi Litex Lovech 9 Garry Rodrigues Levski Sofia 9 4 Jurgen Gjasula Litex Lovech 8 5 Marcinho CSKA Sofia 6 Nemanja Milisavljević CSKA Sofia 6 Miroslav Manolov Litex Lovech 6 8 Marcelinho Ludogorets Razgrad 5 Martin Kamburov Lokomotiv Plovdiv 5 Anton Karachanakov CSKA Sofia 5 Galin Ivanov Slavia Sofia 5 Nuno Pinto Levski Sofia 5 13 Romario Kortzorg Botev Plovdiv 4 Wilmar Litex Lovech 4 Anton Ognyanov Lyubimets 4 Gaël N’Lundulu Lokomotiv Sofia 4 Júnior Caiçara Ludogorets Razgrad 4 Georgi Iliev Cherno More Varna 4

Top goalkeepers Rank Player Club Clean sheets[7] 1 Tomáš Černý CSKA Sofia 12 2 Vladislav Stoyanov Ludogorets Razgrad 10 3 Adam Stachowiak Botev Plovdiv 9 Yordan Gospodinov Lokomotiv Plovdiv 9 5 Ivan Karadzhov Beroe Stara Zagora 8 6 Georgi Kitanov Cherno More Varna 7 7 Plamen Iliev Levski Sofia 5 Valentin Galev Lokomotiv Sofia 5 Goran Blažević Levski Sofia 5 10 Ivan Čvorović Ludogorets Razgrad 4 Nik Dashev Chernomorets Burgas 4 Georgi Petkov Slavia Sofia 4 Evgeni Aleksandrov Litex Lovech 4 14 Raïs M'Bolhi CSKA Sofia 2 Radoslav Rashkov Lyubimets 2 Ilko Pirgov Litex Lovech 2 Abdi Abdikov Pirin Gotse Delchev 2 Petar Denchev Neftochimic Burgas 2

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Petar Atanasov for Chernomorets against Cherno More (Friday, 19 July 2013)
• Fastest goal of the season: 3 minutes, Marco Gomes Rodrigues for Chernomorets against Neftochimic (Friday, 2 August 2013)

Clean sheets

• Club(s) with most clean sheets: 14
  • CSKA Sofia
  • Ludogorets
• Number of clean sheets: 10
  • Levski Sofia
• Number of clean sheets: 9
  • Botev Plovdiv
  • Lokomotiv Plovdiv
• Number of clean sheets: 8
  • Cherno More
  • Beroe Stara Zagora
• Number of clean sheets: 6
  • Litex Lovech
  • Lokomotiv Sofia

Awards

Weekly awards

Player of the Round

Round	Player of the Round
	Player	Club
Round 1	Todor Nedelev	Botev Plovdiv
Round 2	Martin Kamburov	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Round 3	Nikolay Chipev	Neftochimic Burgas
Round 4	Ivan Karadzhov	Beroe Stara Zagora
Round 5	Wilmar Jordán	Litex Lovech
Round 6	Marcelinho	Ludogorets Razgrad
Round 7	Georgi Bozhilov	Cherno More Varna
Round 8	Anicet Abel	Botev Plovdiv
Round 9	Ivaylo Chochev	CSKA Sofia
Round 10	Ivaylo Chochev	CSKA Sofia
Round 11	Simeon Slavchev	Litex Lovech
Round 12	Emil Gargorov	CSKA Sofia
Round 13	Emil Gargorov	CSKA Sofia
Round 14	Chris Gadi	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Round 15	Simeon Slavchev	Litex Lovech
Round 16	Roman Bezjak	Ludogorets Razgrad
Round 17	Simeon Slavchev	Litex Lovech
Round 18	Orlin Starokin	Levski Sofia
Round 19	Martin Petrov	CSKA Sofia
Round 20	Wilmar Jordán	Litex Lovech
Round 21	Plamen Iliev	Levski Sofia
Round 22	Larsen Toure	Levski Sofia
Round 23	Wilmar Jordán	Litex Lovech
Round 24
Round 25
Round 26

Transfers

• List of Bulgarian football transfers summer 2013
• List of Bulgarian football transfers winter 2013–14

References

v t e Bulgarian A Professional Football Group 2013–14 clubs Beroe Botev Plovdiv Cherno More Chernomorets CSKA Levski Litex Lokomotiv Plovdiv Lokomotiv Sofia Ludogorets Lyubimets 2007 Neftochimic Pirin GD Slavia Stadiums Beroe Hristo Botev Ticha Lazur Balgarska Armia Hadzhi Dimitar Georgi Asparuhov Lovech Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) Lokomotiv (Sofia) Ludogorets Arena Lyubimets Gotse Delchev Ovcha Kupel Former clubs Akademik Sofia Akademik Svishtov Belasitsa Botev Vratsa Chernomorets Chernomorets Burgas Sofia Dimitrovgrad Dobrudzha Dunav Etar Etar 1924 Haskovo Kaliakra Lokomotiv GO Lokomotiv Mezdra Marek Maritsa Metalurg Minyor Montana Naftex Nesebar Pirin Pirin Blagoevgrad Rilski Sportist Rodopa Rozova Dolina Septemvri Sliven Spartak Pleven Spartak Plovdiv Spartak Sofia Spartak Varna Sportist Svetkavitsa Velbazhd Vidima-Rakovski Vihren Yantra Former clubs (from Macedonia & Thrace) Belomorets Kavala Bitola Gotse Delchev Prilep Makedonija Bitola Makedonija Skopje Vardar Skopje ZhSK Skopje Competition Champions Players (foreign) Associated competitions Second Division Third Division Bulgarian Cup Bulgarian Supercup UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League Seasons 1948–49 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14