2011–12 A Group

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.[1] Vidima-Rakovski, Kaliakra and Svetkavitsa were relegated, after finishing at the bottom three places.

A Group
Season2011–12
Dates6 August 2011 – 23 May 2012
ChampionsLudogorets Razgrad
(1st title)
RelegatedVidima-Rakovski, Kaliakra, Svetkavitsa
Champions LeagueLudogorets Razgrad
Europa LeagueCSKA Sofia
Levski Sofia
Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Matches played240
Goals scored643 (2.68 per match)
Top goalscorer Junior Moraes
Ivan Stoyanov
(16 goals each)
Biggest home winLevski 7–0 Svetkavitsa
Biggest away winMinyor 0–7 Ludogorets
Highest scoringCherno More 7–1 Kaliakra
Botev 6–2 Kaliakra
Litex 6–2 Lokomotiv

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 at 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 returned to A Group after twenty-two years, while Ludogorets Razgrad and Svetkavitsa 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, Chernomorets 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.

Location of teams in 2011–12 A Group
Sofia 2011–12 A Group football clubs
Team Location Stadium Capacity
Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe 17,800
Botev Vratsa Hristo Botev 32,000
Cherno More Varna Ticha 8,250
Chernomorets Burgas Lazur 18,037
CSKA Sofia Balgarska Armiya 22,015
Kaliakra Kavarna Kavarna 5,000
Levski Sofia Georgi Asparuhov 29,200
Litex Lovech Lovech 7,050
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Lokomotiv 13,800
Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv Sofia1 22,000
Ludogorets Razgrad Ludogorets Arena 6,000
Minyor Pernik Minyor 8,000
Montana Montana Ogosta 8,000
Slavia Sofia Ovcha Kupel 18,000
Svetkavitsa Targovishte Dimitar Burkov 8,000
Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo Rakovski 8,816
Notes
  1. 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
Team Manager Captain Kit Manufacturer Shirt Sponsor
Beroe Stara Zagora Ilian Iliev Slavi Zhekov Uhlsport Bulsatcom
Botev Vratsa Sasho Angelov Rosen Vankov Jumper
Cherno More Varna Stefan Genov Georgi Iliev Misho Armeets
Chernomorets Burgas Dimitar Dimitrov Radostin Kishishev Macron
CSKA Sofia Dimitar Penev Todor Yanchev Kappa GLOBUL
Kaliakra Radostin Trifonov Ivan Raychev Uhlsport Municipality of Kavarna
Levski Sofia Nikolay Kostov Hristo Yovov Nike VTB Bank
Litex Lovech Atanas Dzhambazki Nebojša Jelenković adidas b-connect
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Emil Velev Zdravko Lazarov Uhlsport Refan
Lokomotiv Sofia Anton Velkov Kristian Dobrev Puma
Ludogorets Razgrad Ivaylo Petev Todor Kolev adidas Huvepharma
Minyor Pernik Stoycho Stoev Kostadin Markov Jumper Municipal Insurance Company
Montana Stefan Grozdanov Daniel Gadzhev Jako GM Capital
Slavia Sofia Martin Kushev Bogomil Dyakov Puma
Svetkavitsa Nikola Spasov Georgi Damyanov Jako Vinprom Targovishte
Vidima-Rakovski Kostadin Angelov Georgi Stoychev Asics VIDEXIM

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager(s) Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment
Levski Sofia Yasen Petrov End of contract 27 May 2011 Pre-season Georgi Ivanov 27 May 2011[2]
Slavia Sofia Emil Velev Sacked 28 May 2011 Martin Kushev 28 May 2011[3]
Kaliakra Kavarna Antoni Zdravkov End of contract 28 May 2011 Adalbert Zafirov 28 May 2011[4]
Chernomorets Burgas Georgi Vasilev Sacked 30 May 2011 Dimitar Dimitrov 30 May 2011[5]
Montana Atanas Dzhambazki End of contract 2 June 2011 Stefan Grozdanov 11 June 2011
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Saša Nikolić Sacked 14 June 2011 Dragan Kanatlarovski 17 June 2011
Vidima-Rakovski Dimitar Todorov Sacked 16 June 2011 Kostadin Angelov 17 June 2011
Lokomotiv Sofia Dian Petkov Sacked 3 October 2011 10th Anton Velkov 3 October 2011
Kaliakra Kavarna Adalbert Zafirov Sacked 19 October 2011[6] 15th Radostin Trifonov 19 October 2011[7]
Svetkavitsa Targovishte Plamen Donev Resigned 19 October 2011 16th Nikola Spasov 23 October 2011[8]
Litex Lovech Lyuboslav Penev Resigned 24 October 2011[9] 5th Atanas Dzhambazki 24 October 2011
CSKA Sofia Milen Radukanov Sacked 25 October 2011[10] 2nd Dimitar Penev 25 October 2011
Levski Sofia Georgi Ivanov Resigned 4 November 2011 5th Nikolay Kostov 7 November 2011[11]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Dragan Kanatlarovski Sacked 7 November 2011 6th Emil Velev 8 November 2011[12]
Levski Sofia Nikolay Kostov Resigned 26 March 2012 4th 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
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Ludogorets Razgrad (C) 30 22 4 4 73 16 +57 70 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 CSKA Sofia 30 22 3 5 60 19 +41 69 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
3 Levski Sofia 30 20 2 8 61 28 +33 62
4 Chernomorets Burgas 30 17 9 4 57 23 +34 60
5 Litex Lovech 30 17 8 5 57 28 +29 59
6 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 30 17 6 7 44 39 +5 57 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
7 Cherno More 30 16 4 10 46 25 +21 52
8 Slavia Sofia 30 15 6 9 42 36 +6 51
9 Minyor Pernik 30 8 12 10 35 40 −5 36
10 Beroe 30 9 8 13 30 37 −7 35
11 Montana 30 8 7 15 29 51 −22 31
12 Botev Vratsa 30 7 8 15 30 44 −14 29
13 Lokomotiv Sofia 30 5 9 16 26 50 −24 24
14 Vidima-Rakovski (R) 30 3 6 21 19 59 −40 15 Relegation to 2012–13 B Group
15 Kaliakra (R) 30 2 5 23 26 77 −51 11
16 Svetkavitsa (R) 30 1 5 24 8 71 −63 8
Source: Soccerway
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 goal difference; 7th goals scored
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. Ludogorets Razgrad won the 2011–12 Bulgarian Cup competition but were qualified for 2012–13 UEFA Champions League via winning the league, hence their Europa League berth was awarded to the cup runners-up, Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

Results
Home \ Away BSZ BVR CHM CHB CSK KAV LEV LIT LPL LSO LUD MIN MON SLA SVE VRA
Beroe 1–2 2–0 1–2 0–1 3–1 1–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–2 0–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–0
Botev Vratsa 1–1 0–1 0–0 2–2 6–2 0–2 1–3 1–1 2–0 0–1 0–0 2–4 0–1 1–0 2–2
Cherno More 2–0 1–0 0–2 0–0 7–1 3–1 0–1 1–2 3–0 0–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 2–1
Chernomorets Burgas 2–2 3–1 3–2 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 2–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 2–0 2–3 6–0 4–0
CSKA Sofia 1–0 2–0 4–1 1–0 3–1 1–0 4–1 3–0 4–0 2–2 3–1 2–0 1–2 3–0 4–1
Kaliakra 3–1 0–0 0–5 0–4 1–2 1–4 0–2 1–2 0–0 0–4 2–2 2–3 1–2 1–1 3–2
Levski Sofia 2–0 3–0 2–1 2–2 1–0 3–2 3–2 3–2 4–0 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–0 7–0 2–1
Litex Lovech 2–1 3–1 1–0 0–0 0–2 5–0 1–0 6–2 2–0 2–1 2–2 0–0 1–0 6–0 3–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 4–2 2–1 1–0 2–0 0–3 2–0 3–2 2–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 2–1 2–0 3–2
Lokomotiv Sofia 3–0 0–1 0–0 0–4 1–2 3–2 1–1 1–2 2–0 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–3[lower-alpha 1] 4–1 0–1
Ludogorets Razgrad 3–0 3–0 0–2 3–1 1–0 2–0 2–1 1–1 0–0 4–0 4–1 3–0 6–0 5–0 4–0
Minyor Pernik 1–1 1–3 0–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 0–1 2–2 0–0 1–2 0–7 3–1 1–1 3–0 1–0
Montana 0–0 2–0 1–3 2–4 0–5 2–1 0–3 1–0 2–2 1–1 1–4 1–2 1–2 0–0 1–0
Slavia Sofia 0–0 3–2 1–1 1–1 0–1 3–0 0–3 0–2 3–0 2–1 3–2 2–1 1–1 2–0 1–1
Svetkavitsa 1–3 0–0 1–3 0–3 0–3 1–0 0–1 1–3 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–3 1–2 0–3 0–0
Vidima-Rakovski 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–6 1–1 0–3 2–2 0–5 0–3 1–2 1–2 1–0
Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. The match between Lokomotiv Sofia and Slavia Sofia was awarded to Slavia by a score of 3–0. The original fixture was not played after police security for the match could not be provided.

Champions
Ludogorets Razgrad
Goalkeepers
01 Uroš Golubović280(0)
13 Radek Petr020(0)
30 Georgi Argilashki000(0)
Emil Mihaylov*000(0)
Defenders
03 Marián Jarabica010(0)
04 Tero Mäntylä030(0)
05 Alexandre Barthe290(3)
20 Guilherme Choco270(1)
25 Yordan Minev280(0)
26 Diyan Dimitrov000(0)
33 Ľubomír Guldan280(0)
77 Vitinha100(0)
Jure Travner*030(0)
Suvad Grabus*010(0)
Midfielders
06 Georgi Kostadinov050(2)
07 Mihail Aleksandrov280(5)
08 Stanislav Genchev270(6)
18 Svetoslav Dyakov290(1)
19 Dimo Bakalov140(2)
22 Miroslav Ivanov270(4)
36 Mladen Kašćelan110(1)
84 Marcelinho250(9)
Shener Remzi*000(0)
Dimo Atanasov*060(0)
Nikolay Dyulgerov*020(0)
Forwards
11 Juninho Quixadá110(5)
23 Emil Gargorov26(13)
27 Christian Kabasele110(3)
73 Ivan Stoyanov25(16)
Todor Kolev*090(1)
Manager
Ivaylo Petev
  • Mihaylov, Travner, Grabus, Remzi, Atanasov, Dyulgerov and Kolev left the club during a season.

Season statistics
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