1997–98 A Group

A Group
Season	1997–98
Dates	2 August 1997 – 10 May 1998
Champions	Litex Lovech; (1st title)
Relegated	Olimpik; Spartak Pleven; Etar;
Champions League	Litex
UEFA Cup	CSKA
Matches	240
Goals	696 (2.9 per match)
Top goalscorer	Boncho Genchev; Anton Spasov; (17 goals each)
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997–98 A Group was the 50th season of the A Football Group, the top Bulgarian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948.

Overview

It was contested by 16 teams, and Litex Lovech won the championship.

Team information

Stadia and locations

The following teams have ensured their participation in A Group for season 1997–98 (listed in alphabetical order):

Sofia

Location of teams in 1997–98 A Group

Sofia 1997–98 A Group football clubs

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity
Botev	Plovdiv	Hristo Botev	18,000
CSKA	Sofia	Bulgarian Army	22,995
Dobrudzha	Dobrich	Druzhba	12,500
Etar	Veliko Tarnovo	Ivaylo	18,000
Levski	Kyustendil	Osogovo	10,000
Levski	Sofia	Georgi Asparuhov	29,986
Litex	Lovech	Lovech	7,050
Lokomotiv	Plovdiv	Lokomotiv	24,000
Lokomotiv	Sofia	Lokomotiv	22,000
Metalurg	Pernik	Metalurg	18,000
Minyor	Pernik	Minyor	18,000
Neftochimic	Burgas	Lazur	18,037
Olimpik	Galata	Georgi Benkovski	10,000
Slavia	Sofia	Ovcha Kupel	18,000
Spartak	Pleven	Slavi Aleksiev	21,940
Spartak	Varna	Spartak	8,000

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Litex Lovech (C)	30	21	6	3	73	25	+48	69	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Levski Sofia	30	19	7	4	73	27	+46	64	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
3	CSKA Sofia	30	18	7	5	71	29	+42	61	Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
4	Neftochimic Burgas	30	17	4	9	59	31	+28	55
5	Slavia Sofia	30	15	9	6	51	30	+21	54
6	Levski Kyustendil	30	15	1	14	45	40	+5	46
7	Spartak Varna	30	12	6	12	42	36	+6	42	Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
8	Minyor Pernik	30	12	5	13	32	35	−3	41
9	Lokomotiv Sofia	30	11	6	13	42	40	+2	39
10	Metalurg Pernik	30	11	4	15	28	36	−8	37
11	Botev Plovdiv	30	11	3	16	35	48	−13	36
12	Dobrudzha Dobrich	30	11	3	16	33	55	−22	36
13	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	30	11	3	16	31	58	−27	36
14	Olimpik Galata (R)	30	11	2	17	26	47	−21	35	Relegation to 1998–99 B Group
15	Spartak Pleven (R)	30	7	0	23	32	75	−43	21
16	Etar Veliko Tarnovo (R)	30	4	2	24	21	82	−61	14

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	BOT	CSK	DOB	ETA	LVK	LEV	LIT	LPL	LSO	MET	MIN	NEF	OLI	SLA	SPL	SPV
Botev Plovdiv		3–1	1–0	5–1	0–0	2–4	2–3	1–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	0–3	2–1	1–1	4–0	2–0
CSKA Sofia	3–0		4–1	5–1	3–1	0–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	5–0	3–0	5–0	1–1	5–0	2–1
Dobrudzha Dobrich	1–0	1–1		3–0	1–0	1–4	1–1	2–0	0–5^[a]	1–0	1–0	0–0	4–2	1–0	4–0	2–0
Etar Veliko Tarnovo	1–0	0–2	1–2		1–4	0–3	1–3	2–1	0–3	1–0	0–1	1–3	1–1	3–4	0–2	1–3
Levski Kyustendil	4–0	1–2	1–0	3–1		1–3	3–0^[b]	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	2–0
Levski Sofia	1–0	3–3	3–1	5–0	4–0		1–1	5–0	1–0	7–0	1–0	2–3	3–0	1–1	3–0	2–1
Litex Lovech	3–0	2–0	3–0	3–0	3–0	0–4^[c]		6–0	3–1	4–0	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	4–0	4–0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	1–0	1–4	2–0	4–1	2–1	1–1	1–3		0–1	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	3–2	1–0
Lokomotiv Sofia	0–0	1–2	4–2	1–0	4–2	0–0	0–3	2–3		2–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	1–2	2–0	1–1
Metalurg Pernik	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	3–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	2–1		2–3	1–0	2–0	0–1	3–0	1–0
Minyor Pernik	2–0	2–2	4–0	0–1	2–0	2–1	0–2	1–0	3–0	0–0		1–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	2–1
Neftochimic Burgas	2–0	1–3	4–1	7–0	3–1	3–0	3–2	4–0	4–1	1–0	2–0		5–0	0–1	4–1	0–0
Olimpik Galata	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–4	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	3–1		0–2	2–1	2–0
Slavia Sofia	5–3	2–3	3–1	4–0	3–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	4–0		3–0	0–1
Spartak Pleven	4–2	0–3	5–1	4–1	0–1	2–5	1–4	2–0	1–3	0–1	2–1	1–3	1–0	0–1		1–3
Spartak Varna	4–0	2–1	3–1	3–1	2–0	1–3	1–1	5–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	0–0	3–1

Source: A PFG (in Bulgarian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

↑ Match awarded after was abandoned at 65th minute by the result 0–2.
↑ Match awarded as Litex Lovech fielded ineligible player Radostin Kishishev (originally finished 0–0).
↑ Match awarded as Litex Lovech fielded ineligible player Radostin Kishishev (originally finished 1–1).

Champions

Litex Lovech

Goalkeepers
Vitomir Vutov	28	(0)
Stoyan Stavrev	2	(0)

Defenders
Petar Kushev	16	(2)
Stefan Kolev	21	(1)
Nikolay Dimitrov	24	(1)
Dimitar Karadaliev	1	(0)
Zlatomir Zagorčić	27	(0)
Ivaylo Petkov	27	(3)
Radostin Kishishev	5	(0)
Dimitar Balabanov	6	(0)
Rosen Kirilov	28	(0)
Koycho Ivanov	1	(0)

Midfielders
Rosen Emilov	17	(1)
Mariyan Todorov	28	(6)
Stoycho Stoilov	30	(8)
Daniel Ostrovski	5	(0)
Dragoljub Simonović	22	(6)
Ivaylo Petev*	12	(2)
Veselin Sarbakov	16	(3)
Emil Tsanev*	2	(0)

Forwards
Stefan Yurukov*	14	(13)
Dimcho Belyakov*	14	(5)
Alban Bushi	15	(4)
Svetoslav Todorov	19	(9)
Luis Carlos Mota	5	(1)
Igor Bogdanović	15	(6)
Metodi Stoynev	8	(1)

Manager
	Dimitar Dimitrov

Petev, Tsanev, Yurukov and Belyakov left the club during a season.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Anton Spasov	Neftochimic Burgas	17
1	Boncho Genchev	CSKA Sofia	17
3	Stefan Yurukov	Litex Lovech	13
3	Danilo Dončić	Lokomotiv Sofia	13
5	Stanimir Stoilov	Slavia Sofia	12
5	Valentin Stanchev	Spartak Varna	12
7	Ivaylo Andonov	CSKA Sofia	11
8	Aleksandar Aleksandrov	Levski Sofia	10
	Plamen Petrov	Levski Kyustendil
	Georgi Ivanov	Levski Sofia
	Iliya Voynov	Spartak Pleven

Source:1997–98 Top Goalscorers

References

External links

Bulgaria - List of final tables (RSSSF)
1997–98 Statistics of A Group at a-pfg.com

[table_note_1_DOB_LSO0.16653203320062-1] Match awarded after was abandoned at 65th minute by the result 0–2.

[table_note_1_LVK_LIT0.16653203320062-2] Match awarded as Litex Lovech fielded ineligible player Radostin Kishishev (originally finished 0–0).

[table_note_1_LIT_LEV0.16653203320062-3] Match awarded as Litex Lovech fielded ineligible player Radostin Kishishev (originally finished 1–1).

[a]

[b]

[c]