2013–14 A Group


The 2013–14 A Group was the 90th season of the top division of the Bulgarian football league system, and 66th since a league format was adopted for the national competition of A Group as a top tier of the pyramid. The season started on 19 July 2013 with the opening game between Chernomorets and Cherno More; the season ended on 18 May 2014 with the last game between Ludogorets Razgrad and Cherno More.
For the first time after twelve years the competition was divided into two phases - Regular season, with every team playing against every other team twice, and Playoffs, with teams divided into Championship group and Relegation group to determine the champions and the relegated teams, respectively.
Ludogorets Razgrad went into the season as two-time defending champions and managed to retain the title for a third consecutive and overall time, after winning their match with Lokomotiv Plovdiv on 7 May two rounds before the end of the season.

Competition format

Season 2013-14 has some changes in the tournament format compared to the previous season. For the first time since 2001–02 the championship is divided in two phases.
Thus, the season has a total of 40 rounds.
At the end of the season, the champion earns a place in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds, while the next two or three clubs in the final standings of Bulgaria's A PFG league table earn the right to play in UEFA's Europa League qualifying rounds. The last four teams in the table are directly relegated to B Group for the next season while only two clubs from the lower division are promoted, effectively reducing the number of teams in A Group for the next season by two - making the Bulgarian top football division to consist of 12 teams as of season 2014–15.

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.
TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
BeroeStara ZagoraBeroe12,128
BotevPlovdivHristo Botev18,000
Cherno MoreVarnaTicha8,250
ChernomoretsBurgasLazur18,037
CSKASofiaBalgarska Armiya22,015
LevskiSofiaGeorgi Asparuhov29,200
LitexLovechLovech8,100
LokomotivPlovdivLokomotiv10,000
LokomotivSofiaLokomotiv Sofia22,000
LudogoretsRazgradLudogorets Arena6,000
Lyubimets 2007LyubimetsGradski4,000
NeftochimicBurgasNesebar7,000
PirinGotse DelchevGradski5,000
SlaviaSofiaOvcha Kupel15,992

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.
TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsor
Beroe Stara Zagora Petar Hubchev Georgi AndonovJomaBEROE
Botev Plovdiv Stanimir Stoilov Ivan TsvetkovUhlsportKTB AD
Cherno More Varna Georgi Ivanov Georgi IlievJomaArmeets
Chernomorets Burgas Dimitar Dimitrov Vančo TrajanovSportika—
CSKA Sofia Stoycho Mladenov Valentin IlievLegea—
Levski Sofia Elin Topuzakov Stanislav AngelovPumaM-tel
Litex Lovech Miodrag Ješić Simeon SlavchevadidasPrima
Lokomotiv Plovdiv Aleksandar Stankov Zdravko LazarovUhlsport—
Lokomotiv Sofia Dimitar Vasev MarquinhosJomaCasa Boyana
Ludogorets Razgrad Stoycho Stoev Svetoslav DyakovadidasNavibulgar
Lyubimets 2007 Krasimir Mechev Anton Ognyanovadidas—
Neftochimic Burgas Zlatko Yankov Stanislav ZhekovKrasiko—
Pirin Gotse Delchev Kostadin Angelov Petar LazarovErreà—
Slavia Sofia Milen Radukanov Georgi PetkovJoma—

First phase

The first 26 Rounds comprise the first phase of the season, also called the Regular season. In the first phase, every team plays each other team twice on a home-away basis till all the teams have played two matches against each other. The table standings at the end of the Regular season determine the group in which each team is going to play in the Play-offs.

League table

Results

Each team played against every other team for a total of 26 matches.

Round by round

Positions by round

Second phase

After the first 26 Rounds comprising the Regular season, the teams are divided into two groups of seven determined by their standings in the table at the end of the Regular season. The second phase is also referred to as the Play-offs. The teams in each group of the Play-offs again play on a home-away basis but only with the teams in their respective group. Hence, the total number of games each team has to play in this phase is 12. Yet, since the number of teams in each group is odd, each round of the second phase of the season consists of three games between six teams per group, and the odd team in the group does not play this round. Thus, there are 14 rounds in the Play-offs, despite there being only 12 matches a team has to play.

Championship group

The top seven teams at the end of the Regular season play in the Championship group to determine the champion for the season. Additionally, the teams in this group compete for the Bulgarian spots in UEFA's 2014-15 editions of Champions League and Europa League.
At the end of the Play-offs, the team placed first in the group can compete in the qualifying rounds of 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. The second and the third placed teams earn the right to compete in the qualifying rounds of 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. If the winner of the 2013–14 Bulgarian Cup is one of those top three teams, the fourth placed team in the group also earns a right to participate in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League.

Relegation group

The bottom seven teams at the end of the Regular season play in the Relegation group to determine which four teams are relegated to B PFG for next season.
At the end of the Play-offs, the bottom four teams of this group will be directly relegated.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Updated on 18 May 2014

Top assists

Hat-tricks

4 Player scored 4 goals

Scoring

; Club with most clean sheets - 25
; Clubs with 24 clean sheets:
; Clubs with 17 clean sheets:
Updated to games played on 18 May 2014

Awards

Weekly awards

Player of the Round

Transfers