1997–98 A Group (original) (raw)

50th completed season of top-tier football league in Bulgaria

Football league season

A Group

Season 1997–98
Dates 2 August 1997 – 10 May 1998
Champions Litex Lovech(1st title)
Relegated OlimpikSpartak PlevenEtar
Champions League Litex
UEFA Cup CSKA
Matches played 240
Goals scored 696 (2.9 per match)
Top goalscorer Boncho GenchevAnton 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

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

League standings

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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

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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:

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

Champions

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Litex Lovech

Goalkeepers
Bulgaria Vitomir Vutov 28 (0)
Bulgaria Stoyan Stavrev 2 (0)
Defenders
Bulgaria Petar Kushev 16 (2)
Bulgaria Stefan Kolev 21 (1)
Bulgaria Nikolay Dimitrov 24 (1)
Bulgaria Dimitar Karadaliev 1 (0)
Bulgaria Zlatomir Zagorčić 27 (0)
Bulgaria Ivaylo Petkov 27 (3)
Bulgaria Radostin Kishishev 5 (0)
Bulgaria Dimitar Balabanov 6 (0)
Bulgaria Rosen Kirilov 28 (0)
Bulgaria Koycho Ivanov 1 (0)
Midfielders
Bulgaria Rosen Emilov 17 (1)
Bulgaria Mariyan Todorov 28 (6)
Bulgaria Stoycho Stoilov 30 (8)
Bulgaria Daniel Ostrovski 5 (0)
Serbia and Montenegro Dragoljub Simonović 22 (6)
Bulgaria Ivaylo Petev* 12 (2)
Bulgaria Veselin Sarbakov 16 (3)
Bulgaria Emil Tsanev* 2 (0)
Forwards
Bulgaria Stefan Yurukov* 14 (13)
Bulgaria Dimcho Belyakov* 14 (5)
Albania Alban Bushi 15 (4)
Bulgaria Svetoslav Todorov 19 (9)
Brazil Luis Carlos Mota 5 (1)
Serbia and Montenegro Igor Bogdanović 15 (6)
Bulgaria Metodi Stoynev 8 (1)
Manager
Bulgaria Dimitar Dimitrov

Top scorers

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

References

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vteBulgarian football championship seasons
State Championship (National Football Division) 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1941 1942 1943 1944
Republic Championship 1945 1946 1947 1948
A Group 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 2014–15 2015–16
First League 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
vte1997–98 in Bulgarian football
Domestic leagues A Group B Group V Group
Domestic cups Bulgarian Cup (Final)
European competitions Champions League UEFA Cup Cup Winners' Cup Intertoto Cup
Related to national team 1998 FIFA World Cup (Qualification Group 5, Group D) Hristo Bonev
List of transfers
vte199798 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues Albania Andorra Armenia '97 '98 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '97 '98 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina (Herzeg-Bosnia, Republika Srpska) Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '97 '98 Finland '97 '98 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '97 '98 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '97 '98 Latvia '97 '98 Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '97 '98 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia '97 '98 San Marino Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '97 '98 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales FR Yugoslavia
Domestic cups Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '97 '98 Finland '97 '98 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '97 '98 Israel Italy Latvia '97 '98 Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '97 '98 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales FR Yugoslavia
League cups England Finland '97 '98 France Germany Iceland '97 '98 Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions Champions League (Qualifying rounds, Group stage, knockout stage, Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup