The 2010–11 A Group was the 87th season of the Bulgarian national top football division, and the 63rd of A Group as the top-tier football league in the country. The season commenced on 31 July 2010 and ended with the last games on 28 May 2011. The winter break was between the weekends around 29 November 2010 and 26 February 2011. Litex Lovech had defended their 2009/10 A Group title and became champions for 2 years in a row.

Team information

Lokomotiv Mezdra, Sportist Svoge and

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes in ...

were directly relegated after finishing in the bottom three places. Lokomotiv ended a two-year tenure, Sportist were relegated after a year in A Group and Botev were excluded from A Group due to financial difficulties at the winter brake. The relegated teams were replaced by

Vidima-Rakovski FC Sevlievo ( bg, ФК Севлиево) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Sevlievo, which currently competes in the Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria), North-West Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football league sy ...

, champions of West B Group and

Kaliakra Kavarna FC Kaliakra Kavarna ( bg, ФК Калиакра Каварна) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Kavarna, which currently competes in the A RFG Dobrich, the fourth tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1922 as Kaliakra Sport Clu ...

, champions of the East B Group.

returned to A Group after two years, while

Kaliakra Kaliakra ( bg, Калиакра; ro, Caliacra) is a cape in the Southern Dobruja region of the northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, which ends with a long and narrow headland east of Kavarna, northeast of Varna and southwest of Mangalia. ...

entered the top division for their first time. A further place in the league was decided by a play-off match between the runners-up teams from the two B Group's. The game was played on ''23 May 2010'' between

Nesebar Nesebar (often transcribed as Nessebar and sometimes as Nesebur, bg, Несебър, pronounced ) is an ancient city and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centr ...

and Akademik Sofia. Akademik won the match by 2–1 and returned to the top division after 28 years. The last season the club had played in A Group was 1981–82.

Stadia and locations

As in the previous year, the league will comprise the best thirteen teams of season 2009/10, the 2 champions of the ''West'' and ''East'' B Group's and the winners of the ''promotion play-off'' between the runners-up from the ''West'' and ''East'' B Group's. The following teams have ensured their participation in A Group for season ''2010/11'' (listed in alphabetical order): ;Notes # Akademik Sofia will play their league home games at

Ovcha Kupel Stadium Stadion Aleksandar Shalamanov ( bg, Стадион „Александър Шаламанов“) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Slavia district of Sofia, Bulgaria named after the football legend Aleksandar Shalamanov. It is currently used fo ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. ...

because their

Akademik Stadium Akademik Stadium is a football stadium located in Sofia, Bulgaria with a capacity of 8,000 sitting and 2,000 standing for sports and expandable to 22,000 for concerts. The stadium complex consists of 1 grass field, 2 additional fields, 4 changing ...

had not received approval from the BFU license committee. # CSKA Sofia will play their league home games at

Vasil Levski National Stadium Vasil Levski National Stadium ( bg, Национален стадион „Васил Левски“), named after Bulgarian national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski (1837–1873), is the country's second largest stadium. The stadium has 43, ...

because their Balgarska Armiya had not received approval from the BFU license committee. # Lokomotiv Sofia will play their league home games at

because their Lokomotiv Stadium had not received approval from the BFU license committee.

Personnel and sponsoring

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Positions by round

Relegation playoff

----

Chernomorets Pomorie Pomorie ( bg, Поморие) is a Bulgarian municipal ( bg, общински, pronounced obshtinski) association football club based in Pomorie, that competes in the A RFG Burgas, the fourth tier of Bulgarian football. The club plays its home ...

wasn't allowed to compete in the next season, so there will be 2 play-offs. The first will be between the teams that lost against Chernomorets Pomorie,

and Sportist Svoge. The other will be between Svetkavitsa and FC Etar Veliko Tarnovo (the 3rd teams in the West and East B Group) for the

Pirin Blagoevgrad Futbolen klub Pirin ( bg, Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. T ...

's place. ----

Champions

;Litex Lovech *Niflore, Popov and Bratu left the club during a season.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Including matches played on 28 May 2011

Top assistants

Including matches played on 28 May 2011

Scoring

*First goal of the season: 18:06, 31 July 2010 –

Georgi Filipov Georgi Filipov ( bg, Георги Филипов; born 12 August 1985 in Varna) is a former Bulgarian footballer who played as a midfielder. He retired in 2013, at the age of 28, due to injury. Career Filipov started his career in Spartak Var ...

for

against Slavia (6th minute) *Fastest goal in a match: 19 seconds – Rumen Trifonov for

CSKA CSKA (Cyrillic: ЦСКА) is an abbreviation for "Central Sports Club of the Army" in several Slavic languages, and refers to military sports teams in may stand for: Bulgaria * Football clubs ** PFC CSKA Sofia, a professional association football ...

against Chernomorets (8 August 2010) *First own goal of the season:

Yordan Petkov Yordan Petkov ( bg, Йордан Петков) (born 11 March 1976 in Veliko Tarnovo) is a former Bulgarian football defender who also used to be assistant coach of Slavia Sofia under Martin Kushev. As a player, he spent most of his career a ...

( Slavia) for Beroe, 3rd round (15 August 2010) *First hat-trick of the season:

Garra Dembélé Garra Dembélé (born 21 February 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in France, he represented Mali at international level. Club career Early career Born in Gennevilliers, Dembélé began his career in INF C ...

( Levski) against Loko Sofia (9 August 2010) * Quickest hat-trick: 25 minutes –

( Levski) against Minyor (12 September 2010) *Widest winning margin: 5 goals ** Sliven 2000 6–1

(18 September 2010) ** Lokomotiv Plovdiv 5–0

(25 September 2010) ** Cherno More 5–0

(9 April 2011) *Most goals in one half: 6 goals ** Sliven 2000 6–1

(5–1 at half time) (18 September 2010) *Most goals scored by losing team: 3 goals ** Lokomotiv Sofia 4–3 Slavia (27 November 2010) * Highest scoring draw: 4 goals **

2–2

(14 August 2010) ** Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2–2

Litex Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stad ...

(22 August 2010) **

Montana Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...

2–2 Akademik (18 September 2010) ** Minyor 2–2 Lokomotiv Plovdiv (2 October 2010) ** Lokomotiv Sofia 2–2

(4 October 2010) ** Slavia 2–2 Levski (7 November 2010)

Discipline

* First yellow card of the season: Radoslav Mitrevski for

Pirin , photo=Pirin-mountains-Bansko.jpg , photo_caption=Pirin scenery in winter , country= Bulgaria, , parent= , geology= granite, gneiss, marble, limestone , area_km2=2585 , range_coordinates = , length_km=80 , length_orientation= north-s ...

against Cherno More, 17 minutes and 25 seconds (31 July 2010) * First red card of the season: Anton Dimitrov for

against Slavia, 87 minutes and 14 seconds (31 July 2010) * Most yellow cards in a single match: 10 ** Akademik 0–1

Sliven Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Tu ...

– 6 for Akademik (

Pieter Mbemba Pierre Emanuel "Pieter" Mbemba (born 23 July 1988) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defender. Career Mbemba has played in Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Bulgaria, Israel and Cyprus for KV Mechelen, FC Eindhoven FC Eind ...

Asparuh Vasilev Asparuh Vasilev ( bg, Аспарух Василев) (born 14 November 1981 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian football midfielder who currently plays for Slivnishki geroi. Vasilev previously played for Spartak Varna and Akademik Sofia in the A PFG ...

, Ivan Redovski,

Nikola Asenov Nikola Asenov ( bg, Никола Асенов; born 15 February 1983, in Sofia) is a Bulgarian football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''foot ...

Marcos Bonfim Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélson Marcos, Portugue ...

and Yulian Petkov) and 4 for Sliven ( Petar Stoyanov, Nikolay Dimitrov,

Miroslav Mindev Miroslav Mindev ( bg, Мирослав Миндев; born 27 July 1980) is a former Bulgarian football forward and currently a manager of Zagorets Nova Zagora. Mindev has captained his hometown club. Career With Sliven, Mindev became two time ...

and Dimo Bakalov) (21 August 2010) * Most red cards in a single match: 3 ** Cherno More 3–2 Slavia – 1 for Cherno More ( Ademar Júnior) and 2 for Slavia ( Galin Ivanov, Victor Deniran) (17 October 2010)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2010-11 A PFG First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) seasons 1 Bul