# 2002–03 A Group

The 2002–03 A Group was the 55th season of the top Bulgarian national football league (commonly referred to as A Group) and the 79th edition of a Bulgarian national championship tournament.

## Overview

It was contested by 14 teams, and CSKA Sofia won the championship. The Reds finished with 66 points in total, six points above archrivals Levski Sofia. CSKA Sofia qualified for the 2003-04 Champions League qualifying rounds, while Levski and third placed Litex Lovech qualified for the UEFA Cup for next season. Marek Dupnitsa qualified for the Intertoto Cup.
At the end of the season, Dobrudzha Dobrich and Rilski Sportist were relegated after just one season in the elite. Only two teams were relegated, because the league was expanded the following season from 14 to 16 teams.

## Teams
### Promotion and Relegation

Beroe, Belasitsa Petrich, and Spartak Pleven were relegated at the end of the last season. The relegated teams were replaced by three teams from B PFG. These teams were Botev Plovdiv, Dobrudzha Dobrich, and Rilski Sportist Samokov. Botev return after a one-year absence, Dobrudzha return after a two-year absence, while Rilski Sportist made their debut in the top tier of Bulgarian football.

### Stadia and Locations

* Cherno More
* Spartak
* Botev
* Lokomotiv
* Chernomorets
* Naftex
| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity |
| Botev | Plovdiv | Hristo Botev | 22,000 |
| Cherno More | Varna | Ticha | 12,000 |
| Chernomorets | Burgas | Chernomorets | 22,000 |
| CSKA | Sofia | Balgarska Armia | 22,015 |
| Dobrudzha | Dobrich | Druzhba | 12,500 |
| Levski | Sofia | Georgi Asparuhov | 29,986 |
| Litex | Lovech | Lovech | 7,050 |
| Lokomotiv | Plovdiv | Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) | 13,800 |
| Lokomotiv | Sofia | Lokomotiv (Sofia) | 22,000 |
| Marek | Dupnitsa | Bonchuk Stadium | 16,050 |
| Naftex | Burgas | Lazur | 18,037 |
| Rilski Sportist | Samokov | Iskar | 7,000 |
| Slavia | Sofia | Ovcha Kupel | 18,000 |
| Spartak | Varna | Spartak Stadium | 7,500 |

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | CSKA Sofia (C) | 26 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 67 | 16 | +51 | 66 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Levski Sofia | 26 | 19 | 3 | 4 | 61 | 19 | +42 | 60 | Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | Litex Lovech | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 49 | 22 | +27 | 55 | Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Slavia Sofia | 26 | 16 | 3 | 7 | 57 | 30 | +27 | 51 | |
| 5 | Cherno More | 26 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 42 | 21 | +21 | 48 | |
| 6 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 26 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 56 | 33 | +23 | 47 | |
| 7 | Spartak Varna | 26 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 25 | 34 | −9 | 34 | |
| 8 | Naftex Burgas | 26 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 31 | 36 | −5 | 33 | |
| 9 | Marek | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 35 | 42 | −7 | 30 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round |
| 10 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 26 | 7 | 4 | 15 | 23 | 37 | −14 | 25 | |
| 11 | Chernomorets Burgas | 26 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 32 | 56 | −24 | 24 | |
| 12 | Botev Plovdiv | 26 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 26 | 61 | −35 | 21 | |
| 13 | Dobrudzha Dobrich (R) | 26 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 19 | 73 | −54 | 14 | Relegation to 2003–04 B Group |
| 14 | Rilski Sportist (R) | 26 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 20 | 63 | −43 | 9 | Relegation to 2003–04 B Group |
* ↑ Lokomotiv Plovdiv were docked three points for failure to show in the round 17 match.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BOT | CHB | CHM | CSK | DOB | LEV | LIT | LPL | LSO | MAR | NAF | RIL | SLA | SPV |
| Botev Plovdiv | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 5–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 |
| Chernomorets Burgas | 3–0 | | 1–2 | 2–8 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–4 | 1–2 |
| Cherno More | 4–0 | 2–2 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| CSKA Sofia | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 5–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| Dobrudzha Dobrich | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–5 | | 0–5 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–3 |
| Levski Sofia | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 5–0 | | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Litex Lovech | 4–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 5–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 5–3 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 0–3 | 9–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | | 2–1 | 5–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Marek | 6–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–0 |
| Naftex Burgas | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 |
| Rilski Sportist | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–2 | | 1–3 | 0–0 |
| Slavia Sofia | 5–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 6–1 | 2–5 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | | 4–0 |
| Spartak Varna | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | |
* ↑ Match awarded after Lokomotiv Plovdiv did not show up due to the protest for a playing the match in Samokov.
* ↑ Match awarded because Georgi Mechechiev and Anastas Petrov were ineligible to play for Spartak, match was originally finished 1–0 for the hosts.

## Champions
### CSKA Sofia

* Ivanov and Deyanov left the club during a season.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Georgi Chilikov | Levski Sofia | 22 |
| 2 | Martin Kushev | Slavia Sofia | 17 |
| 3 | Emil Gargorov | CSKA Sofia | 14 |
| 4 | Velizar Dimitrov | CSKA Sofia | 13 |
| 5 | Desislav Rusev | Litex Lovech | 11 |
| 5 | Georgi Vladimirov | Slavia Sofia | 11 |
| 7 | Velimir Ivanović | Slavia Sofia | 9 |
| 7 | Doncho Donev | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 9 |
| 7 | Boyko Velichkov | Lokomotiv Sofia | 9 |
| 7 | Borislav Dimitrov | Botev Plovdiv | 9 |