# 2001–02 A Group

The 2001–02 A Group was the 54th season of the A Football Group, the top Bulgarian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948.
Defending champions Levski Sofia won their third consecutive title, and 23rd title overall.

## Overview

The format of the league was changed from last season, with the intention of making the league more competitive. This resulted in the league being divided into two groups after the regular season. The top 6 teams from the regular season would continue in the championship round, while the bottom 8 teams would play in the relegation round. It was contested by 14 teams, and Levski Sofia won the championship.

## Teams

Fourteen teams competed in the league. The promoted teams from the 2000–01 B Group were Spartak Pleven (returning to the top flight after a three-year absence) and Marek Dupnitsa (returning after a nineteen-year absence). The league also included Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Belasitsa Petrich after mergers with Velbazhd Kyustendil and Hebar Pazardzhik respectively.
These teams replace Botev Plovdiv and Minyor Pernik, who were relegated at the end of the last season.

### Stadiums and Locations

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Belasitsa | Petrich | Tsar Samuil | 9,500 |
| Beroe | Stara Zagora | Beroe | 22,500 |
| Cherno More | Varna | Ticha | 8,250 |
| Chernomorets | Burgas | Chernomorets | 22,000 |
| CSKA | Sofia | Balgarska Armia | 22,015 |
| Levski | Sofia | Georgi Asparuhov | 29,200 |
| Litex | Lovech | Gradski | 7,050 |
| Lokomotiv | Plovdiv | Lokomotiv | 24,000 |
| Lokomotiv | Sofia | Lokomotiv | 22,000 |
| Marek | Dupnitsa | Bonchuk | 16,050 |
| Naftex | Burgas | Lazur | 18,037 |
| Slavia | Sofia | Slavia | 32,000 |
| Spartak | Pleven | Slavi Aleksiev | 21,940 |
| Spartak | Varna | Spartak | 7,500 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Belasitsa | Mihail Valchev | | | Vitosha AD |
| Beroe | Venelin Sivriev | Vanyo Shishkov | Erima | |
| Cherno More | Aleksandar Stankov | Ventsislav Marinov | BURGELOF | St. Elias |
| Chernomorets | Ivan Tsvetanov | Kostadin Dzhambazov | | |
| CSKA Sofia | Luigi Simoni | Georgi Antonov | Lotto | — |
| Levski Sofia | Slavoljub Muslin | Stanimir Stoilov | Diadora | Mobiltel |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | Dimitar Dimitrov | | Asics | VAI Holding |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | Emil Dimitrov | | Adidas | Delta-G |
| Litex | Ferario Spasov | Vitomir Vutov | Asics | Litex Commerce |
| Marek | Dimitar Aleksiev | Velizar Dimitrov | Nike | |
| Naftex | Dimitar Stoychev | Stanimir Dimitrov | Puma | Petrol AD |
| Slavia Sofia | Žarko Olarević | Veselin Vachev | Adidas | Sofiyski Imoti |
| Spartak Pleven | Angel Stankov | Slavcho Pavlov | Asics | VIS-2 |
| Spartak Varna | Stefan Grozdanov | Valentin Stanchev | | |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Beroe | Tsvetomir Parvanov | Mutual consent | 1 June 2001 | Pre-season | Ivan Vutov | 21 June 2001 |
| Chernomorets | Nikolay Rusev | Mutual consent | 1 June 2001 | Pre-season | Mihail Valchev | 22 June 2001 |
| Marek Dupnitsa | Petar Zehtinski | Mutual consent | 8 September 2001 | 12th | Yanko Dinkov | 10 September 2001 |
| Chernomorets | Mihail Valchev | Sacked | 9 September 2001 | 14th | Ivan Tsvetanov | 12 September 2001 |
| Levski Sofia | Ljupko Petrović | Mutual consent | 10 September 2001 | 1st | Georgi Todorov (caretaker) | 10 September 2001 |
| Slavia Sofia | Kiril Kachamanov | Sacked | 25 September 2001 | 10th | Žarko Olarević | 25 September 2001 |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | Angel Kolev | Sacked | 28 October 2001 | 9th | Emil Dimitrov | 28 October 2001 |
| CSKA Sofia | Asparuh Nikodimov | Sacked | 4 December 2001 | 3rd | Luigi Simoni | 10 December 2001 |
| Marek Dupnitsa | Yanko Dinkov | Mutual consent | 2 January 2002 | 13th | Dimitar Aleksiev | 2 January 2002 |
| Levski Sofia | Georgi Todorov | End of caretaker tenure | 3 January 2002 | 1st | Rüdiger Abramczik | 3 January 2002 |
| Beroe | Ivan Vutov | Mutual consent | 4 January 2002 | 14th | Tsvetomir Parvanov | 4 January 2002 |
| Levski Sofia | Rüdiger Abramczik | Sacked | 11 March 2002 | 1st | Slavoljub Muslin | 17 March 2002 |
| Beroe | Tsvetomir Parvanov | Sacked | 12 March 2002 | 14th | Iliya Iliev | 17 March 2002 |
| Spartak Pleven | Velislav Vutsov | Mutual consent | 12 March 2002 | 7th | Angel Stankov | 18 March 2002 |
| Belasitsa | Voyn Voynov | Sacked | 12 May 2002 | 12th | Mihail Valchev | 13 May 2002 |

## First stage
### League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Levski Sofia | 26 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 58 | 21 | +37 | 65 | Qualification for championship group |
| 2 | Litex Lovech | 26 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 50 | 27 | +23 | 55 | Qualification for championship group |
| 3 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 26 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 42 | 23 | +19 | 53 | Qualification for championship group |
| 4 | CSKA Sofia | 26 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 48 | 17 | +31 | 52 | Qualification for championship group |
| 5 | Naftex Burgas | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 42 | Qualification for championship group |
| 6 | Slavia Sofia | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 30 | 32 | −2 | 37 | Qualification for championship group |
| 7 | Spartak Pleven | 26 | 10 | 3 | 13 | 40 | 44 | −4 | 33 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 8 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 33 | 32 | +1 | 29 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 9 | Spartak Varna | 26 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 29 | 39 | −10 | 26 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 10 | Chernomorets Burgas | 26 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 24 | 54 | −30 | 26 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 11 | Marek | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 22 | 42 | −20 | 24 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 12 | Cherno More | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 28 | 36 | −8 | 24 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 13 | Belasitsa Petrich | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 21 | 35 | −14 | 23 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 14 | Beroe | 26 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 13 | 46 | −33 | 14 | Qualification for relegation group |

### Results

| Home \ Away | BEL | BSZ | CHM | CHB | CSK | LEV | LIT | LPL | LSO | MAR | NAF | SLA | SPL | SPV |
| Belasitsa Petrich | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Beroe | 1–0 | | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| Cherno More | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| Chernomorets Burgas | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| CSKA Sofia | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 5–1 |
| Levski Sofia | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 6–0 |
| Litex Lovech | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 5–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 6–2 | 1–1 |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 6–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Marek | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–5 | 0–0 |
| Naftex Burgas | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 |
| Slavia Sofia | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Spartak Pleven | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | | 2–0 |
| Spartak Varna | 4–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | |
* ↑ Match awarded after was not played after referee was beaten up ahead of the match.

## Championship group
### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Levski Sofia (C) | 36 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 77 | 27 | +50 | 56 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Litex Lovech | 36 | 23 | 8 | 5 | 66 | 34 | +32 | 50 | Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | CSKA Sofia | 36 | 19 | 7 | 10 | 60 | 29 | +31 | 38 | Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 36 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 34 | |
| 5 | Slavia Sofia | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 42 | 48 | −6 | 32 | |
| 6 | Naftex Burgas | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 44 | 40 | +4 | 30 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | CSK | LEV | LIT | LPL | NAF | SLA |
| CSKA Sofia | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 0–2 |
| Levski Sofia | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Litex Lovech | 1–0 | 2–2 | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–2 | | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Naftex Burgas | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | | 2–2 |
| Slavia Sofia | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | |

## Relegation group
### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 7 | Marek | 40 | 14 | 8 | 18 | 46 | 57 | −11 | 38 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round |
| 8 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 40 | 14 | 9 | 17 | 49 | 48 | +1 | 37 | |
| 9 | Spartak Varna | 40 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 50 | 51 | −1 | 36 | |
| 10 | Chernomorets Burgas | 40 | 13 | 9 | 18 | 41 | 69 | −28 | 35 | |
| 11 | Cherno More | 40 | 12 | 11 | 17 | 47 | 51 | −4 | 35 | |
| 12 | Spartak Pleven (R) | 40 | 15 | 4 | 21 | 58 | 66 | −8 | 33 | Relegation to 2002–03 B Group |
| 13 | Belasitsa Petrich (R) | 40 | 12 | 7 | 21 | 34 | 50 | −16 | 32 | Relegation to 2002–03 B Group |
| 14 | Beroe (R) | 40 | 4 | 8 | 28 | 19 | 70 | −51 | 13 | Relegation to 2002–03 B Group |

### Results

| Home \ Away | BEL | BSZ | CHM | CHB | LSO | MAR | SPL | SPV |
| Belasitsa Petrich | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 |
| Beroe | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 |
| Cherno More | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Chernomorets Burgas | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 2–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| Marek | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Spartak Pleven | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | | 1–0 |
| Spartak Varna | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | |

## Champions
### Levski Sofia

* Markov, Terziev, Nikolov, Batista, Barkanichkov, Gaucho and Kolev left the club during a season.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Vladimir Manchev | CSKA Sofia | 21 |
| 2 | Todor Kolev | Spartak Pleven | 18 |
| 3 | Stoyko Sakaliev | Naftex Burgas | 17 |
| 4 | Stefan Yurukov | Litex Lovech | 14 |
| 4 | Metodi Stoynev | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 14 |
| 4 | Boyko Velichkov | Lokomotiv Sofia | 14 |
| 4 | Velizar Dimitrov | Marek Dupnitsa | 14 |
| 8 | Georgi Ivanov | Levski Sofia | 13 |
| 8 | Zoran Janković | Litex Lovech | 13 |
| 8 | Martin Kushev | Slavia Sofia Levski Sofia | 13 |