# 1996–97 A Group

The 1996–97 A Group was the 49th season of the A Football Group, the top Bulgarian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948.

## Overview

It was contested by 16 teams, and CSKA Sofia won the championship.

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | CSKA Sofia (C) | 30 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 65 | 19 | +46 | 71 | Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Neftochimic Burgas | 30 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 70 | 20 | +50 | 67 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Slavia Sofia | 30 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 61 | 23 | +38 | 57 | |
| 4 | Levski Sofia | 30 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 58 | 30 | +28 | 53 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 5 | Botev Plovdiv | 30 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 45 | |
| 6 | Minyor Pernik | 30 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 44 | |
| 7 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 30 | 13 | 4 | 13 | 59 | 47 | +12 | 43 | |
| 8 | Levski Kyustendil | 30 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 51 | 52 | −1 | 42 | |
| 9 | Spartak Varna | 30 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 40 | 41 | −1 | 42 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 10 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 38 | 41 | −3 | 41 | |
| 11 | Dobrudzha Dobrich | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 44 | 48 | −4 | 39 | |
| 12 | Spartak Pleven | 30 | 12 | 3 | 15 | 35 | 46 | −11 | 39 | |
| 13 | Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 37 | 53 | −16 | 35 | |
| 14 | Maritsa Plovdiv (R) | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 38 | 45 | −7 | 32 | Relegation to 1997–98 B Group |
| 15 | Montana (R) | 30 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 32 | 54 | −22 | 28 | Relegation to 1997–98 B Group |
| 16 | Rakovski Ruse (R) | 30 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 8 | 110 | −102 | 1 | Relegation to 1997–98 B Group |

## Results

| Home \ Away | BOT | CSK | DOB | ETA | LVK | LEV | LPL | LSO | MAR | MIN | MON | NEF | RAK | SLA | SPL | SPV |
| Botev Plovdiv | | 0–3 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 4–3 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–3 |
| CSKA Sofia | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 5–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 9–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 |
| Dobrudzha Dobrich | 2–2 | 0–0 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 3–0 |
| Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–3 | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Levski Kyustendil | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 3–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 5–1 | 3–1 |
| Levski Sofia | 0–1 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 6–0 | 6–1 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 4–0 |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–2 | | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–5 | 5–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | 3–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 2–3 | 0–0 | | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 7–0 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 3–1 |
| Maritsa Plovdiv | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–5 | 8–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Minyor Pernik | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Montana | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Neftochimic Burgas | 2–0 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| Rakovski Ruse | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–7 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–5 | 0–6 | | 0–7 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Slavia Sofia | 2–1 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 6–0 | | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Spartak Pleven | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | | 3–2 |
| Spartak Varna | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |

## Champions
### CSKA Sofia

* Vidolov and Hristov left the club during a season.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Todor Pramatarov | Slavia Sofia | 26 |
| 2 | Hristo Marashliev | Levski Kyustendil (9) Spartak Varna (11) | 20 |
| 3 | Ivaylo Andonov | CSKA Sofia | 18 |
| 4 | Geno Dobrevski | Botev Plovdiv | 13 |
| 5 | Mihail Mihaylov | Levski Kyustendil | 12 |
| 6 | Emil Mitsanski | Dobrudzha | 11 |
| 6 | Todor Zaytsev | Levski Sofia | 11 |
| 8 | Georgi Ivanov | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 10 |
| 8 | Iliya Gruev | Neftochimic | 10 |
| 10 | Boris Hvoynev | Botev Plovdiv | 9 |
| 10 | Petar Zhabov | CSKA Sofia | 9 |
| 10 | Plamen Petrov | Levski Kyustendil | 9 |
| 10 | Marian Hristov | Levski Sofia | 9 |
| 10 | Aleksandar Aleksandrov | Maritsa | 9 |
* Source:1996–97 Top Goalscorers