# 1988–89 A Group

The 1988–89 A Group was the 41st season of the A Football Group, the top Bulgarian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948. The campaign was won by CSKA Sofia, ten points ahead of Levski Sofia. Spartak Varna and Minyor Pernik were relegated.

## Teams
### Stadiums and locations

| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity |
| Beroe | Stara Zagora | Beroe | 18,000 |
| Cherno More | Varna | Yuri Gagarin Ticha | 35,000 8,000 |
| CSKA | Sofia | Narodna Armia | 26,000 |
| Dunav | Ruse | Gradski Dunav | 22,000 12,000 |
| Etar | Veliko Tarnovo | Ivaylo | 15,000 |
| Levski | Sofia | Levski Rakovski | 40,000 18,000 |
| Lokomotiv | Gorna Oryahovitsa | Dimitar Dyulgerov | 14,000 |
| Lokomotiv | Plovdiv | Lokomotiv Deveti Septemvri | 13,000 50,000 |
| Lokomotiv | Sofia | Vasil Levski National Stadium | 60,000 |
| Minyor | Pernik | Minyor | 16,000 |
| Pirin | Blagoevgrad | Hristo Botev (Blagoevgrad) | 15,000 |
| Slavia | Sofia | Slavia | 25,000 |
| Sliven | Sliven | Hadzhi Dimitar | 15,000 |
| Spartak | Varna | Spartak | 12,000 |
| Trakia | Plovdiv | Hristo Botev (Plovdiv) | 30,000 |
| Vratsa | Vratsa | Hristo Botev (Vratsa) | 25,000 |

### Personnel

| Team | Manager | Captain |
| Beroe | Petko Petkov | Petko Tenev |
| Cherno More | Bozhil Kolev | Todor Marev |
| CSKA | Dimitar Penev | Georgi Dimitrov |
| Dunav | Simeon Simeonov | Borislav Bogomilov |
| Etar | Georgi Vasilev | Emil Dimitrov |
| Levski | Vasil Metodiev | Petar Petrov |
| Lokomotiv GO | Todor Velev | Angel Minchev |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | Stancho Bonchev | Ayan Sadakov |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | Atanas Mihaylov | Stoycho Stoev |
| Minyor | Evlogi Banchev | Rumen Andonov |
| Pirin | Boris Nikolov | Petar Tsvetkov |
| Slavia | Hristo Mladenov | Antonio Ananiev |
| Sliven | Lyudmil Goranov | Tenko Dobrev |
| Spartak Varna | Blagoy Kalfov | Zhivko Gospodinov |
| Trakia | Ivan Gluhchev | Dimitar Mladenov |
| Vratsa | Petar Kamenov | Emil Marinov |

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | CSKA Sofia (C) | 30 | 20 | 9 | 1 | 86 | 24 | +62 | 49 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 | Levski Sofia | 30 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 63 | 38 | +25 | 39 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 30 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 48 | 30 | +18 | 34 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup |
| 4 | Trakia Plovdiv | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 49 | 36 | +13 | 33 | |
| 5 | Beroe Stara Zagora | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 33 | |
| 6 | Dunav Ruse | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 29 | 32 | −3 | 31 | |
| 7 | Cherno More Varna | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 33 | 43 | −10 | 30 | |
| 8 | Lokomotiv Sofia | 30 | 12 | 4 | 14 | 36 | 34 | +2 | 28 | |
| 9 | Pirin Blagoevgrad | 30 | 12 | 3 | 15 | 34 | 33 | +1 | 27 | |
| 10 | Sliven | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 38 | 39 | −1 | 27 | |
| 11 | Slavia Sofia | 30 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 32 | 36 | −4 | 26 | |
| 12 | Lokomotiv G. Oryahovitsa | 30 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 26 | 45 | −19 | 26 | |
| 13 | Vratsa | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 32 | 53 | −21 | 26 | |
| 14 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 31 | 55 | −24 | 26 | |
| 15 | Spartak Varna (R) | 30 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 37 | 54 | −17 | 23 | Relegation to 1989–90 B Group and Qualification for Intertoto Cup |
| 16 | Minyor Pernik (R) | 30 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 27 | 44 | −17 | 22 | Relegation to 1989–90 B Group |
* ↑ The champion CSKA Sofia also won the Bulgarian Cup and the losing finalists of B Group side Chernomorets Burgas were handed the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup Preliminary round spot.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BSZ | CHM | CSK | DUN | ETA | LEV | LGO | LPL | LSO | MIN | PIR | SLA | SLI | SPV | TRA | VRA |
| Beroe Stara Zagora | | 3–0 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| Cherno More | 2–0 | | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 6–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| CSKA Sofia | 4–2 | 6–2 | | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 7–1 | 7–0 | 4–2 | 6–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 7–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 5–1 |
| Dunav Ruse | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 4–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 0–0 |
| Levski Sofia | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 4–3 | | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 6–0 |
| Lokomotiv G. Oryahovitsa | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 2–1 | | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 1–4 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Lokomotiv Sofia | 2–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Minyor Pernik | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 |
| Pirin Blagoevgrad | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 |
| Slavia Sofia | 5–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Sliven | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 5–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| Spartak Varna | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–3 | | 2–2 | 2–2 |
| Trakia Plovdiv | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 4–2 | | 4–0 |
| Vratsa | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |

## Champions
### CSKA Sofia

* Getov left the club during a season.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Hristo Stoichkov | CSKA Sofia | 23 |
| 2 | Lyuboslav Penev | CSKA Sofia | 21 |
| 3 | Vasil Dragolov | Levski Sofia | 18 |
| 4 | Preslav Getov | Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 14 |
| 4 | Nikolay Petrunov | Pirin Blagoevgrad | 14 |
| 6 | Plamen Kazakov | Spartak Varna | 13 |
| 7 | Emil Kostadinov | CSKA Sofia | 12 |
| 7 | Petar Aleksandrov | Slavia Sofia | 12 |
| 7 | Rosen Krumov | Levski Sofia | 12 |
| 10 | Antim Pehlivanov | Botev Plovdiv | 11 |
| 10 | Myumyun Kashmer | Beroe Stara Zagora | 11 |