1972–73 A Group

A Group
Season	1972–73
Champions	CSKA Sofia; (17th title)
Relegated	Tundzha; Volov;
European Cup	CSKA
UEFA Cup	Lokomotiv Plovdiv; Slavia;
Matches played	304
Goals scored	848 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Petar Zhekov; (29 goals)
	← 1971–72 1973–74 →

The 1972–73 A Group was the 25th 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 18 teams, and CSKA Sofia won the championship.^[1]

League standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	CSKA Sofia (C)	34	22	7	5	80	40	+40	51	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	34	18	7	9	62	38	+24	43	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	Slavia Sofia	33	16	11	6	55	33	+22	43	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
4	Levski Sofia	34	15	10	9	62	37	+25	40
5	Akademik Sofia	34	15	8	11	61	43	+18	38
6	Dunav Ruse^[a] (R)	34	14	9	11	42	41	+1	37	Relegation to 1973–74 B Group
7	Lokomotiv Sofia	34	14	9	11	44	44	0	37
8	Botev Vratsa	34	13	7	14	48	55	−7	33
9	Botev Plovdiv	34	12	8	14	44	44	0	32
10	Cherno More Varna	34	12	8	14	51	54	−3	32
11	Spartak Pleven	33	13	5	15	46	51	−5	31
12	Chernomorets Burgas^[a] (R)	34	12	7	15	35	44	−9	31	Relegation to 1973–74 B Group
13	Beroe Stara Zagora	34	12	6	16	50	47	+3	30	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
14	Minyor Pernik	34	8	14	12	35	54	−19	30
15	Spartak Varna	33	10	9	14	34	49	−15	29
16	Etar Veliko Tarnovo	34	7	14	13	37	49	−12	28
17	Tundzha Yambol (R)	33	9	7	17	37	55	−18	25	Relegation to 1973–74 B Group
18	Volov Shumen (R)	34	6	6	22	25	70	−45	18	Relegation to 1973–74 B Group

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Following the end of the season, after allegations of match fixing and allocation of funds for briberies, Dunav and Chernomorets were relegated from the group, while the matches Slavia - Spartak Varna and Spartak Pleven - Tundzha were annulled.

Results

Home \ Away	AKD	BSZ	BPD	BVR	CHM	CHB	CSK	DUN	ETA	LEV	LPL	LSO	MIN	SLA	SPL	SPV	TUN	VOL
Akademik Sofia		4–1	0–0	1–0	3–3	2–1	2–3	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–1	7–0	1–1	1–2	4–0	4–0	4–1	1–0
Beroe Stara Zagora	0–2		1–3	4–0	3–1	4–0	2–0	5–1	1–1	1–0	0–3	3–1	4–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	4–0
Botev Plovdiv	3–2	3–1		3–1	1–1	0–0	1–3	0–2	0–0	1–0	3–4	2–3	1–1	2–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	3–0
Botev Vratsa	4–1	3–1	5–2		3–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	3–1	2–1
Cherno More	0–1	1–0	1–1	3–2		3–0	1–3	2–3	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	2–0	3–1	3–1	3–1
Chernomorets Burgas	3–2	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–1		2–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–0
CSKA Sofia	0–2	1–0	3–1	5–3	2–1	3–1		4–0	2–0	2–2	2–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	3–1	4–1	8–1	7–1
Dunav Ruse	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–2		1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	0–0
Etar Veliko Tarnovo	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–1		0–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–3	1–1	2–0	0–0
Levski Sofia	1–2	4–0	2–1	0–0	4–1	3–1	1–2	4–1	5–2		2–1	5–0	4–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	5–1	3–1
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	2–0	1–0	0–1	5–1	1–1	3–3	0–1	4–0	3–0	2–1		5–1	4–1	2–2	3–2	1–1	3–2	1–0
Lokomotiv Sofia	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–2	3–2	2–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–0		0–1	5–1	4–0	3–3	3–1	2–0
Minyor Pernik	3–3	2–2	0–2	2–1	2–2	2–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	0–0		0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	4–1
Slavia Sofia	2–0	1–0	3–2	1–1	3–0	4–1	0–0	4–1	5–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	5–0		1–0	–^[a]	3–1	2–0
Spartak Pleven	1–2	2–1	3–0	3–0	3–1	3–1	3–3	1–4	6–3	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–0		3–0	–^[a]	2–0
Spartak Varna	1–0	0–4	1–0	3–1	1–3	2–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	2–0		0–0	6–1
Tundzha Yambol	2–1	3–0	0–0	1–2	4–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–1		1–0
Volov Shumen	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–2	0–6	1–2	3–1	0–4	1–3	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–3

Source: A PFG (in Bulgarian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ ^a ^b The matches Slavia Sofia – Spartak Varna and Spartak Pleven – Tundzha Yambol were annulled. The games were rated with a goalless defeat.

Champions

CSKA Sofia

Goalkeepers
Stoyan Yordanov	22	(0)
Yordan Filipov	12	(0)
Drazho Stoyanov	4	(0)

Defenders
Kiril Stankov	28	(1)
Dimitar Penev	24	(3)
Ivan Zafirov	31	(1)
Todor Simov	14	(1)
Boris Gaganelov	34	(0)
Bozhil Kolev	34	(6)

Midfielders
Borislav Sredkov	17	(1)
Asparuh Nikodimov	32	(2)
Plamen Yankov	27	(4)
Georgi Denev	33	(12)
Tsvetan Atanasov	21	(3)
Stoil Trankov	13	(1)

Forwards
Petar Zhekov	31	(29)
Stefan Mihaylov	25	(9)
Dimitar Marashliev	22	(7)
Dimitar Yakimov	1	(0)

Manager
	Manol Manolov

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Petar Zhekov	CSKA Sofia	29
2	Hristo Bonev	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	28
3	Nikola Hristov	Dunav Ruse	23
4	Atanas Mihaylov	Lokomotiv Sofia	19
5	Georgi Kamenov	Botev Vratsa	18
5	Petko Petkov	Beroe	18
7	Bozhidar Grigorov	Slavia Sofia	17
8	Georgi Tsvetkov	Levski Sofia	16
8	Kiril Milanov	Akademik Sofia	16
10	Mladen Vasilev	Akademik Sofia	15

References

^ "Размахват голямата тояга в А група заради черни каси" (in Bulgarian). temasport.com. 26 January 2013. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.

External links

Bulgaria - List of final tables (RSSSF)
1972–73 Statistics of A Group at a-pfg.com

[table_note_DUN0.8856390495252-2] Following the end of the season, after allegations of match fixing and allocation of funds for briberies, Dunav and Chernomorets were relegated from the group, while the matches Slavia - Spartak Varna and Spartak Pleven - Tundzha were annulled.

[table_note_1_SLA_SPV0.048473257594031-3] The matches Slavia Sofia – Spartak Varna and Spartak Pleven – Tundzha Yambol were annulled. The games were rated with a goalless defeat.

[1] "Размахват голямата тояга в А група заради черни каси" (in Bulgarian). temasport.com. 26 January 2013. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.

[1]

[a]

[a]

Bulgarian football championship seasons
State Championship (National Football Division)	1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1941 1942 1943 1944
Republic Championship	1945 1946 1947 1948
A Group	1948–49 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16
First League	2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

1972–73 in Bulgarian football
Domestic leagues	B Group V Group
Domestic cups	Bulgarian Cup (Final)
European competitions	European Cup UEFA Cup Cup Winners' Cup Balkans Cup 1972 1973
Related to national team	1974 FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 6) Hristo Mladenov
List of transfers

1972–73 in European football (UEFA)
« 1971–72 1973–74 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '72 '73 England Faroe Islands '72 '73 Finland '72 '73 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '72 '73 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '72 '73 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '72 '73 Spain Sweden '72 '73 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '72 '73 Finland '72 '73 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '72 '73 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '72 '73 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '72 '73 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales
League cups	England West Germany Scotland Switzerland
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final)
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '72 '73 European Super Cup