The 2000–01 A Group was the 53rd season of the A Football Group, the top Bulgarian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948.
The league was contested by the top 12 teams from the 1999–2000 season as well as Cherno More Varna and Hebar Pazardzhik, who joined as the promoted clubs from the 1999–2000 B Group.
Defending champions Levski Sofia won their 22nd Bulgarian league title overall. Botev Plovdiv and Minyor Pernik were relegated at the end of the season by finishing in the last two places.
Teams Fourteen teams competed in the league – the top twelve teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the B Group. The promoted teams were Cherno More Varna (returning to the top flight after a six-year absence) and Hebar Pazardzhik (returning after an eight-year absence). They replaced Dobrudzha Dobrich, Belasitsa Petrich, Pirin Blagoevgrad and Shumen.
Stadiums and Locations
Team Location Stadium CapacityBeroeStara Zagora Beroe 22,500BotevPlovdivHristo Botev 22,000Cherno MoreVarna Ticha 8,250ChernomoretsBurgasChernomorets 22,000CSKASofiaBalgarska Armia 22,015HebarPazardzhikGeorgi Benkovski 13,128LevskiSofiaGeorgi Asparuhov 29,200LovechLovechGradski 7,050LokomotivSofiaLokomotiv 22,000MinyorPernik Minyor 20,000NeftochimicBurgas Lazur 18,037SlaviaSofiaSlavia 32,000SpartakVarnaSpartak 7,500VelbazhdKyustendilOsogovo 13,000
Personnel and kits Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorBeroe Tsvetomir Parvanov Erima AKSABotev Plovdiv Georgi Lazarov Vitosha ADCherno More Bozhil Kolev Ventsislav Marinov Asics VAI HoldingChernomorets Nikolay Rusev Angel Stoykov CSKA Sofia Enrico Catuzzi Lotto Hebar Voyn Voynov Levski Sofia Ljupko Petrović Stanimir Stoilov Diadora MobiltelLokomotiv Sofia Angel Kolev Adidas Delta-GLovech Ferario Spasov Vitomir Vutov Asics Litex CommerceMinyor Ventsislav Arsov Nike Neftochimic Dimitar Stoychev Veliyan Parushev Puma Petrol ADSlavia Sofia Kiril Kachamanov Veselin Vachev Adidas Sofiyski ImotiSpartak Varna Stefan Grozdanov Velbazhd Dimitar Dimitrov Slavcho Pavlov Nike VIS-2
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Botev Plovdiv Dinko Dermendzhiev Mutual consent 1 June 2000 Pre-season Marin Bakalov 26 June 2000 Lovech Čedomir Đoinčević Sacked 10 June 2000 Pre-season Mihai Stoichiță 1 July 2000 Levski Sofia Dimitar Dimitrov Sacked 15 June 2000 Pre-season Vladimir Fedotov 7 July 2000 CSKA Sofia Aleksandar Stankov End of caretaker tenure 23 June 2000 Pre-season Enrico Catuzzi 24 June 2000 Beroe Ventsislav Kepov Mutual consent June 2000 Pre-season Nikola Ivanov June 2000 Slavia Miroslav Mironov Mutual consent June 2000 Pre-season Žarko Olarević June 2000 Cherno More Radoslav Zdravkov Mutual consent June 2000 Pre-season Bozhil Kolev June 2000 Velbazhd Dimitar Sokolov Mutual consent 26 June 2000 Pre-season Dimitar Dimitrov 26 June 2000 Neftochimic Dimitar Stoychev Mutual consent 30 June 2000 Pre-season Salvatore Polverino 1 July 2000 Neftochimic Salvatore Polverino Sacked 6 August 2000 13th Dimitar Stoychev 6 August 2000 Beroe Nikola Ivanov Sacked 14 August 2000 12th Petko Petkov 14 August 2000 Lokomotiv Sofia Pavel Panov Sacked 29 August 2000 8th Radoslav Zdravkov 29 August 2000 Levski Sofia Vladimir Fedotov Sacked 30 August 2000 2nd Nasko Sirakov (caretaker) 30 August 2000 Levski Sofia Nasko Sirakov End of caretaker tenure 2 October 2000 1st Ljupko Petrović 2 October 2000 Lovech Mihai Stoichiță Sacked 21 October 2000 6th Ferario Spasov 21 October 2000 Slavia Sofia Žarko Olarević Mutual consent 27 November 2000 10th Kiril Kachamanov 27 November 2000 CSKA Sofia Enrico Catuzzi Mutual consent 19 December 2000 2nd Aleksandar Stankov 20 December 2000 CSKA Sofia Aleksandar Stankov Mutual consent 3 March 2001 2nd Enrico Catuzzi 4 March 2001 Beroe Petko Petkov Sacked 20 March 2001 ? Tsvetomir Parvanov 20 March 2001 Lokomotiv Sofia Radoslav Zdravkov Sacked 29 April 2001 ? Angel Kolev 29 April 2001
League standings
Results
Relegation play-off
Champions Levski Sofia Goalkeepers1 Dimitar Ivankov 25 (5)12 Georgi Sheytanov 1 (0)30 Vihren Uzunov 1 (0) Defenders2 Martin Stankov 18 (0)3 Stanimir Stoilov 15 (2)5 Georgi Markov 22 (0)6 Zahari Sirakov 17 (2)11 Elin Topuzakov 22 (3)14 Miroslav Savić 8 (0)15 Aleksey Dionisiev 7 (0)22 Ilian Stoyanov 20 (1)23 Dalibor Dragić 16 (2) Predrag Pažin* 6 (0) Oleksandr Koval* 3 (0) Midfielders4 Biser Ivanov 22 (0)10 Asen Nikolov 7 (0)16 Chavdar Atanasov 15 (2)17 Konstantin Golovskoy 4 (0)19 Svetoslav Barkanichkov 4 (0)20 Neško Milovanović 5 (0)21 Dimitar Telkiyski 15 (5)25 Yordan Terziev 9 (0)26 Viktorio Pavlov 1 (0)28 Vladislav Radimov 3 (1) Aleksandar Aleksandrov* 7 (1) Eduard Tsykhmeystruk* 12 (1) Konstantin Kaynov* 2 (0) Forwards7 Rogério Gaúcho 8 (0)8 Georgi Bachev 11 (2)9 Georgi Ivanov 24 (21)18 Krum Bibishkov 2 (1)24 Miodrag Pantelić 12 (1)29 Dimitar Makriev 1 (0)99 Petar Mihtarski 11 (4) Georgi Georgiev* 4 (3) Manager Ljupko Petrović
Pažin, Koval, Aleksandrov, Tsykhmeystruk, Kaynov and Georgiev left the club during a season.
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals1 Georgi IvanovLevski Sofia 222 Hristo YovovLovech173 Stefan YurukovLovech 144 Vladimir ManchevCSKA Sofia 13 Valentin StanchevSpartak Varna Zoran JankovićLovech 7 Hristo YanevCSKA Sofia 128 Martin KushevSlavia Sofia 11 Boyko VelichkovVelbazhd Kyustendil 10 Ivan TonchevBeroe Stara Zagora 9
Source:2000–01 Top Goalscorers
Attendances
# Club Average 1 Levski 13,184 2 Neftochimic 9,658 3 Beroe 7,572 4 Chernomorets 6,341 5 CSKA Sofia 6,019 6 Botev 4,972 7 Cherno More 4,901 8 Hebar 4,623 9 Velbazhd 4,041 10 Spartak Varna 3,708 11 Lovech 3,351 12 Lokomotiv Sofia 2,988 13 Slavia Sofia 1,884 14 Minyor 1,811
Source:
References
External links Bulgaria Championship History at rsssf.com 2000–01 A Group Statistics at a-pfg.com