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A Group
Season	1996–97
Dates	9 August 1996 – 1 June 1997
Champions	CSKA Sofia; (28th title)
Relegated	Maritsa; Montana; Rakovski;
Champions League	CSKA
UEFA Cup	Neftochimic
Matches played	240
Goals scored	705 (2.94 per match)
Top goalscorer	Todor Pramatarov; (26 goals)
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

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.^[1]

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
16	Rakovski Ruse (R)	30	0	1	29	8	110	−102	1

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

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

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

Champions

CSKA Sofia

Goalkeepers
Petko Petkov	30	0(0)
Iliyan Vasilev	00	0(0)

Defenders
Adalbert Zafirov	28	0(2)
Filip Filipov	21	0(1)
Stefan Lulchev	14	0(0)
Zdravko Radev	03	0(0)
Dobromir Mitov	25	0(3)
Galin Ivanov	20	0(0)

Midfielders
Anatoli Nankov	27	0(2)
Risto Milosavov	24	0(3)
Iliya Voynov	20	0(4)
Ivo Slavchev	20	0(2)
Nikolay Nikolov	05	0(1)
Georgi Slavchev	06	0(0)
Kostadin Vidolov*	15	0(1)
Stiliyan Petrov	05	0(0)
Ivan Tanchovski	01	0(0)
Metodi Deyanov	14	0(3)
Milen Petkov	26	0(3)
Georgi Yordanov	12	0(1)

Forwards
Ivaylo Andonov	25	(18)
Jair	06	0(3)
Petar Zhabov	22	0(9)
Martin Petrov	03	0(1)
Dimitar Ivanov	24	0(4)
Kancho Yordanov	11	0(2)
Rumen Hristov*	04	0(1)
Bozhidar Yankov	04	0(0)

Manager
	Georgi Vasilev

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
	Petar Zhabov	CSKA Sofia
	Plamen Petrov	Levski Kyustendil
	Marian Hristov	Levski Sofia
	Aleksandar Aleksandrov	Maritsa