Bulgarian League 2003/04 [R]

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The following teams will compete in the 2003-04 Bulgarian Premier League:

CSKA
Levski
Litex
Slavia
Cherno more
Loko Plovdiv
Spartak
Naftex
Marek
Loko Sofia
Chernomorets
Botev
Rodopa *
Makedonska slava *
Vidima-Rakovski *
Belasistsa *

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Coaching change at Loko Plovdiv.

Dimitar Dimitrov has resigned. Eduard Eranosyan will be his replacement.

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Lots of new about the upcoming Bulgarian season. I'm just back from a two-week trip there and picked up several newspapers and magazines with some news.

Here are the 16 teams that will be competing in this season's Premier League, the city they're from and their approximate budget.

CSKA (Sofia) 3 mil leva
Levski (Sofia) 3 mil leva
Litex (Lovech) 1.5 mil leva
Slavia (Sofia) 500,000 leva
Cherno more (Burgas) 100,000 leva
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) 300,000 leva
Spartak (Varna) 100,000 leva
Naftex (Burgas) 1 mil leva
Marek (Dupnitsa) 200,000 leva
Lokomotiv (Sofia) 50,000 leva
Chernomorets (Burgas) 40,000 leva
Botev (Plovdiv) 50,000 leva
Rodopa (Smolyan) 50,000 leva
Makedonska slava (Simitli) 200,000 leva
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) 100,000 leva
Belasistsa (Petrich) 200,000 leva

At the moment, the exchange rate is about $1 - 1.70 leva.

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2003-04 Premier League Schedule.
Source - http://www.bulgarian-football.com/


Round 1:

09 August 2003, Saturday:
Slavia (Sofia) - Litex (Lovech)
CSKA (Sofia) - Naftex (Burgas)
Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)
Marek (Dupnitsa) - Cherno more (Varna)
Spartak (Varna) - Belasitsa (Petrich)
Botev (Plovdiv) - Rodopa (Smolyan)
Chernomorets (Burgas) - Levski (Sofia)
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)

Round 2:

Litex (Lovech) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)
Levski (Sofia) - Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo)
Rodopa (Smolyan) - Chernomorets (Burgas)
Belasitsa (Petrich) - Botev (Plovdiv)
Cherno more (Varna) - Spartak (Varna)
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) - Marek (Dupnitsa)
Naftex (Burgas) - Makedonska slava (Simitli)
Slavia (Sofia) - CSKA (Sofia)

Round 3:

CSKA (Sofia) - Litex (Lovech)
Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Slavia (Sofia)
Marek (Dupnitsa) - Naftex (Burgas)
Spartak (Varna) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)
Botev (Plovdiv) - Cherno more (Varna)
Chernomorets (Burgas) - Belasitsa (Petrich)
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - Rodopa (Smolyan)
Lokomotiv (Sofia) - Levski (Sofia)

Round 4:

Litex (Lovech) - Levski (Sofia)
Rodopa (Smolyan) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)
Belasitsa (Petrich) - Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo)
Cherno more (Varna) - Chernomorets (Burgas)
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) - Botev (Plovdiv)
Naftex (Burgas) - Spartak (Varna)
Slavia (Sofia) - Marek (Dupnitsa)
CSKA (Sofia) - Makedonska slava (Simitli)

Round 5:

Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Litex (Lovech)
Marek (Dupnitsa) - CSKA (Sofia)
Spartak (Varna) - Slavia (Sofia)
Botev (Plovdiv) - Naftex (Burgas)
Chernomorets (Burgas) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - Cherno more (Varna)
Lokomotiv (Sofia) - Belasitsa (Petrich)
Levski (Sofia) - Rodopa (Smolyan)

Round 6:

Litex (Lovech) - Rodopa (Smolyan)
Belasitsa (Petrich) - Levski (Sofia)
Cherno more (Varna) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) - Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo)
Naftex (Burgas) - Chernomorets (Burgas)
Slavia (Sofia) - Botev (Plovdiv)
CSKA (Sofia) - Spartak (Varna)
Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Marek (Dupnitsa)

Round 7:

Marek (Dupnitsa) - Litex (Lovech)
Spartak (Varna) - Makedonska slava (Simitli)
Botev (Plovdiv) - CSKA (Sofia)
Chernomorets (Burgas) - Slavia (Sofia)
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - Naftex (Burgas)
Lokomotiv (Sofia) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)
Levski (Sofia) - Cherno more (Varna)
Rodopa (Smolyan) - Belasitsa (Petrich)

Round 8:

Litex (Lovech) - Belasitsa (Petrich)
Cherno more (Varna) - Rodopa (Smolyan)
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) - Levski (Sofia)
Naftex (Burgas) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)
Slavia (Sofia) - Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo)
CSKA (Sofia) - Chernomorets (Burgas)
Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Botev (Plovdiv)
Marek (Dupnitsa) - Spartak (Varna)

Round 9:

Spartak (Varna) - Litex (Lovech)
Botev (Plovdiv) - Marek (Dupnitsa)
Chernomorets (Burgas) - Makedonska slava (Simitli)
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - CSKA (Sofia)
Lokomotiv (Sofia) - Slavia (Sofia)
Levski (Sofia) - Naftex (Burgas)
Rodopa (Smolyan) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)
Belasitsa (Petrich) - Cherno more (Varna)

Round 10:

Litex (Lovech) - Cherno more (Varna)
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) - Belasitsa (Petrich)
Naftex (Burgas) - Rodopa (Smolyan)
Slavia (Sofia) - Levski (Sofia)
CSKA (Sofia) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)
Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo)
Marek (Dupnitsa) - Chernomorets (Burgas)
Spartak (Varna) - Botev (Plovdiv)

Round 11:

Botev (Plovdiv) - Litex (Lovech)
Chernomorets (Burgas) - Spartak (Varna)
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - Marek (Dupnitsa)
Lokomotiv (Sofia) - Makedonska slava (Simitli)
Levski (Sofia) - CSKA (Sofia)
Rodopa (Smolyan) - Slavia (Sofia)
Belasitsa (Petrich) - Naftex (Burgas)
Cherno more (Varna) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)

Round 12:

Litex (Lovech) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)
Naftex (Burgas) - Cherno more (Varna)
Slavia (Sofia) - Belasitsa (Petrich)
CSKA (Sofia) - Rodopa (Smolyan)
Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Levski (Sofia)
Marek (Dupnitsa) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)
Spartak (Varna) - Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo)
Botev (Plovdiv) - Chernomorets (Burgas)

Round 13:

Chernomorets (Burgas) - Litex (Lovech)
Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - Botev (Plovdiv)
Lokomotiv (Sofia) - Spartak (Varna)
Levski (Sofia) - Marek (Dupnitsa)
Rodopa (Smolyan) - Makedonska slava (Simitli)
Belasitsa (Petrich) - CSKA (Sofia)
Cherno more (Varna) - Slavia (Sofia)
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) - Naftex (Burgas)

Round 14:

Litex (Lovech) - Naftex (Burgas)
Slavia (Sofia) - Lokomotiv (Plovdiv)
CSKA (Sofia) - Cherno more (Varna)
Makedonska slava (Simitli) - Belasitsa (Petrich)
Marek (Dupnitsa) - Rodopa (Smolyan)
Spartak (Varna) - Levski (Sofia)
Botev (Plovdiv) - Lokomotiv (Sofia)
Chernomorets (Burgas) - Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo)

Round 15:

Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) - Litex (Lovech)
Lokomotiv (Sofia) - Chernomorets (Burgas)
Levski (Sofia) - Botev (Plovdiv)
Rodopa (Smolyan) - Spartak (Varna)
Belasitsa (Petrich) - Marek (Dupnitsa)
Cherno more (Varna) - Makedonska slava (Simitli)
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) - CSKA (Sofia)
Naftex (Burgas) - Slavia (Sofia)

[albionroad]

CSKA have signed Brazilian midfielder Leo Lima from Vasco da Gama. He will wear the #10.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=82003.html

[Quaker]

Just returned from a one-week vacation to Bulgaria. Picked up a Bulgaria kit and a Levski cap since the family we visited were supporters of Levski. Also saw the stadium where CSKA, Levski, and I suppose the national team play. Appears to be a nice (and newly renovated) facility. May be inspired to follow the Bulgarian league a bit this year...

[albionroad]

Originally posted by Quaker
Just returned from a one-week vacation to Bulgaria. Picked up a Bulgaria kit and a Levski cap since the family we visited were supporters of Levski. Also saw the stadium where CSKA, Levski, and I suppose the national team play. Appears to be a nice (and newly renovated) facility. May be inspired to follow the Bulgarian league a bit this year... Cool. I'm guessing that the stadium you're referring to is the Vasil Levski National Stadium. Bulgaria does play there but CSKA and Levski have their own stadiums, although the Cup final and some derbies are played there I believe. I would imagine that it looks a lot better than the Georgi Asparuhov stadium of Levski that I went to.

Anyway...hope you keep with the league. A great resource for info is www.bulgarian-football.com

[Quaker]

You may be right. My sister-in-law (Bulgarian) probably just referred to it as "Levski Stadium" and I assumed that's where Levski plays.

I picked up some other "discount" jerseys while there. When a couple of the vendors found out I'm from the United States, they immediately mentioned Stoitchkov and sometimes Ivanov...

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Originally posted by Quaker
I picked up some other "discount" jerseys while there. When a couple of the vendors found out I'm from the United States, they immediately mentioned Stoitchkov and sometimes Ivanov... It's a bit of good luck for me that United now have 2 Bulgarians. There was a match report in the Sports dailies about every United game during the time I was there.

Did you go anywhere besides Sofia? Did you drink any rakiya? :)

[Quaker]

Yes, I was introduced to rakiya. It grew on me.

Spent most of our time at the Black Sea in Sunny Beach, next to Nessebar and not too far from Burgas. Also toured Plovdiv for a couple hours on our way there. Nice country and nice people! Although there were plenty of Europeans on vacation there, it's definitely not a destination for Americans. We covered some of the most touristy spots yet didn't run across a single Yank the entire eight days!

[albionroad]

Originally posted by Quaker
Although there were plenty of Europeans on vacation there, it's definitely not a destination for Americans. We covered some of the most touristy spots yet didn't run across a single Yank the entire eight days! I agree. We saw a lot of Germans but only one other Americans in two weeks.

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http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/news/Kind=1/newsId=86088.html

Levski have signed a Swedish striker, Njogu Demba Nyrén. He was actually born in Gabon but developed as a player in Sweden at Gotheburg club BK BK Häcken. Very odd, as a good friend of mine is a BK Häcken supporter and has been telling me about this guy for a few years now. I'm really curious to see how it will turn out.

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1st Round
8-8-03

Slavia 2-1 Litex (Ivanovich 5', 56'; Rusev 67')
Chernomorets 1-2 Levski (Kaloyanov 18'; Chilikov 11, Temile 33')

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1st Round
8-9-03

Makedonska Slava 0-4 Loko Plovdiv (Kotev 9, Yanchevski 70', Berkanichkov 87', Kamburov 91')
Marek 4-2 Cherno more (Petkov 24', Bibishkov 40', Mudjiri 45', Pargov 46'; Shankulov 3', 25')
Spartak 4-0 Belasitsa (Antunovich 17', Krismanich 25', Bulev 64', 70')
Botev 1-0 Rodopa (Kostadinov 22')
Vidima Rakovski 3-3 Loko Sofia (Zakov 17', 83', Basilev 88'; Stefanov 14', Kaptiev 40', 63')
CSKA 2-1 Naftex (Yanev 9', Gargarov 48'; Sakaliev 75')

Standings - Rd 1
Loko Plovdiv 3
Spartak 3
Marek 3
Botev 3
CSKA 3
Levski 3
Slavia 3
Loko Sofia 1
Vidima 1
Chernomorets 0
Litex 0
Naftex 0
Smolyan 0
Cherno more 0
Belasitsa 0
Makedonska Slava 0

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2nd Round
8-15-03

Cherno more 1-1 Spartak
(Mirchev 94'; Petrov 52')

*the Varna derby*

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2nd round
8-16-03

Belasitsa 3-0 Botev
Loko Plovdiv 4-1 Marek
Rodopa 3-0 Chernomorets
Naftex 3-0 Makedonska Slava

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2nd round
8-17-03

Slavia 2-4 CSKA
Litex 3-1 Loko Sofia
Levski 2-0 Vidima Rakovski

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Standings
(2nd round)

CSKA 6
Levski 6
Spartak 4
Loko Plovdiv 3
Naftex 3
Smolyan 3
Slavia 3
Litex 3
Belasitsa 3
Marek 3
Botev 3
Cherno More 1
Loko Sofia 1
Vidima Rakovski 1
Chernomorets 0
Makedonska Slava 0

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3rd round
8-23-03

Makedonska Slava 3-0 Slavia
Marek 3-0 Naftex
Spartak 1-3 Loko Plovdiv
Botev 3-4 Cherno more
Chernomorets 2-0 Belasitsa
Loko Sofia 1-1 Levski
Vidima Rakovski 3-2 Rodopa
CSKA 1-1 Litex

Standings
Loko Plovdiv 9
CSKA 7
Levski 7
Marek 6
Spartak 4
Litex 4
Cherno more 4
Vidima 4
Naftex 3
Belasitsa 3
Botev 3
Rodopa 3
Makedonska Slava 3
Slavia 3
Chernomorets 3
Loko Sofia 2

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A little story about Georgi Ivanov's return to Levski.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UEFACup/news/Kind=8192/newsId=93990.html

CSKA coach Stoycho Mladenov offered his resignation after a series of poor results, in particular the 0-3 to Galatasaray in the Champions League. The CSKA board has rejected the offer.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-bulgariamladenov&prov=reuters&type=lgns