PFC Levski Sofia
| File:Levski.jpg | |||
| Full name | FC Levski Sofia | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Blues (sinite) | ||
| Founded | May 24,1914 | ||
| Ground | Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, Sofia | ||
| Capacity | 29,980 | ||
| Chairman | Todor Batkov | ||
| Manager | Stanimir Stoilov | ||
| League | Bulgarian A PFG | ||
| 2005-06 | Bulgarian A PFG, 1st | ||
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FC Levski Sofia (ФК Левски София) is a Bulgarian football club, playing in the capital, Sofia.
It holds the distinction of never having been relegated from the top division of Bulgarian football and has a positive balance against all teams in national competitions.
History
Early Years and Reforms
Sport Club Levski Sofia was founded in 1911 by a group of students at the Second Male High School in Sofia, with football as the major sport practiced. The club was officially registered on May 24, 1914, the date now celebrated as its birthday. The club's name was chosen in honor of the Apostle of Bulgarian freedom Vasil Levski. It was proposed by one of its founders – Boris Vasilev.
In 1914, the first officially elected management of the club was the following: Vladimir Grigorov - Chairman; Georgi Manolov - Deputy Chairman; Krum Dinkov - Secretary; Boris Vasilev - Cashier; Stefan Toshkov and Atanas Yankov - Members; Kostadin Manolov - Manager. During the first few years Levski consisted of the following key players: K. Gigorov - Goalkeeper; K. Manolov and K. Dinkov - Defenders; S. Stoyanov and B. Vasilev - Midfielders; V. Grigorov, C. Genev, P. Stoyanovich, G. Manolov and D. Sirakov - Forwards.
Levski lost its first official match against FC 13 Sofia with the score of 0:2. In the summer of 1921, the Sofia Sports League was founded. It united 10 clubs from Sofia, marking the beginning of organized football competitions in the city. The Blues won the first match in the championship for the season 1921/1922, held on September 18, 1921, against Athletic Sofia with the score of 3:1. Levski captured the first place in the league in 1923 after a dramatic 3:2 win over bitter rival Slavia Sofia and successfully defended the title in the following season.
The first National Championship was held in 1924 with Levski representing Sofia. The team went on to win the title in 1933, 1937 and 1942, and established itself as one of the most popular football clubs in Bulgaria. In 1929 Levski became the first semi-professional football club in Bulgaria, after 12 players staged a boycott of the team in demand of financial remuneration and insurance benefits. The same year Levski met its first international opponents, losing to Gallipoli Istanbul 0:1 and winning against Kuban Istanbul 6:0.
In 1936 the club toured Germany, Poland and the Baltic countries. Levski also became the holder for all times of the Ulpia Serica Cup by virtue of winning it for the third time in a row in 1933. Some of the most notable players to wear the blue shirt in the pre-war years were Asen Peshev, Asen Panchev, Nikola Dimitrov, Petar Ivanov, Vasil Spasov, Borislav Tsvetkov and Lyubomir Aldev.
After the end of WWII the new political regime initiated many changes in the conduct of sport activities, and many fans of Levski feel that the club was a victim of deliberate prosecution against enemies of the Communist government. The suppression gave birth to the expression: "Before and again Levski means Liberty" associated with the Holy deeds of the Apostle of freedom and patron of the club, and it was during that period that the club became known as “the team of the people”.
In the 1950s the club of the reformed Bulgarian Peoples' Army - CSKA Sofia was the hegemon of domestic football, and successfully represented Communist Bulgaria in international competitions. The number of followers of the traditional Sofia based clubs steadily declined, with the one notable exception - the most heavily supported club in the city: Levski.
After winning the championship in 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950 and 1953 Levski would not capture the domestic title again until the mid 1960s. In 1949 the authorities changed the club's name to Dinamo following the Soviet traditions, but after the destalinization of Bulgaria, it was reverted back in 1957. Supporters' favorites R. Maznikov, K. Cvetkov and K. Zhekov were among the victims of the politically motivated terror of the new regime.
Revival and Controversy
The 1960s were marked with return to success both on the domestic and on the international stage. Levski's academy would become the most successful in national youth competitions for the years to come, and the results became first seen in the likes of Georgi Asparuhov, Georgi Sokolov, Biser Mihailov, Kiril Ivkov, Ivan Vutsov, Stefan Aladzhov and Alexandar Kostov, assisted by experienced veterans like Stefan Abadzhiev, Dimo Pechenikov and Hristo Iliev, who celebrated winning the championship in 1965, 1968 and 1970, and the 7:2 triumph over new bitter rival CSKA in 1968. The tie against Benfica Lisbon in the European Cup in 1965 remained memorable for the Eusébio versus Georgi Asparuhov clash, and the recognition that the Portuguese great gave to his Bulgarian counterpart.
Following the new wave of political reform in the Eastern Block after the Prague Spring, in 1969 and against the wishes of the majority of its supporters, Levski was merged with Spartak Sofia and put under the auspice of the Bulgarian interior ministry. The name of the club was once again changed, this time to Levski - Spartak. The supporters, however, not only refused to chant that name instead of the beloved Levski, but also came up with a new slogan: "Levski was strong, when it was not in uniform". The brutality of the Communist Militsiya against the fans in the stadium failed to impress on them the subjugation of the club to the political motives of the authorities.
This controversy, along with the untimely and tragic death of club icon Georgi Asparuhov together with teammate and fellow great Nikola Kotkov in a car crash in 1971, did not diminish seriously the success of the club or its fan base in the next decade. A new crop of youngsters in the likes of Kiril Milanov, Dobromir Zhechev, Pavel Panov, Todor Barzov, Voin Voinov, Ivan Tishanski, Georgi Tsvetkov, Plamen Nikolov, and Rusi Gochev not only found their place in the first team, but brought new titles in 1974, 1977 and 1979. On the international stage the quarterfinal appearances in the Cup Winners Cup in 1970 and 1977, and in the UEFA Cup in 1976, together with the victories over Ajax Amsterdam, FC Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid demonstrated the new international competitiveness of Levski.
Levski's youth academy received the full credit of the whole Bulgarian football community by sending during the 1980s into the national team the new stars of The Blues: Petar Kurdov, Emil Spasov, Mihail Valchev, Emil Velev, Nasko Sirakov, Nikolay Iliev, Borislav Mihailov and Bozhidar Iskrenov, who won the domestic championship in 1984 (an unprecedented domestic treble), 1985 and 1988. The back to back triumphs over VfB Stuttgart in 1983 and 1984, along with the quarterfinal appearance in the Cup Winners Cup in 1988, were especially celebrated by Levski's supporters.
The name of the team was changed yet again by the authorities following the disruptions during and after the Bulgarian Cup final in 1985. The game ran on high emotions fueled by the streak of consecutive wins of Levski over CSKA in the 2 years prior to the game. The controversial decisions of the referee, who according to Levski's players and supporters clearly favored their rivals, led to confrontations both on the field and on the stands. By decree of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party some of the leading players of The Blues, along with their manager, were suspended from the sport for life.
Normalization and New Era
The suspensions were lifted shortly after, but regardless of the universal refusal of supporters to recognize and chant the new name of the team, it wasn't until 1989 and the Fall of the Berlin Wall that the club officially abolished the artificially imposed and hated title Vitosha and returned to being simply Levski. The normalization of sport activities in the country and the removal of the political influences on the football community were especially favorable to the results of The Blues. The team composed of the newcomers Peter Hubchev, Tsanko Tsvetanov, Emil Kremenliev, Zlatko Yankov, Georgi Slavchev, Ilian Iliev, Daniel Borimirov, Stanimir Stoilov and Velko Yotov and the return of the veterans Plamen Getov, Nikolay Todorov and Nasko Sirakov, dictated the game in the domestic championship by winning the title in 1993, 1994 and 1995. Memorable wins by big margins over challengers Lokomotiv Sofia - 8:0, CSKA - 7:1 and Botev Plovdiv - 6:0, clearly demonstrated Levski's complete superiority. Home games in European Competitions against Rangers FC and Werder Bremen turned into true holidays for supporters. Levski contributed with 5 first team players (Peter Hubchev, Tsanko Tsvetanov, Emil Kremenliev, Zlatko Yankov and Nasko Sirakov) and three reserve players (Plamen Nikolov, Petar Alexandrov and Daniel Borimirov) to the Bulgarian national team that won the bronze medals in the unforgettable American summer of the World Cup 1994.
Financial distress and the increasing interest of the Bulgarian mafia into the game troubled Levski in the following few years. Players like Marian Hristov and Dontcho Donev did well for the club, but failed to win the domestic title or record success internationally. There were still some memorable wins, like in the Bulgarian Cup final in 1998 over CSKA - 5:0 in honor of the 50 year anniversary of the army club. The coming of age of another crop of youngsters in 1999 brought about a new era of dominance, as the generation of Dimitar Ivankov, Elin Topuzakov, Biser Ivanov, Aleksandar Aleksandrov and Georgi Ivanov won the title in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The club once again became a force to be reckoned with in Europe, and had memorable clashes with Hajduk Split, Juventus Turin, Galatasaray Istanbul, Dynamo Kyiv, Slavia Prague and Liverpool FC.
Another relatively unsuccessful period lasted until 2005. The young new manager and former player Stanimir Stoilov organized a team of Levski's academy products Zhivko Milanov, Richard Eromoigbe, Milan Koprivarov and Valeri Domovchiyski, the experienced Elin Topuzakov, Georgi Petkov, Stanislav Angelov and Dimitar Telkiyski, the fans' favorites Hristo Yovov, Daniel Borimirov and Georgi Ivanov, who came back after spending time abroad, together with foreign legionaries Lucio Wagner, Igor Tomašić and Cedric Bardon. The result was a memorable domestic and international campaign, as the team, with leading scorer Emil Angelov with 5 goals, reached the quarterfinal stage of the UEFA Cup, knocking out AJ Auxerre, winning against Olympique de Marseille and finishing ahead of the reigning title holder CSKA Moscow in the group stage, triumphing over Champions League participants Artmedia Bratislava and Udinese Calcio, before being knocked out by Schalke 04 in a controversial tie.
Symbols
In the early years of its history the team played in yellow and red stripe shirts, black socks and without shorts. In 1920 the club's management was unable to acquire similar kits, and therefore the team adopted blue, used until today as the color of the club.
Mincho Kachulev designed the first badge of the club in 1922. It incorporated the original yellow and red colors in a blue square with a white letter Л – transcribed from Cyrillic as L, the first letter of the club’s name. The badge changed during the decades, most notably with the imposition of new names during communism, and it wasn’t until 2000, after a decade of legal battles that the club could once again use its “real” badge.
The first anthem of the club was created in 1924, from a text of D. Simidov. The melody was composed by Hristo Manikov.
The first club flag was presented in 1938. One side was yellow and red with the badge of the club in the center, and an abbreviation for the Bulgarian Football Union in the corners. The other side bore the slogan "Through the Sport for the Motherland".
Stadium
Initially, the club did not possess a field of its own and training was held on an empty space called The Hillock, where the National Palace of Culture was built later. In 1924 the Sofia Municipality provided the club with the rights to an empty field on the outskirts of the city, and a decade later the stadium named “Levski” was finally completed. It provided for 8,000 spectators and was regarded as the finest sport facility in the city.
In 1949 the stadium was nationalized and later the Vasil Levski National Stadium was built on the site. The team would move to the “Dinamo” stadium, which was located at the site of the modern Spartak swimming complex, and then in 1961 to the “Gerena” neighborhood. There a new stadium was completed in 1963, renamed in 1990 in honor of Levski’s most beloved former player Georgi Asparuhov.
In 1999 the stadium emerged from serious reconstruction as an all-seater for 29,980 spectators. The field measures 120x90 meters.
Honors and records
Domestic success
- Champion of Bulgaria 24 times: 1933, 1937, 1942, 1946, 1947,1949,1950, 1953, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006.
- Runners-Up 26 times: 1925, 1929, 1940, 1943, 1948, 1951, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2004
- National Cup Winner 25 times: 1942, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950,1956, 1957, 1959, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005.
International success
None
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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2006 Formation
Distinguished Managers
Ivan Radoev- Dimitar Mutafchiev
- Georgi Pachedziev
Rudolf Vitlacil- Krasimir Chakarov
- Yordan Arsov
- Ivan Vutsov
- Dobromir Zhechev
- Vasil Metodiev
- Kiril Ivkov
- Pavel Panov
- Georgi Vasilev
Viachislav Grozni
Ljupko Petrović- Dimitar Dimitrov
- Slavoljub Muslin
- Stanimir Stoilov
Players of Levski – Footballer "№1 in Bulgaria"
- 1965 - Georgi Asparuhov
- 1970 – Stefan Aladzhov
- 1974 – Kiril Ivkov
- 1975 – Kiril Ivkov
- 1977 – Pavel Panov
- 1984 – Plamen Nikolov
- 1986 - Borislav Mihailov
- 1999 - Aleksandar Aleksandrov
- 2000 - Georgi Ivanov
- 2001 - Georgi Ivanov
External links
- Official club website
- Unofficial website
- Supporters’ Club Sofia West
- Website of the National Fan Club (in Bulgarian)
- Levski Fan Site
- Unofficial website (in English and French)
