Levski Sofia (sports club)

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Levski Sofia
Founded1911
LocationSofia, Bulgaria
Colours      Blue, White, Gold
WebsiteClub home page
Vasil Levski, club's patron

Levski Sofia (Bulgarian: Левски София) is a Bulgarian sports club based in Sofia. It was founded in 1911. The club is named after Vasil Levski, the national hero of Bulgaria.

The club develops 30 types of sports. Its football team, PFC Levski Sofia, is its most popular section. Other important sections are BC Levski Sofia, the basketball team, and VC Levski Sofia, the volleyball team. Levski is the only Bulgarian club, and one of the few in Europe, to have won the European Champions' Cup in three different team sports – basketball, volleyball and athletics.

To date, Levski has reached 27 European Finals in total (won nine titles) – one EuroLeague, one CEV Champions League, two European Champion Clubs Cup (athletics) titles, two EuroCup titles, and three Balkan League titles; and was runner-up in (18 finals) – three CEV Champions League Finals, two European Champion Clubs Cup (athletics) Finals, six CEV Cup Winners' Cup Finals, one EuroCup Final, one CELA Cup Final, two Balkan League Finals, two Balkans Cup Finals, and one Intertoto Cup Ernst Thommen Final. The athletes of Levski have won almost 1,000 medals from Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships,[1] which makes Levski one of the most successful European sports clubs of all-time.

Football[edit]

Pavel Panov, Levski's top goalscorer in European competitions
Stefan Aladzhov, Levski's most capped player
Dobromir Zhechev, played in four FIFA World Cups

Bulgarian A Group : 26

  • 1933, 1937, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009

Bulgarian Cup : 26

  • 1942, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2022

Sofia Championship : 11

  • 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929, 1933, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1948

Tsar's Cup / Cup of the Soviet Army / Cup of Bulgaria : 6

  • 1933, 1937, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1988

Ulpia Serdika Cup : 4

  • 1926, 1930, 1931, 1932

Bulgarian Supercup : 3

  • 2005, 2007, 2009

Double : 13

  • 1942, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1970, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2007

Treble : 4

  • 1942, 1946, 1984, 2007

UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1/4 Finals : 1969–70, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1986–87, 2005–06

UCL, UEL Group Stage : 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2010–11

Balkans Cup Runners-Up : 1960–61, 1961–63

Intertoto Cup Ernst Thommen Runners-Up : 1981

Basketball[edit]

Krassimira Banova with the European Champions Cup (1984)
Aaron Harper with the 2010 Balkan League
Vassil Evtimov representing Bulgaria

Men[edit]

National Basketball League : 16

  • 1942, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2014, 2018, 2021

Bulgarian Cup : 16

  • 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1993, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2023

Bulgarian Basketball Super Cup : 3

  • 2018, 2019, 2023

Double : 5

  • 1979, 1982, 1993, 2001, 2014

Treble : 1

  • 2014

Balkan League : 3

Women[edit]

Bulgarian Champions : 8

  • 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994

Bulgarian Cup : 13

  • 1969, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991

Double : 5

  • 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987

EuroLeague

Ronchetti Cup / EuroCup

Volleyball[edit]

Vladimir Nikolov, 2006 FIVB World Championship Bronze medalist
Plamen Konstantinov, 2007 FIVB World Cup Bronze medalist

Men[edit]

Bulgarian Champions : 15

  • 1945, 1959, 1980, 1985, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009

Bulgarian Cup : 17

  • 1960, 1966, 1968, 1972, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2014

Bulgarian Super Cup : 1

  • 2023

Double : 7

  • 1980, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006

CEV Cup Winners' Cup / CEV Cup

Women[edit]

Bulgarian Champions : 29

  • 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2014

Bulgarian Cup : 27

  • 1959, 1960, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2014, 2016

Double : 18

  • 1959, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1990, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2014

CEV Champions League

Hockey[edit]

Bulgarian Hockey League : 13

  • 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2003

Bulgarian Cup : 17

  • 1968, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2005

Double : 8

  • 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1999

Medals and athletes[edit]

Ivet Lalova
Competition Gold Silver Bronze Total
Summer Olympics 15 42 26 83
World Championships 107 107 156 370
European Championships 159 151 164 474
Total number of medals 281 300 346 927

Levski Sofia athletes:

Supporters[edit]

Levski is the most popular club in Bulgaria.[2] The club has various rivalries in the domestic competitions. Levski fans maintain a friendship with Lazio fans and have Bulgarian nationalist views.[3]

European competitions history[edit]

The Cyrillic letter L, symbol of Levski
Monument, marking the place of creation of Sport Club Levski Sofia, near the National Palace of Culture in the city center
Sport Competition Result Year
Football Balkans Cup Runners-up 1961
Football Balkans Cup Runners-up 1963
Volleyball CEV Champions League Champions 1964
Basketball EuroCup Runners-up 1975
Volleyball CEV Champions League Runners-up 1975
Volleyball CEV Cup Runners-up 1975
Volleyball CEV Champions League Runners-up 1976
Basketball EuroCup Champions 1978
Volleyball CEV Cup Runners-up 1979
Basketball EuroCup Champions 1979
Volleyball CEV Champions League Runners-up 1981
Football Intertoto Cup Ernst Thommen Runners-up 1981
Volleyball CEV Cup Runners-up 1982
Basketball EuroLeague Champions 1984
Volleyball CEV Cup Runners-up 1985
Volleyball CEV Cup Runners-up 1987
Volleyball CEV Cup Runners-up 1989
Athletics European Champion Clubs Cup Champions 1992
Athletics European Champion Clubs Cup Runners-up 1993
Athletics European Champion Clubs Cup Champions 1994
Athletics European Champion Clubs Cup Runners-up 1995
Wrestling CELA Cup Runners-up 2009
Basketball Balkan League Champions 2010
Basketball Balkan League Runners-up 2012
Basketball Balkan League Runners-up 2013
Basketball Balkan League Champions 2014
Basketball Balkan League Champions 2018

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "LEVSKI – Sport For All – EMCA". European Multisport Club Association. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Concentration of people supporting the most popular clubs in Europe" (PDF). uefa.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 November 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  3. ^ "LEVSKI SOFIA 100 YEARS CELEBRATION". ultras-tifo.net. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.

External links[edit]