PFC Ludogorets Razgrad
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| Full name | Професионален футболен клуб Лудогорец Разград (Professional football club Ludogorets Razgrad) | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Орлите от Разград (The Eagles from Razgrad) | |||
| Founded | 1945 | |||
| Ground | Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad | |||
| Capacity | 8,000 | |||
| Owner | Kiril Domuschiev | |||
| Chairman | Aleksandar Aleksandrov | |||
| Manager | Ivaylo Petev | |||
| League | A Group | |||
| 2012–13 | A Group, 1st | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgarian: ПФК Лудогорец Разград) or simply Ludogorets (Bulgarian: Лудогорец) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in A Football Group, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 2001 as Ludogorie Football Club. In 2010, the club acquired the license of the dissolved in 2006 Ludogorets Razgrad and was then renamed to carry on their traditions. In their first season in A Group, Ludogorets achieved a remarkable result by winning both the A Group trophy and the Bulgarian Cup.
The club's name comes from the name of the region in which Razgrad is located – the Ludogorie region of north-eastern Bulgaria, a name literally meaning crazy forest.
The club's home colors are green and white. Ludogorets' home base is the Ludogorets Arena in Razgrad, a stadium with capacity of 6,000 seats and electric floodlights.[1] After becoming champions in A Group in the first year after being promoted from B Group, Ludogorets became the third Bulgarian team after the two most prestigious clubs, CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia to achieve a treble – winning A Group, the Bulgarian Cup and also the Bulgarian Supercup.
History
First years
Ludogorets Razgrad was founded in 1945, as a result of a merger between two clubs from Razgrad.
Until 1945, football clubs "Beli Lom" and "Botev" both represented Razgrad in the Bulgarian football community. In 24 February 1924 they united under the name of "Orient", but they later split up into their respective clubs. In 1945 sport club Ludogorets was founded. In 1985 Ludogorets football club split from the sport club Ludogorets and continued to develop on its own. In the 1961/62 season, the club was promoted for the first time to B Group, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. In the late 1990's, the club merged with the football club of the town's local antibiotics factory – Antibiotic under the name of Antibiotic-Ludogorets. The club colors were Green and Yellow. In 2001 this merged club was dissolved. Ludogorets has played mostly in the second and third divisions during its 65 year existence.
In 18 June 2001 was founded Ludogorie Football Club. Initiators of the creation are Aleksandar Aleksandrov and Vladimir Dimitrov. In 2002 the club is renamed to Razgrad 2000 after a merger with a youth football team. Razgrad 2000 won its group a couple of years in a row, but didn't have a big enough budget to enter the higher division. Promotion to the top division of amateur football in Bulgaria, V Group (third division) was won after season 2005/06.
Domuschiev era (2010–present)
In the 2009/10 season, Razgrad 2000 won another promotion. This time to the professional football – B Group (second division). In 2010, the club acquired the license of the dissolved in 2006 Ludogorets Razgrad and was later renamed to this name to reflect their traditions and history. In July of 2010, Ivaylo Petev was appointed as manager. In September, the club was purchased by the businessman Kiril Domuschiev, with the clear intention to bring Ludogorets to A Group. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high profile players. On 28 May 2011, the club completed this feat in Domuschiev's first season presiding over the club by achieving promotion to A Group, for the first time in the club's history.[2]
Prior to the start of season 2011/12, Ludogorets completed the transfers of Emil Gargorov, Alexandre Barthe, Stanislav Genchev, Svetoslav Dyakov, Uro2š Golubović, Ľubomír Guldan and Marcelinho. Ivan Stoyanov signed during the first month of the season. The first loss in the season came in fixture 10 when Ludogorets lost their match against Litex in Lovech with 2-1. In the last game of the autumn half-season in fixture 15, just before the winter break, Ludogorets ended 2-2 with CSKA in Sofia, and with that result they ended the autumn half of the season in first place. With 3 losses in a row in the middle of the spring half-season (losses from Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Slavia and Cherno More), Ludogorets had lost the lead in the standings. But in the last day of the season, against CSKA, Ludogorets won with result of 1-0 with a goal scored by former Levski striker Miroslav Ivanov and with that they became champions of Bulgaria for the first time in history with just one point ahead of CSKA Sofia.[3] On 16 May 2012, Ludogorets completed a remarkable domestic double when they won their first Bulgarian Cup title, after a 2–1 victory against Lokomotiv Plovdiv at Lazur Stadium in Burgas.[4]
In August 2012, Ludogorets won and their first Bulgarian Supercup title, beating Lokomotiv Plovdiv with result of 3–1. And that is a precedent in the history of Bulgarian football, because Ludogorets became the first team which in its first season in A Group succeeds a double, and later on a treble.
Ludogorets started season 2012/13 with 8 wins in a row and 9 matches without a loss and finished the half-season in 1st place, like the previous season, with just one loss and seven goals conceded out of 15 matches. But in the Bulgarian Cup the team was eliminated in the Round of 32 by CSKA Sofia with an aggregate score of 2-2 from the two legs. The win with 1-0 in Sofia didn't do enough, as CSKA continued into the next round with more scored away goals (the first leg in Razgrad ended 1-2). In the spring half-season Ludogorets occupied the first place with just 3 matches before the end of the season. In fixture 28 Ludogorets were defeated by Levski with 1:0 at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in Sofia which meant that Levski were the new leaders of A Group. In the next fixture the two teams had won their matches. In the final day of the season Ludogorets had to beat the already relegated team PFC Montana and to hope that Slavia will prevent Levski from winning the match. With an own-goal in the last minutes of the match Slavia restored the tie and the match ended with result of 1:1. These dramatic events led Ludogorets to achieve their second A Group championship title.
Honours
- Winners (1): 2012
- Winners (1): 2012
- Winners (1): 2010–11
European record
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–13 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q |  Dinamo Zagreb
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1–1 | 2–3 | 3–4 | 
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| 2013–14 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q |  Slovan Bratislava
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– | – | – |
Players
First-team squad
As of 29 June 2013[update] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see List of Bulgarian football transfers summer 2013.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Foreign players
Up to three non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in A Group. Those non-EU nationals with European ancestry can claim citizenship from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry he can claim Bulgarian citizenship after playing in Bulgaria for 5 years.
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EU Nationals |
EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) |
Non-EU Nationals |
Recent seasons
| Season | Group | Position | M | W | D | L | G | D | P | Bulgarian Cup | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-04 | OFG Razgrad | 1 | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 46 | 10 | 37 | ||
| 2004-05 | OFG Razgrad | 1 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 55 | 22 | 38 | ||
| 2005-06 | OFG Razgrad | 1 | Promoted | ||||||||
| 2006-07 | North-East V Group | 2 | 32 | 17 | 8 | 7 | 52 | 31 | 59 | not participate | |
| 2007-08 | North-East V Group | 6 | 34 | 15 | 5 | 14 | 55 | 44 | 50 | not participate | |
| 2008-09 | North-East V Group | 4 | 36 | 22 | 4 | 10 | 68 | 42 | 70 | not participate | |
| 2009-10 | North-East V Group | 2 | 34 | 26 | 2 | 6 | 79 | 28 | 80 | not participate | Promoted |
| 2010-11 | East B Group | 1 | 24 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 38 | 16 | 44 | Round of 32 | Promoted |
| 2011-12 | A Group | 1 | 30 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 73 | 16 | 70 | Winner | Achieved treble |
| 2012-13 | A Group | 1 | 30 | 22 | 6 | 2 | 58 | 13 | 72 | Round of 32 |
Records
- Ludogorets is the second team in the world with FC Levadia Tallinn from Estonia, that after promoting from the second to the first level of the football league pyramid of its country, wins a treble, succeding all of the local trophies - the league, the national cup and the supercup.
- Ludogorets is the first team in Bulgaria, who wins two promotions in a row and then succeeds a treble.
- For season 2011/12 the club won the prize of the most effective attack in A Group with scoring a total of 73 goals.
- For season 2011/12 the club won the prize of the best defence in A Group with conceding just 16 goals.
References
- ^ Ludogorets arena with the best electric floodlights in the league (in Bulgarian)
- ^ "Ludogorets crash the party in Bulgaria". uefa.com. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ "Ludogorets celebrate maiden Bulgarian title". uefa.com. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
- ^ "Ludogorets clinch maiden Bulgarian Cup". uefa.com. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
External links
Template:UEFA Champions League
