POFC Botev Vratsa

POFC Botev Vratsa
Full name Professional Municipal Football Club Botev Vratsa
Nickname(s) Зелените лъвове
(The Green Lions)
Founded 1921 (1921)
Ground Hristo Botev Stadium, Vratsa
Capacity 12,000
Chairman Kalin Kamenov
Head coach Sasho Angelov
League First League
2017–18 Second League, 1st (promoted)
Website Club website

Botev (Bulgarian: Ботев) is a Bulgarian professional municipal association football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921.

Botev Vratsa is one of the most prominent football clubs in Bulgaria, playing its home matches at Hristo Botev Stadium. The team's home stadium was built in 1948. It is situated in the Hristo Botev sport complex, in the east part of Vratsa. The stadium originally had 32 000 seats. After a recent reconstruction, which took place in the first half of 2008 and in 2009, the stadium has 3 reconstructed seated sectors with a total of 6000 seats.

History

Botev Vratsa Football Club was founded in 1921 by Nikola Kunov, Ivan Abuzov, Nako Paunov, Gergo Boytchev, Todor Orozov, Hristo Lighenski and Angel Rachinski. The place of foundation is a playground near the Old market in Vratsa. Between 1921 and 1956 various sport clubs were founded in the city. In 1957 most of the sport clubs in the city are joined together to form FC Botev Vratsa. Between 1957 and 1964 Botev Vratsa is a member of Bulgarian second division. In 1964 the club entered the Bulgarian top division and played there for 26 seasons.[1] The team of Vratsa has 788 games in the top flight of Bulgarian football.

Botev's most glorious moment came in 1971, when the team finished third in Bulgarian top division, after CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia. Botev did, however, represent Bulgaria in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup where they lost in the first round to Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia 2–8 on aggregate. The first game in Vratsa, in the presence of 35 000 spectators, ended with a 2–1 loss. The second game in Zagreb finished 6–1.

The biggest success in the Bulgarian Cup is a semi-final in 1960–61, 1974–75 and 1984–85. In 1989–90 Botev was relegated to second division. In the next 19 years the club participated in either the second or the third Bulgarian divisions.

Among the club's legendary players is Martin Petrov, considered by most Botev fans as the greatest player to have ever been involved with the club, and one of the greatest Bulgarian players. The list of other famous players to have come from the clubs' youth system consists of Ilya Valov, Valentin Iliev, and Valentin Stanchev. Nikolay Penkov is the player with most league appearances for the club – 334. The player with most league goals for the club is Georgi Kamenov, with 150 goals for Botev.

Colours, signs and symbols

Botev is known as one of the "green" teams in Bulgaria, but red is just as characteristic in the club's history. Until 1971, the home colours were red and black vertical stripes. To commemorate the 50th anniversary, officials decided to re-brand the entire image of Botev by selecting green as main colour from 1972 on. At the same time, the club logo was also changed, selecting a lion as its centerpiece to commemorate the revolutionary flags of the Hristo Botev revolutionaries. Until that point, the portrait of Hristo Botev himself was used as club logo. The most recent re-branding of the club was in 2009, when the fans initiated a return of the lion to the club logo, almost 15 years after it had been removed. The new logo, which incorporated the original graphic from 1971 was crafted by lifelong fan Aleksandar Alekov.[2]

Honours

Hristo Botev Stadium

Domestic

Bulgarian A Group:

Bulgarian B Group:

Bulgarian Cup:

  • Semi-finals (2): 1960/61, 1974/75

European

UEFA Cup:

Season Round Country Club Home Away Aggregate
1971–72 1 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dinamo Zagreb 1–2 1–6 2–8

League positions

Bulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football Group
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)Bulgarian Second LeagueBulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football Group

Current squad

As of 26 July 2018

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Bulgaria GK Hristo Mitov
6 Bulgaria MF Daniel Gadzhev
7 Bulgaria MF Georgi Valchev
9 Bulgaria FW Ivan Kolev
10 Bulgaria MF Petar Atanasov
11 Bulgaria MF Andreas Vasev
14 Bulgaria MF Daniel Genov
17 Bulgaria MF Spas Georgiev
18 Bulgaria DF Iliya Milanov
19 Bulgaria MF Ivaylo Mihaylov (captain)
20 Bulgaria DF Kostadin Gadzhalov
No. Position Player
21 Tajikistan DF Iskandar Dzhalilov
26 Bulgaria DF Mariyan Ivanov
30 Bulgaria FW Valeri Domovchiyski
33 Bulgaria GK Krasimir Kostov
34 Bulgaria GK Nikolay Bankov
37 Bulgaria DF Ventsislav Kerchev (on loan from Ludogorets Razgrad)
58 Bulgaria DF Atanas Fidanin
71 Bulgaria MF Emil Stoev (on loan from Slavia Sofia)
86 Bulgaria FW Valeri Bojinov
88 Bulgaria MF Yordan Apostolov
94 Bulgaria MF Yuliyan Nenov

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2018.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Bulgaria DF Alekszandar Petrov (at Lokomotiv Mezdra until 31 December 2018)
Bulgaria MF Ivan Velchev (at Lokomotiv Mezdra until 31 December 2018)
Bulgaria MF Viktor Vasilev (at CSKA 1948 until 30 June 2019)

Foreign players

Up to five non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Bulgarian First Professional League however only three can be used in a match day. 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.

Managers

References

  1. ↑ "B" Group archive Archived 2008-03-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Botev Vratsa history". botevvratsa.com. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
  3. ↑ "Italian head coach signs Botev Vratsa (in Bulgarian)". Livesport.bg. Archived from the original on 2012-08-07. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  4. ↑ "Botev Vratsa appoint the new manager". Gong.bg. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
  5. ↑ "Ясен Петров обеща да върне Ботев (Вр) в елита". topsport.bg. 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  6. ↑ Georgieva, Maria (2013-12-05). "Бойко Величков пое Ботев Враца". 7sport.net. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
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