FC Tsarsko Selo Sofia

2015–2016: Foundation

In the summer of 2015, the previous chairman of CSKA Sofia Stoyne Manolov established a new academy called Football Academy Tsarsko Selo, with a focus on scouting and developing youth football players born in 2002 to 2010.^[1] The club was initially registered and a subsequent men's team in the A RFG Sofia South was established, with former long-time CSKA Sofia captain Todor Yanchev appointed as manager.^[2] On November 12, 2015 Manolov announced an academy partnership with Spanish La Liga club Málaga CF.^[3] In the end of December 2015, Todor Yanchev took over Sofia 2010, which was bought by Manolov and was merged with Tsarsko Selo to establish a new club called Tsarsko Selo Sofia.^[4][5]

2016–present: Professional debut

On 28 July 2016 the team was accepted in the newly created Bulgarian Second Professional League.^[6] They finished their first match against Botev Galabovo with a draw.^[7] In their first match for the Bulgarian Cup they played against Levski Sofia. The match was played on 22 September 2016 at the Lokomotiv Stadium in Sofia and was won by Levski by 2-0.^[8] After 2 heavy defeats, Yanchev stepped down from his position as a manager and on 29 October 2016, previous Cherno More Varna head coach Nikola Spasov was announced as the new manager of the team.^[9] The team finished their first season in Second League in 5th place.^[10]

The good start of the season for Tsarsko Selo was marked not only by the first place in the league after 8 rounds, but with their first win for the cup winning the first round against Neftochimic Burgas on 19 September 2017. ^[11] On 3 January 2018 Nikola Spasov was announced as the new manager of the Kazakhstan Premier League team Kyzylzhar.^[12] Shortly the same day Veselin Velikov was announced as the new manager of the club.^[13] On 8 May 2018 Velislav Vutsov was announced as the new head coach of the team with Velikov becoming a selectionist. ^[14]

First-team squad

As of 25 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 GK Kristiyan Katsarev 2 DF Ivaylo Markov (on loan from Cherno More) 3 DF Stoycho Papazov 4 DF Plamen Tenev 5 DF Marko Prljević 6 MF Antonio Georgiev 7 DF Kristiyan Dimitrov 8 MF Nikolay Dyulgerov 9 FW Petar Ivanov 10 FW Georgi Minchev (on loan from CSKA Sofia) 11 MF Kitan Vasilev (on loan from Slavia Sofia)

No. Position Player 12 GK Rosen Andonov 13 FW Vasil Kaloyanov 14 DF Veselin Minev 17 MF Reyan Daskalov (on loan from CSKA Sofia) 21 MF Emanuil Manev 22 MF Vladimir Semerdzhiev (on loan from Slavia Sofia) 26 DF Georgi Hashev 30 FW Simeon Ganchev (captain) 44 FW Bozhidar Katsarov 89 MF Iliyan Yordanov MF Pavel Petkov

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.

Foreign players

Only one non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Second League. 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.

Board of directors

Position	Name	Nationality
President	Emil Enev
Executive Director	Emil Enev
Sports Director	Ivo Andreevski
Director of Youth Academy	Ivaylo Kotev

Current technical body

Position	Name	Nationality
Manager	Nikola Spasov
Assistant Coach	Aleksandar Mladenov
Assistant Coach	Viktor Dimitrov
Assistant Coach	Krasimir Punchev
Goalkeeper Coach	Miroslav Mitev
Physiotherapist	Viktor Valchanov
Doctor	Georgi Iliev
U19 Coach	Kemal Rashidov

Manager history

Dates	Name	Honours
2015	Todor Yanchev
2016	Kemal Rashidov
2016	Todor Yanchev
2016–2018	Nikola Spasov
2018–	Veselin Velikov