PFC Litex Lovech

1921–1996

The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya and began playing league football two years later, in 1923. Over the years, the club has changed its name several times. From 1957 it was named Karpachev, before becoming Osam in 1979. Under that name the club played constantly in the B Group, the second division of Bulgarian football and was near to promotion several times. A notable player during this period was Plamen Linkov, who broke the club's appearance record, playing 575 matches and scoring 167 goals respectively.

In 1990, after Bulgaria's transition to market economy, privately owned company LEX became the main sponsor of the club. During the same year, the new owners changed the name of the football club to LEX. The 1993–94 B Group proved to be impressive for the club, as the team finished first in the second division and qualified for the A Group, a notable milestone never done before in the club's history. LEX's debut season in the A Group was also noteworthy, as the team ranked 11th at the end of the season. The next season however proved to be unsuccessful and the club, renamed Lovech, was relegated to the B Group.

Litex's former top goalscorer Dimcho Belyakov.

Grisha Ganchev ownership (1996–2016)

In June 1996, the club was purchased by Grisha Ganchev, petrol businessman and a citizen of Lovech, and it was renamed to Litex. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high-profile players. Ferario Spasov was named as the new Litex coach. He led the club back to the A Group at their first attempt. During the 1996–97 season Litex also reached the quarter-finals of the Bulgarian Cup and the final of the Bulgarian League Cup, which was lost after a penalty shoot-out.

Litex players with the Bulgarian Cup in 2009.

In 1997, Litex was promoted for the second time to the top division and immediately became Bulgarian champions, finishing the season 5 points ahead of the second-placed Levski Sofia, unprecedented before in the Bulgarian football history. The striker of the team Dimcho Belyakov also became top goalscorer with his 21 goals contributed during the season. In addition, midfielder Stoycho Stoilov received the Best Player of the League award. The club's first participation in the European club tournaments was also promising, with Litex eliminating Swedish club Halmstads BK after 4-3 on both ties and reaching the second qualifying round, where it was knocked out by the Russian powerhouse Spartak Moscow.

A year later Litex successfully defended their league title, losing only two league games during the course of the season. They became the first provincial club to win back-to-back league titles since the 1920s. During their campaign, Litex also inflicted the biggest defeat in CSKA Sofia's history, an 8-0 thrashing at the Lovech Stadium.

During the first decade of the 21st century, Litex won the Bulgarian Cup four times - in 2001 after defeating Velbazhd Kyustendil 1-0 in extra time, in 2004 against CSKA after a penalty shoot-out, in 2008 after a 1-0 win over Cherno More Varna,^[1] and in 2009, after a 3-0 thrashing over Pirin Blagoevgrad.^[2] In early August 2007, Litex signed a three-year sponsorship and advertising contract with Bulgarian mobile operator GLOBUL and started the 2007–08 season with the logo of the mobile service i-mode on the team's kits. In December 2007, Litex became the first Bulgarian club to have a branded mobile phone game, Litex Football. Before the start of the 2008–09 season, Litex lost the Bulgarian Supercup final with 0-1 from CSKA Sofia afer a goal from Kiril Kotev in the 65th minute. A season later, Litex again failed to win the Bulgarian Supercup final, this time against domestic title holders Levski Sofia.

Litex with the A PFG title in 2010.

In 2009–10, Litex became champions of Bulgaria for the third time in their history, finishing the season with 12 points advantage than the runners-up CSKA Sofia.^[3] On August 12, 2010, Litex defeated Beroe 2–1 to finally secure the Bulgarian Supercup, the last possible remaining domestic trophy never won before by the club. In 2010–11 Litex retained their fourth league title, securing the championship after a 3–1 away win against Lokomotiv Sofia on May 21, 2011.^[4]

Expulsion and new beginning (2015–present)

In the summer of 2015, Grisha Ganchev stepped down from his position as an owner, only to reallocate his main investments to Bulgarian football club CSKA Sofia, which was struggling financially with unpaid debts during the time. As a result, his son Danail took over at Litex, with previous shareholder Bulgarian joint stock company Sport 96 remaining in the club as a subsidiary of Litex Commerce JSC.

On December 16, 2015, the Bulgarian Football Union expelled Litex Lovech from the A Group.^[5] The decision was taken in response to an incident that occurred during Litex Lovech's December 12 tie with Levski Sofia, when chairman Stoycho Stoilov controversially pulled the squad off the pitch in protest of 2 players being sent off at a score of 1-0 for the Lovech club.^[6] On January 20, 2016 the team was administratively relegated to the B Group for the upcoming 2016-17 season. Litex's players however were allowed to complete their participation in the Bulgarian Cup and could finish the 2015-16 season with the club's reserve squad, Litex Lovech II, playing in the B Group.

On 27 May 2016, the legal firm that represented PFC Chavdar Etropole - "PFC Chavdar EAD" was renamed to "PFC CSKA-1948 AD".^[7] On 6 June 2016 the legal firm that represented PFC Litex Lovech - "PFC Litex-Lovech AD" was renamed to "PFC CSKA-Sofia EAD",^[8] with "PFC CSKA-1948 AD" being written in as its owner. That legal firm later applied to take part and was accepted into the reformed First League,^[9] as PFC CSKA Sofia. The shift was made because the old legal firm that represented PFC CSKA Sofia - "PFC CSKA AD" did not gain a professional license, and later went bankrupted and ceased operations as of September 9, 2016. PFC Litex Lovech later started playing in the Third League, taking the place of FC Botev Lukovit.^[10]

On July 4, 2016, former Litex player Zhivko Zhelev was appointed as a manager of a team, consisting mainly of academy players.^[11] The renewed Litex team started the new season and managed to win its first official match. The squad also played in the 2016–17 Bulgarian Cup, eliminating First League outfits of Slavia Sofia and Cherno More on their way to the semifinals,^[12] where Litex lost to reigning 5-time champions Ludogorets Razgrad on an aggregate score of 0–11. Litex also was promoted to Second League, after winning the North-West Group of the Third League.

League positions

Recent league statistics

Domestic

A Group / First League:

• Winners (4): 1997–98, 1998–99, 2009–10, 2010–11
• Runners-up (2): 2001–02
• Third place (3): 2002–03, 2005–06, 2013–14

B Group / Second League:

• Winners (2): 1993–94, 1996–97

Third League:

• Winners (1): 2016–17

Bulgarian Cup:

• Winners (4): 2001, 2004, 2008, 2009
• Runners-up (3): 1999, 2003, 2007

Bulgarian Supercup:

• Winners (1): 2010
• Runners-up (5): 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011

Bulgarian League Cup:

• Runners-up (1): 1997

European

UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League:

• Round of 32 (2): 2001–02, 2005–06

All-time top scorers in A PFG

• Bold signals active players
• Correct as of December 13, 2014^[14]

Rank	Name	Games played	Goals scored	Assists	Goals per game	Years played
1	Svetoslav Todorov	127	56	22	0.44	1997–01, 2009–12
2	Stefan Yurukov	113	55	11	0.49	1996–97, 1998–02, 2003–04
3	Hristo Yovov	97	45	20	0.46	2000–04
4	Wilfried Niflore	72	39	11	0.54	2008–11
5	Dimtcho Beliakov	67	35	11	0.52	1994–97, 1998–99, 2004
6	Zhivko Zhelev	194	31	7	0.16	1996–07
7	Wilmar Jordán	54	29	7	0.54	2013–15
8	Zoran Janković	64	29	17	0.45	2000–02, 2004, 2007–08
9	Georgi Milanov	106	28	20	0.26	2009–13
10	Krum Bibishkov	60	27	6	0.45	2007–09