FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia

Domestic

• First League:

Winners (4): 1939–40, 1945, 1963–64, 1977–78

Runners-up (6): 1941, 1946, 1947, 1957, 1964–65, 1994–95

Third Place (10): 1948–49, 1952, 1954, 1959–60, 1967–68, 1978–79, 1995–96, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2014–15

• Bulgarian Cup:

Winners (4): 1948, 1953, 1981–82, 1994–95

Runners-up (2): 1974–75, 1976–77

European

• Balkans Cup:

Winners: 1973

• UEFA Cup

Quarter-finals: 1980

• European Railways Cup

Winners (2): 1961, 1963

European record

1929–1994

Lokomotiv was founded on 2 September 1929 as Railway Sports Club (RSC) by a group of railway workers. RSC's first competitive game was a 2–1 victory against Zora Sofia on 3 October 1929. In the 1939–40 season, RSC won the Bulgarian title for first time in the team's history. The team was made by: Stoyo Nedyalkov (captain), Sl. Videnov, K. Kostov, D. Marinov, St. Angelov, As. Milushev, Krum Milev, L. Hranov. In 1945, the club had already been renamed Lokomotiv Sofia and won the title in the first post-war championship. During season 1963–64 after 30 games, Lokomotiv won their third title after they defeated main rivals to the title Levski Sofia and Slavia Sofia. In 1969 the club was united with Slavia Sofia for a brief period to 1971 and is associated with the Bulgarian railway workers. In 1978, led by Atanas Mihaylov and Boycho Velichkov Lokomotiv won their fourth title. In Europe the club won European championship of the railwaymen two times in 1961 and 1963, and Balkans Cup in 1973. In 1980 Lokomotiv reached a quarter final in the UEFA Cup where they faced VfB Stuttgart, eliminating before that Ferencváros, AS Monaco and Dynamo Kyiv. Against Stuttgart the team lost with 0–1 in Sofia and with 1–3 in Germany.

1994–2015, Nikolay Gigov era

The new era for Lokomotiv Sofia came in 1994 with the new president Nikolay Gigov. The football club's status was turned professional. For merely one year (1994–95), from a team struggling not to lose its place in the professional league, Lokomotiv won the silver medals in the Championship and the State Cup. The club's home ground is Lokomotiv Stadium with 25,000 places, a junior training center: Lokomotiv has an enthusiastic and well-organized fan-club. The team came fourth in the 2005–06 season in A PFG and qualified for the UEFA Cup 2006-07 first qualifying round, where they face FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov from the Republic of Macedonia. Lokomotiv beat the Macedonian side 2–0 in the first match in Sofia on 13 July 2006 and finished 1–1 as a guest in Macedonia and continued to the next round of the tournament. Next, they faced the team of Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, which they beat twice: 2–0 on 10 August 2006 and 4–0 on 24 August 2006. Their next opponent in the first round of the tournament was the team of Feyenoord Rotterdam. The first game in Sofia ended with a 2–2 draw, after Lokomotiv went ahead 2–0 early in the first half. The second game finished 0–0 and Lokomotiv Sofia were out of the UEFA tournament.

Domestically, Lokomotiv had an amazing run of 10 consecutive wins, before being stopped by CSKA Sofia in the direct clash for the second position. Eventually, Lokomotiv finished third with equal points with second-placed CSKA Sofia.

The 2007–08 season started promisingly for the team. In the UEFA Cup second qualifying round Lokomotiv eliminated Romanian side Oţelul Galaţi after a 3–1 win at home and a scoreless away draw. This marked 8 European games without a loss, which was a new national record for longest streak without a loss achieved by a Bulgarian team in all European competitions. The previous record of 7 games was held by Levski Sofia. In the next round, Lokomotiv faced the French Rennes and the loss 1–3 in the first leg in Sofia marked an end to the team's winning streak in Europe. The Bulgarian side showed a surprising rally in the second game in France, which they won 2–1 and were only a single goal short of making it to the extra time. For a second consecutive year, Lokomotiv were stopped short of entering the group stage of the UEFA Cup, despite being the first Bulgarian club in soccer history to snatch a victory on French soil. The team finished third during the 2014–15 season in the A PFG, but was denied a license for the European tournaments and A Group due to unpaid debts. Lokomotiv were relegated to Bulgaria's third division, the V Group.^[2]

FC Lokomotiv 1929

After the dissolving Lokomotiv Sofia, some of the legends of the team including Ivan Vasilev, Boycho Velichkov and Anton Velkov formed a new club in A OFG Sofia (city) - north (4th division). The youth academy is moved to the new club. Some other former players are going back to the club as well as young players from the academy are selected to the new first squad.^[3]

On 29 July 2016, team was officially approved for the new Bulgarian Second League, skipping one level in from the Bulgarian football together with Tsarsko Selo Sofia.^[4] However, the team cannot be promoted to the First League until 2018-19 season due to the rule that a team can play in the highest level only after 3 seasons of existence.^[5]

Current 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 Tsvetomir Vitkov 3 DF Mario Petkov 4 MF Franck Mbarga 5 DF Georgi Punev 6 MF Giorgos Bouzoukis 7 FW Georgi Netov 8 MF Ismaël Taïder 9 FW Kostadin Hazurov 10 MF Iliyan Stefanov 11 MF Vladislav Romanov 14 MF Valentin Nikolov 15 DF Aleksandar Goranov 16 DF Ivan Kalaydzhiyski 17 MF Yordan Todorov (on loan from Septemvri Sofia)

No. Position Player 19 MF Mario Yordanov 20 DF Daniel Aleksiev 21 DF Christos Kontochristos 22 GK Vasil Valchev 23 DF Emil Viyachki 24 GK Aleksandar Lyubenov (on loan from Levski Sofia) 25 MF Zoran Švonja 26 MF Krasimir Miloshev 27 FW Andrey Videnov 77 MF Martin Stankev 79 FW Strahinja Krstevski 88 MF Bogomil Hristov 94 MF Daniel Vasev

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 Bulgarian 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.