PSFC Chernomorets Burgas

Chernomorets Burgas

Full name	Професионален спортен футболен клуб Черноморец Бургас (Professional sports football club Chernomorets Burgas)
Nickname(s)	Акулите (The Sharks)
Founded	6 July 2005 (2005-07-06)
Ground	Chernomorets Stadium, Burgas
Capacity	1,037
Owner	Petrol AD
Chairman	Mitko Sabev
Manager	Erolin Kyuchukov
League	B RFG
2016–17	A RFG, 13th /relegated/
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

PSFC Chernomorets Burgas (Bulgarian: ПСФК Черноморец Бургас) or simply Chernomorets (Bulgarian: Черноморец) is a Bulgarian football club from the city of Burgas, which currently competes in Bulgaria's fifth football league, the B Regional Group. The club has not won any major competitions, its most notable achievement being a second-place finish in the UEFA Intertoto Cup competition in 2008.

Club colours

Honours

History

Founding

In the summer of 2005, the club was founded by the mayor of Burgas. Despite the protests of the owner of FC Chernomorets Ivaylo Drazhev, the new club was named OFC Chernomorets 919 and was named as a successor of the current then FC Chernomorets. At the same time, Drazhev formed another club in the capital Sofia under the name PFC Chernomorets Burgas Sofia which only lasted one season and reached many anti-records.

The team in 2012

After a one-season stay in the amateur division, the club easily won the Bulgarian South-East V AFG with Dian Petkov as a head coach, finishing in the 1st place. In June, 2006, OFC Chernomorets 919 won the Bulgarian Amateur Cup. In the final at the Vasil Levski National Stadium, Chernomorets won with 4–0 against FC Benkovski Kostinbrod.

Mitko Sabev era, 2006–present

The same summer, Mitko Sabev, a famous Bulgarian oil magnate and owner of the rival football club in the city Naftex Burgas, bought the club from the municipality and renamed it to PSFC Chernomorets Burgas. (the club is registered in the Bulgarian Football Union as PFC Chernomorets Burgas and is known by that name to the people.) The football club was used as a reserve team for Naftex Burgas. And the owner appointed for manager the famous Bulgarian manager Dimitar Dimitrov.

In 2007, the Sharks won the East B PFG and were promoted to the A PFG. The next season Chernomorets finished 6th and qualified for the Intertoto Cup. In the second round, the Sharks defeated ND Gorica from Slovenia with 3–1 on aggregate to set up a third round clash with Swiss Grasshopper Zurich, but were eliminated with a 0–4 on aggregate.

Introduction for 2012/2013

In December, 2008, Chernomorets's owner appointed for manager of the football club the notable Bulgarian player Krassimir Balakov, after being sacked from FC St. Gallen.^[1][2] At the end of that season, Mitko Sabev dissolved Naftex Burgas and bought PFC Chernomorets Pomorie from Pomorie, making the new club from the nearby town a reserve team for the main football club.

On January 14, 2010, Chernomorets Burgas was named as the most progressive club in 2009 in Bulgaria.^[3] In July 2010, after differences between the owners of Petrol AD the club's budget was severely reduced and many employees from the staff were released. However, on 6 December 2010, Krassimir Balakov was released from Chernomorets Burgas after mutual consent. Second half of the 2010-11 A PFG season was a nightmare for Chernomorets Burgas and the team collapsed to eighth place in the standings while being managed by two more coaches - Anton Velkov and Georgi Vasilev.

On 30 May 2011, Mitko Sabev appointed as manager for the second time Dimitar Dimitrov – Hero. He founded high quality players for free like Jugurtha Hamroun, Lourival Assis, Aatif Chahechouche, and Yannick Boli, with Chernomorets Burgas having his best season in club history in the Bulgarian A PFG – a 4th place with real chances to reach the Europa League until the end. However, little was not enough and the club eventually didn't qualify.

The huge come-down: From A Group to B Regional in 4 years

After 2013/2014 season Chernomorets Burgas was relegated after 7 years in the A PFG. In the next season they were unable to bounce back and lost their professional status after suffering another relegation - to the V group. The team was relegated again in A Regional Group and were then again relegated to the B RFG after a last place finish, marking 4 relegations in a row and moving from the top football level to the lowest.

Historical achievements

European

Intertoto Cup

2008	UEFA Intertoto Cup	2nd Round		ND Gorica	1–1	2–0	3–1
2008	UEFA Intertoto Cup	3rd Round		Grasshopper	0–1	0–3	0–4

Stadium and Sports Complex

Chernomorets plays its home games at the Lazur Stadium. Lazur Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Burgas, Bulgaria. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 18,037 people and it is 3 star rated by UEFA. The stadium was opened in 1967 and was renovated in 1997 and 2009.

Chernomorets Arena^[4] is a future modern stadium in Burgas, which is going to be the new home ground of Chernomorets Burgas. The new venue will be built in the place of the old home ground of FC Chernomorets, the Chernomorets Stadium, and will have a capacity of 30,000 spectators and a possible expansion to 55,000. It is scheduled to be opened in 2017. The construction will start in the summer of 2013, because of the current demolishing process of the old stadium and the global financial crisis, and will cost 500 million euros, making it one of the most expensive stadiums in Europe. The stadium will be probably rated with an elite ranking by UEFA and will host Champions League and Europa League matches in Burgas and Eastern Bulgaria.

In July 2009, the owner of the club announced an ambitious plan to build a modern sports complex for the club in the Sarafovo neighborhood of Burgas. The sports complex will be named Sharks Nest and will include two training pitches and one training pitch with artificial turf, an administrative building for the team and one building for the management of the football club. The construction of the sports complex started the same month and was finished in July, 2010 at a cost of €20 million.^[5]

Current squad

As of 2 July 2015 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Staff

Position	Name
Chairman	Mitko Sabev
Managing director	Plamen Kiryakov
Director	Miroslav Yordanov
Director	Ivan Tsanev
Director	Georgi Mitsov
Director of Youth Academy	Nikolay Krastev
Manager	Erolin Kyuchukov
Assistant Coach
Assistant Coach
Goalkeeper Coach

Former Fanclub

Notable players

• For all players with a Wikipedia article see Category:PFC Chernomorets Burgas players.

Managers

• Diyan Petkov (2005–06)
• Dimitar Dimitrov (July 1, 2006 – Dec 17, 2008)
• Krasimir Balakov (Dec 17, 2008 – Dec 7, 2010)
• Anton Velkov (Jan 5, 2011 – March 23, 2011)
• Georgi Vasilev (March 23, 2011 – May 30, 2011)
• Dimitar Dimitrov (May 30, 2011 – May 15, 2014)
• Todor Kiselichkov (June 13, 2014 – Oct 5, 2014)
• Erolin Kyuchukov (July 18, 2015 – present)

References

External links

• (in Bulgarian)(in English) Unofficial website
• (in English) UEFA Profile