PFC Slavia Sofia

PFC Slavia Sofia (Bulgarian: ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground is the Slavia Stadium in Ovcha kupel with a capacity of 25,556. The team's colours are white and black. Established on 10 April 1913, Slavia is currently the oldest sports club in Sofia.

PFC Slavia Sofia
Full nameProfessional Football Club Slavia
Nickname(s)Белите (The Whites)
Founded10 April 1913 (1913-04-10)
GroundStadion Slavia
Capacity25,556
OwnerMladen Mihalev
ChairmanVentseslav Stefanov
Head coachAleksandr Tarkhanov
LeagueFirst League
2019–20First League, 3rd
WebsiteClub website

Slavia is one of only two Bulgarian football clubs that have never been relegated (the other being Levski Sofia), although the club has been divided into two separate clubs and one of them that carries Slavia records and statistics (Udarnik Sofia) had been expelled to the Second Division, which continued for a season (1951), for no other reason, but politically arranged football reform. The other separate entity (Stroitel Sofia) which is now defunct and regarded as a different club had remained in First Division. Later on the two clubs reunited again.

Domestically, the club has won the Bulgarian Championship seven times and the Bulgarian Cup eight times. They have also been runners-up in the championship ten times and have reached the cup final on three additional occasions. Among the team's international successes are a European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final in 1967 and a quarter-final in 1981, as well as two consecutive Balkans Cup trophies in 1986 and 1988.

Slavia have a rivalry with fellow Sofia-based club Levski Sofia. Matches between the two teams are known as the Oldest capital derby, due to the fact that Slavia and Levski are the oldest, continuously-existing football teams from Sofia. They used to compete regularly for trophies before 1945.

History

On 10 April 1913, a group of young people living near a Russian Monument in Sofia and representatives of the local capital clubs Botev and Razvitie, in a coffee-house – Alabin str. in Sofia, decided to establish an incorporated sports club, the first organized sport club in Sofia.[1] The new incorporated club has named Slavia. Dimitar Blagoev – Palio, a 21-year-old student, was elected as the first president of the club. As members of the first club administrative council were elected Emanuil Geshev, Ferdinand Mihaylov, Tsvyatko Velichkov, Georgi Grigorov and Todor Kalkandzhiev.

A few days later, was elected the first football team of the club – Stefan Lalov, Ilia Georgiev, Emanuil Geshev, Todor Kalkandzhiev, Stefan Chumpalov, Dimitar Blagoev – Palio (all of them from Botev) and Pavel Grozdanov, Ferdinand Mihaylov, Boris Sharankov, Asen Bramchev, Dimitar Cvetkov (all of them from Razvitie). The first sport dresses of the club were white shirts and black shorts. Since 1924, the team has played with white shirts and white shorts and up to present days it is popular as the "White pride". On 11 August 1913, Slavia played its first match, against local club Savata, and won 1–0.

After World War I, Slavia began to become more successful. On 5 June 1928, the club won its first champion title, winning 4–0 in the final match against Vladislav Varna. Slavia won the title five more times until 1946, in 1930, 1936, 1938–39, 1941 and 1943.

Slavia won its first Bulgarian Cup in 1952. By winning the 1963 Bulgarian Cup Final, Slavia qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup, the club's first appearance in European competition. They were drawn against Hungarian club MTK Budapest in the first round. Slavia were eliminated from the competition 2–1 on aggregate. Its most important achievements in Europe during 1966–67 Cup Winners' Cup campaign when Slavia eliminated Swansea City, Strasbourg and Servette, before being eliminated by Rangers in the semi-finals.[2] The team consisted of great players such as goalkeeper Simeon Simeonov, Ivan Davidov, Aleksandar Shalamanov, Dimitar Largov, Dimitar Kostov and Aleksandar Vasilev.

In 1969, Slavia was merged with Lokomotiv Sofia under the name ZhSK Slavia. Two years later, the two clubs split again after a split was supported by 100,000 fans.

In the 1980–81 season, led by Chavdar Tsvetkov and Andrey Zhelyazkov,[3] Slavia reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup before losing 6–3 on aggregate to Feyenoord. In 1986, Slavia won Balkans Cup, defeating Greek side Panionios 5–3 on aggregate in the final. In 1988, Slavia won the Balkans Cup for the second time.[4]

In 1994, Stoyan Kotsev, the former Slavia midfielder, was appointed as the club's new manager. After finishing fourth in 1995, they went on to win the A PFG title in 1995–96. Slavia finished with five points more than second-placed Levski Sofia. This marked Slavia's first Bulgarian title since 1943. In the 2010–11 season, Slavia reached the Bulgarian Cup final, defeating Ludogorets Razgrad, Etar 1924, Chernomorets Burgas and Pirin Blagoevgrad en route. However, they lost the final 1–0 to CSKA Sofia.[5]

In 2018, Slavia won the Bulgarian Cup for the eight time in its history, defeating rivals Levski Sofia at the Vasil Levski National Stadium after a penalty shootout. This enabled the team to play in the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. In the second qualifying round, Slavia eliminated Finnish side FC Ilves. However, in the third qualifying round, they lost to Hajduk Split of Croatia, thus being eliminated.

The 2019–20 season was very successful for Slavia. The team finished in third place, qualifying for the Europa League playoff. Slavia clinched the third place in the last round of the season, defeating champions Ludogorets 3–1 at home, while Levski Sofia lost 1–2 to Lokomotiv Plovdiv, thus making Slavia third. This was Slavia’s best placement since the 1996–97 season.

League positions

Bulgarian First LeagueBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football Group

Players

Current squad

As of 20 December 2020

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  BUL Georgi Petkov (captain)
3 DF  BUL Ertan Tombak
4 DF  BUL Petar Patev
5 MF  BUL Martin Atanasov
6 DF  BUL Kostadin Velkov
7 FW  BUL Ventsislav Hristov
8 FW  BUL Dimitar Rangelov (vice-captain)
9 FW  BUL Kaloyan Krastev
10 MF  ROU Dragoș Firțulescu
11 MF  BUL Radoslav Kirilov
12 GK  BUL Ivan Dermendzhiev
13 GK  BUL Svetoslav Vutsov
14 FW  BUL Ivaylo Dimitrov
17 MF  BUL Erol Dost
18 DF  BUL Dimitar Stoyanov
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 DF  MKD Filip Antovski (on loan from Dinamo Zagreb)
20 MF  BUL Filip Angelov
22 MF  MKD Darko Tasevski
23 DF  BUL Emil Viyachki
24 DF  BUL Lazar Boyanov
29 MF  BUL Petar Vutsov
32 GK  BUL Alexander Mihaylov
35 DF  BUL Kristiyan Hristov
55 DF  BUL Andrea Hristov
71 MF  BUL Emil Stoev
73 MF  BUL Martin Sorakov
77 MF  BUL Georgi Valchev
83 MF  BUL Alexander Zlatkov
MF  BUL Steliyan Dobrev

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2020 and Transfers winter 2021.

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
GK  BUL Ivan Dermendzhiev (at Sportist until 31 December 2020)
DF  BUL Martin Achkov (at Septemvri Sofia until 31 December 2020)
DF  BUL Konstantin Ivanov (at Yantra until 31 December 2020)
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF  BUL Toni Ivanov (at Yantra until 31 December 2020)
MF  BUL Hristo Ivanov (at Sportist until 31 December 2020)
FW  BUL Tsvetelin Chunchukov (at Academica until 31 December 2020)

Foreign players

Up to five non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the A PFG however only three can be used during 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.

EU Nationals

EU Nationals (Dual citizenship)

Non-EU Nationals

Supporters

There is one remaining ultras group called Boys Sofia, a name referring to the fact the traditional support is from the south of the city; in the past there were multiple other groups. They have a long standing friendship with BSC Young Boys.[6][7] The traditional rivalry has been with Levski Sofia, also known as Oldest capital derby, however in recent decades Lokomotiv Sofia has become the major rival.[8] The derby between them is called Little capital derby. The other city rivalry is with CSKA Sofia.

Stadium

In the first ten years after Slavia was founded, the club played in the stadium of his predecessor SC Razvitie. On 3 October 1923, Slavia became the owner of land to the Russian Monument in Sofia, where was the first ground of the club. They played their home games there for the next few decades, until they moved to southwest Sofia in the 1960s.

On 12 March 1958, started the construction of Slavia Stadium. Mayor of the sixth area in Sofia and president of the Slavia women's basketball team, Dimitar Tinev, presided at the laying in place of the first stone. The stadium is built in a residential area Ovcha Kupel, served by regular bus services 6 km from Sofia city centre. Slavia Stadium has undergone many changes over the years and it presently has a capacity of 25,556.

Honours

National

European

Winners: 1986, 1987–88
Semi-finals: 1966–67
First place in group four: 1977

Technical staff

Name Role
Aleksandr Tarkhanov Head Coach
Martin Kushev Assistant Coach
Radostin Stanev Goalkeeping Coach
Milan Dimitrić Condition Coach
Boris Borisov Doctor
Lyuben Angelov Doctor
Svetoslav Kostadinov Administrator

Notable stats

Managerial history

This is a list of the last Slavia managers:

Name Nat From To Honours
Dobromir Tashkov 1963 1969
Dobromir Tashkov 1973 1974
Hristo Mladenov 1978 1980
Oleh Bazylevych 1987 1988
Stoyan Kotsev 1994 1997 1 Bulgarian Cup
1 Bulgarian title
Miroslav Mironov Oct 1999 May 2000
Žarko Olarević May 2000 23 Nov 2000
Kiril Kachamanov 23 Nov 2000 25 Sept 2001
Žarko Olarević 25 Sept 2001 18 Dec 2002
Miodrag Ješić 18 Dec 2002 23 Aug 2003
Ratko Dostanić 24 Aug 2003 23 Sept 2004
Atanas Dzhambazki 23 Sept 2004 29 March 2005
Petar Houbchev 29 March 2005 10 Nov 2005
Alyosha Andonov 10 Nov 2005 2 July 2006
Ratko Dostanić 3 July 2006 26 Dec 2006
Alyosha Andonov 26 Dec 2006 6 June 2007
Stevica Kuzmanovski 6 June 2007 2 June 2009
Velislav Vutsov 2 June 2009 18 May 2010
Emil Velev 19 May 2010 28 May 2011
Martin Kushev 28 May 2011 29 Nov 2012
Velislav Vutsov 30 Nov 2012 5 June 2013
Asen Bukarev 5 June 2013 20 Oct 2013
Milen Radukanov 21 Oct 2013 31 Aug 2014
Ivan Kolev 1 Sep 2014 30 Nov 2015
Vladimir Ivanov (caretaker) 30 Nov 2015 18 Dec 2015
Aleksandr Tarkhanov 18 Dec 2015 2 Nov 2016
Vladimir Ivanov 3 Nov 2016 11 May 2017
Zlatomir Zagorčić 11 May 2017 1 September 2020 1 Bulgarian Cup
Martin Kushev 7 September 2020 17 September 2020
Aleksandr Tarkhanov 17 September 2020

References

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