Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Kardzhali Kardzhali ( bg, Кърджали , ''Kărdžali''; tr, Kırcaali; gr, Κάρτζαλι, ''Kártzali''), sometimes spelt Kardžali or Kurdzhali, is a town in the Eastern Rhodopes in Bulgaria, centre of Kardzhali Municipality and Kardzhali Provi ...

Arda river Arda or ARDA may refer to: Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece *Arda (Italy), a river in Italy *Arda (Douro), a river in Portugal *Arda, Bulgaria, a village in southern Bulgaria *Arda, County Fermanagh, a List of townlands in Co ...

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Arena Arda in Kardzhali, which has a capacity of 15,000 spectators. For the majority of its existence, the club regularly participated in the Second League, with its highest-ever ranking a second-place finish during the 1955–56 Bulgarian Second League. Arda have also reached the quarter-finals of the

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

once, it happened during the 1959–60 season of the competition. PFC Arda by BISO 2021

In 2018–19, Arda won the Second League promotion play-off against

Septemvri Sofia Septemvri ( bg, Септември) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the First League, the first tier of Bulgarian football. Its home ground is the Septemvri Stadium, but due to i ...

, resulting in the club's first-ever appearance in the Bulgarian top division.

History

First Arda team (1924–2013)

Arda was established on August 10, 1924 under the name ''Rodopski Sokol'', but later took the name Arda, derived from the nearby Arda River. From 1945 to 1957 the team was named Minyor until a year later when the previous name was put in use again. In 1956, the club finished as a runner-up in the

B Group The Bulgarian Second Professional Football League ( bg, Втора професионална футболна лига, Vtora Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as Second League ( bg, Втора Лига) or Vtora liga, is the second level ...

. They also reached the quarter-finals of the

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

during the 1959–60 campaign of the competition. In 1988 they secured the third place in the

B Group The Bulgarian Second Professional Football League ( bg, Втора професионална футболна лига, Vtora Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as Second League ( bg, Втора Лига) or Vtora liga, is the second level ...

. The Kardzhali club spend most of its time in the second and third levels of Bulgarian football, before getting dissolved in 2013 due to financial troubles.

Refounding (2015–2017)

The team suffered relegation from the V Group in 2013 and didn't compete in any league division until 2015 when they returned to the A Regional Group after reestablishment. In 2016, Arda achieved promotion to the Bulgarian Third League after a successful season and a 3–0 win in the play-off match against

Lyubimets Lyubimets ( bg, Любимец ) is a small town in Haskovo Province, southern-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Lyubimets Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 7,670 inhabitants.

.

PSI Group ownership and promotion to the elite (2017–present)

In early June 2017, the club was purchased by Bulgarian road construction company PSI Group, in an attempt to develop a football project, inspired by the domestic and international success of Ludogorets. Two weeks later, former

Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 b ...

player

Elin Topuzakov Elin Kalinov Topuzakov ( bg, Елин Калинов Топузаков; born 5 February 1977 in Dimitrovgrad) is a Bulgarian former football defender and now manager. He is nicknamed ''Balls'' ( bg, Топчо / Topcho) because of his last na ...

was appointed as head coach and

Emil Kremenliev Emil Georgiev Kremenliev ( bg, Емил Георгиев Кременлиев; born 13 August 1969) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Career Kremenliev played club football for Slavia Sofia, Levski Sofi ...

was hired as sporting director. Subsequently, Petar Peshev was elected chairman of the club and was revealed that the new ownership would invest around €1 million in new signings, salaries and infrastructure around the stadium during the following South-East Third League season. All of this led to an amateur double during the 2017–18 season, as Arda won both its group and the

Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League The Cup of the Bulgarian Amateur Football League (Bulgarian: Купа на Аматьорската Футболна Лига) is a Bulgarian annual football competition established by the BFU in 1994. Structure All officially registered amateur ...

, resulting in a promotion to the Bulgarian Second League. After the unsatisfactory results in the first 5 rounds,

Elin Topuzakov Elin Kalinov Topuzakov ( bg, Елин Калинов Топузаков; born 5 February 1977 in Dimitrovgrad) is a Bulgarian former football defender and now manager. He is nicknamed ''Balls'' ( bg, Топчо / Topcho) because of his last na ...

was released as a manager and Stoycho Stoev was appointed, but on 6 March 2019 Stamen Belchev was appointed as the new manager, after Stoev reached an agreement with the Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad. The team improved greatly, eventually managing a 3rd-place finish, enabling them to participate in the play-offs against relegation-avoider

PFC Septemvri Sofia Septemvri ( bg, Септември) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the First League, the first tier of Bulgarian football. Its home ground is the Septemvri Stadium, but due to it ...

to enter the top level of Bulgarian football. Arda eventually managed to win 0–1 over Septemvri at the Lokomotiv Stadium in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

, thus resulting in the club's first-time ever participation in the

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

.

First Seasons in the Elite and Bulgarian Cup Final

Arda's first match in the Bulgarian top tier resulted in a 0–0 home draw against

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes ...

. This was followed by an away 0–0 draw to Tsarsko Selo. Arda's first win came in the third round, when the team managed to beat

Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

3–1 at home. The game remained 1-1 up until the 90th minute, when

Elisha Sam Elisha Bruce Sam (born 31 March 1997) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Patro Eisden. Career Elisha made his Israeli Premier League debut for Hapoel Acre on 20 August 2017 in a game against Bnei Sakhnin as a 71st ...

scored two goals in three minutes to give Arda the win. Arda then won their first away game in the top league, by beating Vitosa Bistritsa 1–3, extending their unbeaten run to four games. At the end of the first half of the season in December, Arda was in seventh place in the league, with seven wins, seven draws, and six losses. At the end of the regular season in June, Arda was in the relegation group. Despite this, on June 20, Arda mathematically secured their place in the First League for the upcoming season, after

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes ...

beat

Botev Vratsa Botev ( bg, Ботев) is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921. Since 1948, Botev have played their home games at St ...

3–2. Arda reached the final of the

2020–21 Bulgarian Cup The 2020–21 Bulgarian Cup was the 39th official edition of the Bulgarian annual football knockout tournament. The competition began on 29 September 2020 with the preliminary round and finished with the final on 19 May 2021. Lokomotiv Plovdiv we ...

, their first-ever participation at a final of the domestic cup. Arda faced

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

, and lost by 1-0, in a closely fought game. A few days later, the team won the Europa Conference League play-off against

Cherno More Varna Cherno More ( bg, Черно Море) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on March 3, 1913, as an assoc ...

and qualified for European tournament for first time in their history.Историческа вечер за Кърджали! Арда срази Черно море и ще дебютира в Европа
/ref> In the

Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

, Arda faced Israeli side

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The c ...

. Arda’s general inexperience with European football caused an upsetting 0-2 home loss, followed by a 4-0 away loss, which eliminated Arda from the Europa Conference League.

Honours

* First League **4th place (1):

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* Second League ** Runners-up (1): 1955–56 ** Third place (2): 1987–88, 2018–19 * Third League ** Winners (1): 2017–18 * A Regional Group ** Winners (1): 2015–16 *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

** Runners-up (1):

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

*

Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League The Cup of the Bulgarian Amateur Football League (Bulgarian: Купа на Аматьорската Футболна Лига) is a Bulgarian annual football competition established by the BFU in 1994. Structure All officially registered amateur ...

** Winners (1): 2017–18

Players

First-team squad

''For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2022 and Transfers winter 2022–23.''

Out on loan

Foreign players

Up to twenty foreign nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

, however only five non-EU nationals 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.

Notable players

The footballers enlisted below have international caps for their respective countries or more than 100 caps for Arda. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries. ;Bulgaria *

Dimitar Makriev Dimitar Ivanov Makriev ( bg, Димитър Иванов Макриев; born 7 January 1984) is a Bulgarian Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for FC Vihren Sandanski, Vihren Sandanski. Ca ...

*

Ventsislav Hristov Ventsislav Hristov ( bg, Венцислав Христов; born 9 November 1988) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Botev Vratsa. Personal life Hristov was born in Sofia to a Bulgarian father and a Ukrainian mothe ...

*

Ventsislav Vasilev Ventsislav Vasilev ( bg, Венцислав Василев; born 8 July 1988) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who currently plays as a defender for Minyor Pernik. Career He started his professional career in his former club Minyor Pernik ...

* Radoslav Vasilev * Ivaylo Dimitrov *

Spas Delev Spas Borislavov Delev ( bg, Спас Бориславов Делев; born 22 September 1989) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who currently plays as a winger for Ludogorets Razgrad and the Bulgarian national team. Club career Youth ca ...

*

Mihail Aleksandrov Mihail Ivanov Aleksandrov ( bg, Михаил Иванов Александров; born 11 June 1989) is a Bulgarian former footballer who played as a midfielder. He primarily played as a right winger or a right-sided midfielder. Career CSKA ...

* Svetoslav Kovachev *

Martin Lukov Martin Lukov ( bg, Мартин Луков; born 5 July 1993) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Cypriot club Karmiotissa. Career Dunav Ruse Lukov joined Dunav Ruse in the summer of 2015, while the team was co ...

*

Radoslav Uzunov Radoslav Uzunov ( bg, Радослав Узунов; born 25 March 2006) is a Bulgarian Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back for FC Arda Kardzhali, Arda Kardzhali. Career Arda Kardz ...

;Europe * Rumyan Hovsepyan *

Darko Glišić Darko Glishikj ( mk, Дарко Глишиќ; sr, Дарко Глишић, Darko Glišić; born 23 September 1991) is a Macedonian footballer who currently plays as a left back for Vardar. International career After finishing his first season ...

*

Connor Randall Connor Steven Randall (born 21 October 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Scottish Premiership club Ross County. Club career Early career Randall was born and raised in Melling, Merseyside. He attended ...

;Africa * Ilias Hassani * David Kiki * Alie Sesay ;South America *

Matheus Leoni Matheus Izidorio Leoni (born 20 September 1991) is a Brazilian Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Nemzeti Bajnokság I, NB I club Kisvárda FC, Kisvárda. References

1991 births ...

;Asia *

Rebin Sulaka Rebin Gharib Sulaka Adhamat (; born 12 April 1992) is an Iraqi professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Buriram United and the Iraq national team. Club career Sulaka started playing football in Eskilstuna City FK, where he as a 15- ...

Goalscoring and appearance records

*Players in bold are still playing for Spartak.

European record

Matches

Records and notable stats

Club Records

* Biggest home win in First League: Arda Kardzhali 5–1

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...

(22 March 2022) * Biggest away win in First League: Vitosha Bistritsa 1–3 Arda Kardzhali (2 August 2019) * Biggest home loss in First League: Arda Kardzhali 0–4 Ludogorets Razgrad (12 February 2022) * Biggest away loss in First League: Tsarsko Selo 4–0 Arda Kardzhali (25 April 2021) * Unbeaten streak in First League (single season): 11 (

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

) * Most consecutive wins in First League (single season): 3 (

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

)

Personnel

Board of directors

Current technical body

Manager history

Seasons

League positions

ImageSize = width:900 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2023 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2005 Colors = id:First_tier value:green legend:First_tier id:Second_tier value:white legend:Second_tier id:Third_tier value:red legend:Third_tier id:Fourth_tier value:yellow legend:Fourth_tier id:Fifth_tier value:blue legend:Fifth_tier id:Does_not_exist value:black legend:Does_not_exist PlotData= bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2013 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group" from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2015 color:black shift:(0,14) text: Dissolved from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: "

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

" from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2018 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " Third League" from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " 2nd League" from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift:(0,-4) text: from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2023 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " 1st League"

Past seasons

References

External links

Club Profile at bgclubs.eu

Official website
{{First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

Arda Arda or ARDA may refer to: Places *Arda (Maritsa), a river in Bulgaria and Greece * Arda (Italy), a river in Italy *Arda (Douro), a river in Portugal * Arda, Bulgaria, a village in southern Bulgaria * Arda, County Fermanagh, a townland in County ...