FC Marek ( bg, ФК Марек) is a

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Dupnitsa Dupnitsa, or Dupnica ( bg, Дупница (previously ), ), is a town in Western Bulgaria. It is at the foot of the highest mountains in the Balkan Peninsula – the Rila Mountains, and about south of the capital Sofia. Dupnitsa is the second la ...

, currently playing in the Third League, the third level of the

Bulgarian football league system The Bulgarian football league system or the Bulgarian football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Bulgaria. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, and ...

. It was founded in 1947 following the unification of four local clubs. Home matches take place at Bonchuk Stadium, where Marek famously defeated

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in 1977. Bonchuk stadium has a capacity of 16,000. The team last played top-flight football during the 2014–15 season. Marek's greatest achievement is winning the 1978

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 ...

Honours

; Domestic First League: * Third place (2):

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

Second League: * Winners (1):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: * Winners (1):

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

History

Early history (1919–1947)

The people of

watched football being played for the first time by foreign troops stationed in the city during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Over the next several years, four clubs were founded in the city: Slavia, Levski, ZHSK, and Athletic. In 1923, these clubs participated in the formation of the Southwest Football League and, between 1935 and 1944, they frequently took part in the finals of the national tournaments. By 1944, each of the four had their own stadium.

Marek (1947–1970)

In 1947, Slavia, Levski, ZHSK, and Athletic decided to merge into one club, which was named Marek, after the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

Stanke Dimitrov Stefan Dimitrov Todorov () (5 February 1889 – 26 August 1944), better known as Stanke Dimitrov (Станке Димитров) or under the pseudonym Marek (Марек), was a high-ranking Bulgarian Communist Party activist and anti-fascist. ...

, a local hero of the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

party. Marek is an abbreviation for

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

Antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

Revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

Emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

. In 1948, Marek became a part of the newly created first division, the

Bulgarian A PFG 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 ...

, finishing eighth out of ten clubs in season 1948–49. The club was relegated to 2nd division,

B PFG 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 ...

, in 1950. Marek subsequently won promotions to the

in 1952 and 1956, followed by immediate relegation to

the following seasons, 1953 and 1957, respectively. During these years, Marek's greatest achievement was 5th place in the

during the 1960–61 season. The team's coach at that time was Lyuben Petrov. Up until the mid-1970s, Marek bounced back and forth between the first and second divisions of Bulgarian football.

Success in Bulgaria and Europe (1975–1981)

The most notable successes for Marek came in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the club finished third in the league in 1977 and won the

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

in 1978, defeating overwhelming favorites

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 ...

1:0 in front of 75,000 spectators at the

Vasil Levski National Stadium Vasil Levski National Stadium ( bg, Национален стадион „Васил Левски“), named after Bulgarian national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski (1837–1873), is the country's second largest stadium. The stadium has 43,2 ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. During the 1976–77 season, Marek defeated CSKA twice, home and away, with the scores 2:1 and 3:1. That season, the club led the league for several rounds and at the end the team fought tooth and nail with

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, 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 ...

for the third place in the table. Marek won the decisive game against Slavia in Dupnitsa by the score of 1:0, finishing 3rd and earning an entry into the

1977–78 UEFA Cup The 1977–78 UEFA Cup was won by PSV Eindhoven on aggregate over Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Ca ...

. This is Marek's best finish to date in the top flight of Bulgarian football. In this period the team also played in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

, and

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

. Victories include games against

Bayern Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

(a 2–0 victory), against

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

(a 3–0 victory), and against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

(a 3–2 victory), then led by coach

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

. The return leg in Scotland was tied 0–0 until late in the game, when substitute

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Cove ...

scored a goal and led his team to a 3–0 victory.UEFA History – Marek
''UEFA.com'' Retrieved 17 September 2018. The club also competed in the 1980 Intertoto Cup against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

(2–3, 1–4) – a team that won the UEFA Cup just a year later; B 93 Copenhagen (2–0, 2–3), and

Austria Salzburg SV Austria Salzburg is an Austrian professional football club, based in the city of Salzburg. The club was formed in 2005 by some supporters of the original SV (Austria) Salzburg after it was renamed FC Red Bull Salzburg by its new owners, who ...

(4–2, 2–2) to finish second in the group. The following season Marek once again competed in the Intertoto Cup-against

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. History In its early years the club had a decent local squad that played in the Südk ...

(0–1, 0–2),

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

(1–2, 0–3), and Willem II (0–1, 1–4) and finished last in its group. Stadium and fans: The team is known for its loyal supporters and the local stadium " Bonchuk Stadium" is infamous for being a difficult place for visiting teams. " Bonchuk Stadium" holds 16,050 people. The town of

was known as the "city on wheels", because thousands of loyal Marek fans would follow the team at away games to remote parts of

. Famous players: Among the most famous players of Marek are Kiril Milanov, Dimitar Isakov, Nikolay "Shultz" Krastev, Sasho Pargov, Ivan and Ventzi Petrov, Stoyan Stoyanov (a goalkeeper), Asen Tomov, and Dimitre Dimitrov-Miki. The

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

associated with the successes of Marek is Yanko Dinkov.

Recent history (2001–2010)

In 1983, Marek was relegated to

and then the third division of Bulgarian football. After over a decade of playing in the lower divisions, in 2001 Marek returned triumphantly to the

. As a participant in the Intertoto Cup, Marek tied 1–1 the German Bundesliga club

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

in 2003, but lost away from home the second leg, 0–2, and was eliminated from the tournament. The team finished 7th at the conclusion of the 2003–04 season, 9th at the end of the 2004–05 season, 11th after the 2005–06 season, and 12th at the end of the 2006–07 football season of the Bulgarian premier division,

(out of 16 teams). In 2006–07, Marek secured its place in the Bulgarian top division for the next season with a 1–0 home win over the powerhouse

. During the 2007–08 season, Marek was plagued by injuries of key players, several coaching changes and a not-so-well covered conflict between the senior players of the club: Angelo and Yanek Kyuchukov and the club president, Yordan Andreev. Further, the team sold their best and most talented player,

Enyo Krastovchev Enyo Krastovchev ( bg, Еньо Кръстовчев; born 7 February 1984) is a retired Bulgarian footballer who played as a striker. Career Marek Dupnitsa Krastovchev was raised in Marek Dupnitsa's youth teams. He made his official debut ...

, to Levski Sofia. As a result, the team finished in last place, 16th, with only 5 wins in 30 games, in the

, and was relegated to

for the 2008–09 season. Before the start of the 2008–09 season in

, the team held its pre-season training in France in an attempt by the club President Andreev to compile a team made up exclusively of young foreign players. The team even had a Portuguese coach for the first few games of the season. The regular season started disastrously for Marek. After several consecutive losses, the Portuguese coach was fired, and all but one of the foreign players left the club. Marek barely survived the 2008–09 season in

, finishing 14th out of 16 teams, winning only 7 out of 30 regular season games, scoring 29 and conceding 48 goals. During the 2009–10 season in

, the team was coached by Velin Kostadinov and player-manager Angelo Kyuchukov. The team found more consistency and finished comfortably in 10th place with 41 points.

A New Beginning (2010–)

The Bulgarian Football Federation denied Marek the license to compete in B Group for the 2010–11 season due to the team's financial debts. Thus, the club had to start over and compete at the lowest level of Bulgarian football, in the regional amateur league, Zona Rila. The team's new coach became

Ivaylo Pargov Ivaylo Sashov Pargov ( Bulgarian: Ивайло Сашов Паргов, born 21 August 1974) is a Bulgarian former footballer who played as a forward. He has been the manager of Marek Dupnitsa since September 2013. Career Pargov's first club wa ...

, a former player for the team. During the 2010–11 season, Marek dominated the local amateur division and after winning all but one of its regular season games, thus earning a playoff game against

Belasitsa Petrich OFC Belasitsa ( bg, ОФК Беласица Петрич) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Petrich, currently playing in the Second League. The team was founded in 1923. They play at the Stadion Tsar Samuil in Petrich, which has a ...

for the right to play in the third division, V AFG. The play-off game was tied after 90 minutes, 1–1, and Belasitsa went on to win on penalties. Despite the lost playoff and the prospect of spending a second season in the regional amateur league, a number of third division teams declined participation prior to the upcoming 2011–12 season due to financial insolvency. Thus, Marek was administratively promoted to the third division, for the 2011–12 season. During the 2012–13 season, Marek finished first in the Southwest V AFG and earned automatic promotion to the Bulgarian Second Division, B PFG Marek surprised its numerous fans with a fantastic 2013–14 season in the Second Division, dominating its opponents and securing promotion to A PFG with four games to go, this returning to the top level after a six-year absence. The return to A PFG proved difficult as Marek finished the 2014–2015 season in 11th place out of 12 teams, and the team was relegated. Marek won only six games the entire season, vs. Haskovo three times, at Cherno More and vs. Slavia Sofia. After the conclusion of the 2014–2015 season, Marek did not receive a professional license from the Bulgarian Football Federation due to unpaid financial obligations to government institutions, and the team was relegated to the amateur divisions. Subsequently, Marek was fined by the Bulgarian Football Federation due to "suspicion" of match fixing and the club ownership decided to dissolve the existing club and register a new FC Marek 1915, which started competing from the lowest level of football in Bulgaria, 4th regional division, during the 2015–2016 season. Following an undefeated season, and navigating through two rounds of playoffs, Marek earned a promotion to the 3rd division for season 2016–17. After several years in the third division, Marek returned to the Second League for season 2021–2022. Despite a brave effort, Marek did not manage to secure safety in the second level, suffering immediate relegation. The team had a chance to stay in the second tier up until the penultimate round.

Marek in Europe

UEFA cup

Cup Winners' Cup

Intertoto Cup

League positions

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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 ...

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A Group 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 ...

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3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

Current squad

''As of 2 November 2021''

Notable players

The following players included were either playing for their respective national teams or left good impression among the fans. Note: ''For a list of other Marek Dupnitsa players, see :PFC Marek Dupnitsa players.''

References

{{Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria) Marek Marek 1915 establishments in Bulgaria