FC Montana

FC Montana ( bg, ФК Монтана) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Montana, which currently plays in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football league system.

Montana plays its home matches at the Ogosta Stadium, which has a capacity of 8,000 spectators. The club's traditional colours are blue, white and red. After a prolonged period of absence, they were propelled back into professional football in the mid 90s with the help of some experienced and talented footballers, including the ex-captain of English Aston Villa and Bulgarian international Stiliyan Petrov.

FC Montana was founded in 1921 when the few amateur sports clubs and organizations in the city decided to merge into one club. The new club was named SC Hristo Mihaylov after the Bulgarian communist party activist Hristo Popmihaylov, who was born in the town. Since then, Montana have spent a total of nine seasons in the Bulgarian First League and 43 seasons in the lower Second League. They have also reached the Bulgarian Cup final once, in 2016.

Honours

First League:
* 9th place (2): 1995-96, 2015-16
Second League:
* Winners (2): 2008-09, 2014-15
Bulgarian Cup:
* Runners-up (1): 2015-16
Bulgarian League Cup:
* Runners-up (1): 1996

History

Early years (1921–1957)

PFC Montana was founded on 1921 under the name SC Hristo Mihaylov, after a union of a few sports clubs from the city. Until 1946, the most popular team was Botev 22. After 1944, many reforms in the club started.
On 10 February 1946, Botev 22, along with Yunak and Spartak formed "Physical Culture Company YBS 45" (Yunak-Botev-Spartak 45).
On 20 March 1947 "YBC 45" was united with Workers Physical Culture Company "Avram Stoyanov", the turists branch "Pustrina" and the local horse-riding and moto-organisation, under the name of "Hristo Mihaylov".
During the autumn of 1949, a lot of changes occurred.
The city began to form voluntary sports organizations on a departmental basis, the most famous of which is Septemvri, which from 1953 played their first 3 seasons in the "B Group".
In 1957 they were united in the SFS Septemvriyska Slava.

Settle in the professional football (1958–1992)

From 1957 to 1990 the sports club wore the name of Septemvriyska Slava. Montana gained a promotion for the second time in "B Group" in 1962, after which they finished in 3rd position, which remained their best ranking for the 60s and 80s, in which they almost always finished in the middle of the table. Since 1990, the club uses the name PFC Montana 1921.

Becoming a Bulgarian top-team (1993–1998)

During season 1994-1995 the team reached the Bulgaria first division " A group" for the first time, where they finished in 13th place and remaining in the division for 3 consecutive years. Montana reached the semi-final of the Bulgarian Cup. Montana's best season in the A PFG was in the 1995–96 season - 9th place. In this campaign, the team was led by Anatoli Tonov, Todor Pramatarov, Rumen Panayotov and Angel Chervenkov. The club reached the final of the currently folded Bulgarian League Cup tournament, but was knocked out by Neftochimic Burgas. Stiliyan Petrov was a key player for the team and was spotted by CSKA Sofia and sold in 1996, aged 17 years old. He enjoyed a successful stay there and was eventually bought by Celtic FC in 1999. Montana had to get a percent of the transfer, but the money never went to the club's cash register. In the 1996–97 season, Montana finished in the 15th place and was relegated to the second division. They defeated the champions CSKA Sofia with 3–1 in the last match. Otherwise according to the fans, Boyan Gergov is Montana's most prominent figure, being the club's top goalscorer with a total of 157 goals in 364 matches.
The following 1997–1998 season, after a financial collapse, Montana was relegated to the Bulgarian V AFG.

Return to the top flight (2004-2011)

After a 7-year stay in the V AFG, the club finished in the 2nd position in the North-West V AFG, and Montana returned in the West B PFG for the 2004–05 season.
In 2008, the chairman of PFC Montana appointed Ivan Marinov as a manager of the club. The following year, with the financial support of the mayor of the city Zlatko Zhivkov, the club finished the season in the West B PFG in the first place and therefore Montana gained promotion to the top flight for the upcoming season. The same year, Montana's striker Ventsislav Ivanov became the top goalscorer of the division with the impressive 19 goals.

In season 2009–10 in the then "A" football group, Montana finished 11th and remained in the league for 4 consecutive seasons, before being relegated to the lower division on 15th place. They remained in the "B" group for 2 seasons before finishing 1st and being promoted to the first division.

First Bulgarian Cup Final, 100th anniversary (2015-)

Montana started the new 2015–16 season with a surprising 0–0 draw as a guest to a strong sided Beroe, then defeating with the impressive 6-0 Botev Plovdiv, with Ivan Minchev scoring a hattrick. The good matches continued as Montana finished 1–1 with the champion Ludogorets Razgrad. The same season Montana would go all the way to the Bulgarian Cup final, before losing 1–0 to CSKA Sofia in a match with above 33,300 attendance. However, Montana would later finish 9th in the "A" group and successfully defend its place in the relegation playoffs for the next season in the renamed "First Legue". The season didn't go well for Montana as they finished 13th and lost the relegation playoff against Septemvri Sofia in a close 2-1 match. In season 2018-2019 Montana finished second and once again played in a promotion playoff against FC Vitosha Bistritsa, in which lost with 3–0.

However, in the next season, after 3 years of awaiting for promotion, Montana finished third in the 2019-20 season in the second tier, qualifying for playoffs. On 17 July, Montana defeated Dunav Ruse 4–1, and was finally promoted to the First League after the long wait. The team started the new season in the first tier with a 3–3 draw against Arda Kardzhali, then drew 0–0 with FC Tsarsko Selo away, before finally getting a 1–0 triumph against Etar Veliko Tarnovo.

Past seasons

Recent seasons

League positions

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PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/07/1952 till:01/07/2023
Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1953
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:01/07/1952 till:01/07/1953 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1953 till:01/07/1954 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1954 till:01/07/1955 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1952 till:01/07/1955 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1955 till:01/07/1956 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/1956 till:01/07/1957 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/1957 till:01/07/1958 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/1958 till:01/07/1959 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1960 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1961 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1961 till:01/07/1962 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1955 till:01/07/1962 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1963 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1963 till:01/07/1964 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1964 till:01/07/1965 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1965 till:01/07/1966 shift:(0,-4) text:18
from:01/07/1966 till:01/07/1967 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/1967 till:01/07/1968 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1968 till:01/07/1969 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1969 till:01/07/1970 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1971 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1971 till:01/07/1972 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1972 till:01/07/1973 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1976 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1977 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1978 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1979 till:01/07/1980 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1981 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/1981 till:01/07/1982 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 shift:(0,-4) text:17
from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1986 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1986 till:01/07/1987 shift:(0,-4) text:17
from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1987 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1989 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1989 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1990 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1994 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1997 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 color:white shift:(0,14)
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/2005 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
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:10
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2009 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:10
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:15
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2013 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2015 color:white shift:(0,14)
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 color:green shift:(0,14)
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text: 4
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text: 2
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text: 3
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2020 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " 2nd League"
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " 1st"
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2023 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "2nd"

*10 seasons in A Group
*45 seasons in B Group

Stadium

FC Montana's home ground is the Ogosta Stadium in Montana. The stadium was built in 1965, but the ground underwent a total reconstruction after 41 years, in 2006. It has approximately 8,000 seats, spread in two opposite stands, with pitch dimensions of 105×68 metres. The record attendance at the stadium is 11,500 spectators and it was achieved at a game between CSKA Sofia and Montana. The stadium's name is derived from the river Ogosta, which passes through the town.

Supporters and rivalries

One of the club's ultras group is known as ''Ogosta Boys''.

Montana's rival is the neighbouring city club of Botev Vratsa, and both form the local "Northwestern Derby".

Players

Current squad

'

''For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2022.''

Out on loan

Foreign players

Up to five non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Bulgarian First League 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)
* Foudil Idriss
* Mehdi Ouamri
* Hadi Bentebbal

Non-EU Nationals

Club officials

Board of directors

Current technical body

Former managers

* Atanas Dzhambazki (2007)
* Rumen Stoyanov (July 2007–Sept 07)
* Stevica Kuzmanovski (July 2009–Dec 09)
* Atanas Dzhambazki (Jan 2010–June 11)
* Ivan Marinov
* Stefan Grozdanov (July 2011–Dec 11)
* Atanas Atanasov (Dec 2011–??)
* Atanas Dzhambazki (July 2012–??)
* Stoycho Stoev (Feb 2013–Apr 2013)
* Georgi Stankov
* Atanas Dzhambazki (June 2013–Dec 2013)
* Nikolay Mitov (Dec 2013–May 2014)
* Ferario Spasov (May 2014–Nov 2015)
* Emil Velev (Nov 2015–May 2016)
* Stevica Kuzmanovski (June 2016–Oct 2016)
* Atanas Dzhambazki (Oct 2016–Apr 2017)
* Atanas Atanasov (Apr 2017–Jun 2017)
* Yavor Valchinov (Jun 2017–Aug 2017)
* Ferario Spasov (Aug 2017–Mar 2019)
* Stefan Genov (Mar 2019–Apr 2019)
* Atanas Atanasov (Apr 2019–Jun 2019)
* Nikola Spasov (April 2020–November 2020)
* Atanas Atanasov (December 2020–May 2021)
* Svetlan Kondev (May 2021–December 2021)
* Antoni Zdravkov (December 2021–September 2022)

Biggest wins in А Group (Domestic First League)

* 6:0 Botev Plovdiv 25.07.2015
* 5:2 Dunav Ruse 26.10.1996 - Away
* 4:0 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 16.03.1996 - Away
* 4:0 Etar Veliko Tarnovo 06.05.1995
* 4:0 Litex Lovech 10.06.1995
* 4:0 Cherno More Varna 23.10.2010
* 4:1 Dunav Ruse 17.07.2020 – Away
* 4:2 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 15.04.2010 - Away
* 4:2 Botev Vratsa 10.09.2011 - Away
* 3:0 Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa 29.05.2017 - Away
* 3:0 Dunav Ruse 26.04.1997
* 3:0 Pirin Blagoevgrad 19.11.1994
* 3:0 Pirin Blagoevgrad 28.08.2010
* 3:0 Pirin Gotse Delchev 06.10.2012
* 3:1 CSKA Sofia 31.05.1997
* 3:1 Botev Plovdiv 18.09.2020
* 3:2 Cherno More Varna 10.05.2016
* 3:2 Litex Lovech 06.04.1996

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montana
Montana
Montana, Bulgaria
Association football clubs established in 1921
1921 establishments in Bulgaria