FC Sportist ( bg, ФК Спортист) 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 ...
n
football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
based in
Svoge
Svoge ( bg, Своге, ) is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located in the gorge of the Iskar River, at the place where the mountains Mala planina, Golema planina and Ponor meet, 40 km north of the capital Sofia. Svoge is ...
, which currently competes in the
Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football, following promotion from the Third League.
The club was founded in 1924 and their home ground is the
Stadion Chavdar Tsvetkov
Chavdar Tsvetkov Stadium ( bg, Стадион „Чавдар Цветков“) is a multi-use stadium in Svoge, Bulgaria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Sportist Svoge
FC Sportist ( bg, ФК С ...
, which has a
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
of 3,500 spectators. The club's biggest success is promotion to the
Bulgarian top division in 2009, although they were relegated at the end of the
2009-10 season. The club plays home games in blue and white kits.
History
Early Years
Sportist Svoge was formed in 1924, as a sports club characterized by a blue and white check jersey. In 1949, after reorganization, the club was renamed to DSNM Svoge. In the years between 1952 and 1954, the sports club competes with the name of Minyor Svoge, and in the period between 1954 and 1957 carries the simple name FC Svoge. The club finally became known as Sportist Svoge in 1957, the name, which is known to date.
Road to the Elite
Until 2007, Sportist participated in either the
third
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 ...
or the fourth amateurs divisions, but in 2006-07 the team were promoted for the first time to
second division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
. In their first season in professional football, the club finished in 6th place. In 2008 manager Aleksandar Aleksandrov laid the foundations of a good team. The 2008-09 season in the domestic league was successful for the team, which finished 2nd, and managed to participate in the play-off for promotion in 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 ...
. On June 17, 2009, Sportist surprisingly won the play-off against
Naftex Burgas ''For the new club claimed as the successor, see PFC Neftochimic Burgas.''
PFC Naftex Burgas ({{Lang-bg, ПФК Нафтекс) is a former football club from Burgas, Bulgaria.
History
The club was created in 1962 by a group of workers, laying t ...
with a result of 6:4 in the penalty shoot-out and qualified for the
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 ...
for the first time in the club's history.
A Group Season
On August 10, 2009, in the first match of the club in the
top division of Bulgarian football, Sportist finished with a 1:1 draw against
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 ...
. The first goal for the club in the A PFG scored
Georgi Semerdzhiev. The first win came in the 5th round against
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 ...
,
with 2:1 at the
Chavdar Cvetkov Stadium
Chavdar Tsvetkov Stadium ( bg, Стадион „Чавдар Цветков“) is a multi-use stadium in Svoge, Bulgaria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Sportist Svoge
FC Sportist ( bg, ФК ...
. Sportist won just five games in their first
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 ...
campaign. From these five wins, four came from home games. They managed to beat
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
, and
OFC Sliven 2000
FC Sliven (ФК Сливен) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Sliven, currently playing in the Third League, the third level of Bulgarian football. The club's home ground is the Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium in Sliven with a capacity of 1 ...
. Away results weren't as impressive. Svoge only managed to beat
Minyor Pernik
FC Minyor ( bg, ФК Миньор) is a football club in Pernik, Bulgaria, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1919 as SC Krakra, the club's home ground since 1954 has been Stadion Minyor. The c ...
and draw against Botev Plovdiv. These results earned the team 19 points, which was 13 points behind Sliven, who avoided relegation. Sportist were relegated at the end of the season to the
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 ...
.
Financial Difficulties and Relegations
The following two seasons were successful for the club, as they managed to earn second place twice in a row, qualifying for the promotion playoffs, but Sportist were unlucky on both occasions, losing to
Chernomorets Pomorie
Pomorie ( bg, Поморие) is a Bulgarian municipal ( bg, общински, pronounced obshtinski) association football club based in Pomorie, that competes in the A RFG Burgas, the fourth tier of Bulgarian football. The club plays its home ...
and
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 ...
respectively. For the
2013-14 B Group season, Sportist Svoge did not obtain a license due to financial reasons and was excluded from the second league. The team was relegated to the fourth tier of Bulgarian football, but managed to promote to the third tier the following season, 2013-14. After 2 seasons in the third division, Sportist was again relegated to the fourth tier. The team remained there until 2018 when they won promotion to the third league once more for the 2018-19 season. Svoge finished in 15th place following its return to the third division.
For the 2019-20 season, Sportist finished in third place in the third tier, but earned promotion to the second level, following the disqualification of
Pomorie
Pomorie ( bg, Поморие ), historically known as Anchialos (Greek: Αγχίαλος), is a town and seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria, located on a narrow rocky peninsula in Burgas Bay on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.
It is si ...
from the second tier.
League positions
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from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2007 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2009 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "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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from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "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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from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2012 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "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 ...
"
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 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:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2015 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2018 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:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2020 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " Third League"
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:5
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:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2023 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "2nd
A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI).
Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to:
Mathematics
* 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'')
* Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...
"
Honours
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 ...
:
* 15th place in the "A" group: 2009/10
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 ...
:
* 1/8 finalist 1950 and 2007/08
Stadium
The club's home ground is the
Chavdar Tsvetkov Stadium
Chavdar Tsvetkov Stadium ( bg, Стадион „Чавдар Цветков“) is a multi-use stadium in Svoge, Bulgaria. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of FC Sportist Svoge. The stad ...
. It was opened in 1967.
Until 2007, the stadium was called Iskar. The same year, the stadium underwent serious renovation and its capacity was increased to 1,600 spectators and was renamed after the legendary striker of the club - Chavdar Tsvetkov. The stadium also has a parking lot with 120 parking spaces, including 10 for disabled people.
In 2009, the stadium's capacity was expanded to 3,500 spectators. The record attendance at the stadium is 3,250 spectators and was achieved at the game between Sportist and
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 ...
on October 25, 2009.
Current squad
''As of 28 February 2022''
''For recent transfers, see
Transfers summer 2022.''
Managerial history
This is a list of the last six Sportist Svoge managers:
''As of 19 April 2010''
References
External links
Official WebsiteUnofficial Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sportist Svoge
Football clubs in Bulgaria
Association football clubs established in 1924
1924 establishments in Bulgaria