PFC Spartak Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Спартак Пловдив) 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 based 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 ...

, which currently plays in the third tier of Bulgarian football, the Third League. The club was established in 1947 and folded its senior team in 2016, before being 'refounded' in 2017. Spartak currently plays its home matches at the 3,000-seat

Todor Diev Stadium Todor Diev Stadium ( bg, Стадион „Тодор Диев“, "Ухото") is a football stadium in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, located in the south urban area of Kichuk Parizh. The stadium opened in 1926 as a multi-sport venue of the domestic s ...

in the Kichuk Parizh district of

. The stadium is named after the club's all-time greatest player

Todor Diev Todor Nedyalkov Diev ( bg, Тодор Недялков Диев) (28 January 1934 – 6 January 1995) was a Bulgarian footballer, part of the Bulgarian squad that won the bronze medals in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Career Diev began ...

. Established in 1947, following the communist takeover in Bulgaria, Spartak was first enrolled in the second tier in 1952, before achieving promotion to the

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 ...

a year later. In the following years, Spartak established itself as a force in the first tier. In 1958, Spartak won its first major trophy, 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 ...

, beating

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 ...

in the final. Spartak Plovdiv’s greatest achievement came in 1963, however, when the team surprisingly won the Bulgarian league. The following year, Spartak participated in the

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...

, where the team finished as runner-up. Following these achievements, Spartak was dissolved in 1967 to the surprise of many, when the club was merged into

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 ...

. The team was re-founded in 1982 as an independent club, starting from the third tier. In 1995, Spartak returned to the top level of Bulgarian football, 27 years after its last appearance in the A Group. Spartak survived only two seasons, however, and it was relegated in 1997. After that, the team suffered financial problems and has been playing in lower leagues mostly since then.

History

Spartak was founded on 15 November 1947, after being evolved from three earlier

clubs – Levski, Septemvri and Udarnik. The club name is a reference to the Roman slave hero

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising ...

. This reference also explains the club's nickname – The Gladiators ( bg, Гладиаторите). The first team colours of the club were chosen the same year, and soon Spartak was characterized by a blue, red and white check jersey. The 1950s and 1960s were Spartak's golden age, spending that time in 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 ...

. The club has been once champions of Bulgaria ( in 1963), coming second the previous year, and

winners (in 1958). The club participated in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

competition for the first time in 1963-64 against

FK Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani, or FK Partizani for short, is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's curren ...

(0:1, 3:1) and vs PSV (0:1, 0:0). The second continental participation was in

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

1966-67 vs

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

(1:1, 0:3). In 1964, Spartak reached the

final, losing to

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivița workshops as ''Asoc ...

after two legs – 1:1 at home and 0:2 away. In 1967 Spartak was merged with SSK Akademik and

into a new club – AFD Trakia. An independent Spartak did not re-emerge until 1982. The club spent the period from 1982 to 1994 in the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

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 ...

divisions. In the 1993–94 season Spartak finished 2nd in

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 ...

, and qualified again for the

, after 27 years of absence from top football. But two seasons later, the team relegated again to B PFG. The club merged in 1998 with Komatevo Sokol`94 and were renamed Spartak-S`94. This remained the club's official name till the 2001–02 season. Spartak dissolved its senior squad in 2016, due to financial problems. In 2017, the club was restored, starting from the fourth tier of football, Regional A OFG Plovdiv. In the same year, the club introduced an updated crest, displaying the helmet of

, after whom the club is named. In 2020, the club promoted to the Third League, but was relegated the next season. After one year, Spartak again reached the Third League.

League positions

ImageSize = width:1600 height:65 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/1951 till:01/07/2022 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1952 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:01/07/1951 till:01/07/1952 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1951 till:01/07/1952 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:01/07/1952 till:01/07/1953 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/1953 till:01/07/1954 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/1954 till:01/07/1955 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1955 till:01/07/1956 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1956 till:01/07/1957 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/1957 till:01/07/1958 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1958 till:01/07/1959 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1960 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1961 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/1961 till:01/07/1962 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1963 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/1963 till:01/07/1964 shift:(0,-4) text:4 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:9 from:01/07/1966 till:01/07/1967 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/1952 till:01/07/1967 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "

" from:01/07/1967 till:01/07/1982 color:black shift:(0,14) text: Dissolved from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 shift:(0,-4) text:7 from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1984 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1986 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/07/1986 till:01/07/1987 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1989 shift:(0,-4) text:18 from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1989 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "

" from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1990 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1992 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1994 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "

" from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:16 from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1996 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "

" from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "

" from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:9 from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:6 from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:5 from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/2005 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:6 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:4 from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:4 from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2011 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "

" from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:8 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:13 from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2016 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2018 color:black shift:(0,14) text: Dissolved from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 color:blue shift:(0,14) text: B Regional from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: " A Regional" from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:17 from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 color:red shift:(0,14) text: "

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 ...

" from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text: from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: " A Regional"

Honours

Domestic

First League: * Winners (1): 1962–63 * Runners-up (1): 1961–62

: * Winners (1):

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

* Runners-up (2):

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

European

: * Runners-up (1):

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

Players

European record

Kit manufacturers

References

External links

Official club website

{{BG V AFG Association football clubs established in 1947

Spartak Plovdiv PFC Spartak Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Спартак Пловдив) is a Bulgarian football club based in Plovdiv, which currently plays in the third tier of Bulgarian football, the Third League. The club was established in 1947 and folded its seni ...

1947 establishments in Bulgaria Association football clubs disestablished in 2016 2016 disestablishments in Germany