Grisha Ganchev ( bg, Гриша Ганчев) (born 10 December 1962) 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 ...

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

and oligarch who is the owner of a multitude of businesses in Bulgaria, such as the

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

distributing company

Petrol AD Petrol AD ( bg, Петрол АД) is a Bulgarian oil distribution company which maintains the largest network of filling stations in the country, consisting of more than 330 retail outlets, 80 petrol depots and three petrol port terminals. The c ...

which has 470

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gaso ...

s, 80 petrol depots and 3 petrol port terminals throughout the country, Litex Commerce AD company that has a focus on petrol products as well, Litex Motors AD and many others. He is currently one of the major shareholders of

n football club

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 ...

Biography

Ganchev attended sports high school "Asen Draganov" in

Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast f ...

, specializing in

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. He subsequently graduated from the UNWE, earning a degree in

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

and management. Ganchev also completed management studies in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

in 1990, making use of the

distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

option. He is the founder of the Litex Commerce AD company that specializes in various

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

products. Ganchev also owns the Litex Motors company, a subsidiary and a representative of the Chinese automobile manufacturer

Great Wall Motors Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. (GWM) is a Chinese privately owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Baoding, Hebei. Founded in 1984, it is currently the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in China, with 1.281 million sales in 2021. The co ...

. Ganchev has sponsored numerous sports, including

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 ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

sambo , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , oly ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

motor sport ''Motor Sport'' is a monthly motor racing magazine, founded in the United Kingdom in 1924 as the ''Brooklands Gazette''. The name was changed to ''Motor Sport'' for the August 1925 issue. The magazine covers motor sport in general, although from ...

s. Since April 2007, he has been a member of the

Bulgarian Olympic Committee The Bulgarian Olympic Committee ( bg, Български олимпийски комитет, ''Balgarski olimpiyski komitet''; abbreviated as БОК, BOC) is a non-profit organization serving as the National Olympic Committee of Bulgaria and a pa ...

and since February 2009 of the

Bulgarian Football Union The Bulgarian Football Union ( bg, Български футболен съюз, Bǎlgarski futbolen sǎyuz; BFS) is a football association based in Bulgaria and a member of UEFA. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian Parva Liga, and field ...

. A former

Litex Lovech Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...

owner since 1996, which he established as a major force in Bulgarian football, with the club winning four

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

titles, four

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 ...

s as well as a number of other honors, on June 24, 2015, after the Bulgarian club

faced financial issues, the entrepreneur bought the Sofia team, and in 2016 after a complicated procedure involving the renaming of PFC Litex-Lovech to CSKA-Sofia EAD formed a new company representing

, which later was recognized by UEFA as the successor of the previous Sofia-based club. Ganchev is married to Temenuzhka and they have a daughter and a son. He is a horse enthusiast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganchev, Grisha 1962 births Living people Bulgarian wrestlers Bulgarian businesspeople 21st-century Bulgarian businesspeople University of National and World Economy alumni People from Lovech