PFC 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 capacity of 9,500. The club last played in the first tier of Bulgarian football during the 2008-09 season.

History

Founding and early years

Belasitsa Petrich was founded in 1923 as FC Manush Voivoda. From 1957 the club was called DFS Belasitsa after the union of the local football clubs "Stroitel", "Cherveno zname", "Torpedo" and "Spartak", i.e. all the teams from Petrich.

First promotion to the top tier

In 1980, Belasitsa promoted to the A PFG for the first time ever. In its debut season in the Bulgarian elite in season 1980-81, the team finished in 13th place. In that same season, Belasitsa recorded its best appearance at the Bulgarian Cup, reaching the semifinals. They eliminated then holders of the cup, Slavia Sofia along the way. In the semifinal played on 22 April 1981, in Karlovo, Belasitsa lost to eventual winners Botev Plovdiv, by a score of 6-0.

During these years, Belasitsa earned themselves a reputation for playing very strong football for a team not based in a major city. The team relied almost entirely on youth academy players for the first team. They played in the Bulgarian elite up until season 1983-84, when they were relegated after playoffs, ending a four-year stint in the A Group.

Second promotion and golden era

Belasitsa returned to the A Group in 1999, ending a 15-year absence from the top tier of Bulgarian football. However, the team largely struggled and was eventually relegated back after just one season in the top level. In 2001, 2 years after their relegation from the top flight, Belasitsa returned to the top level through administrative decisions made by its owners. That year Belasitsa united with Hebar, who finished 9th in the 2000-01 season, which resulted in Belasitsa taking Hebar’s place in the A Group, thus entering the elite once again. The team however, finished 13th during the 2001-02 season and was relegated back to the B Group.

A year later, Belasitsa returned to the top level, and began its best ever campaign in the Bulgarian elite, managing to stay 6 consecutive seasons, up until 2009. One of the reasons for such strong results during these years was the fact that the team had brought a lot of talented Brazilian players, including Marcelo Vava, Dianu, Marquinos, and Eduardo Du Bala. In 2005, the team hired Macedonian coach Stevica Kuzmanovski, under whose guidance Belasitsa achieved its best ever result in the Bulgarian league, finishing in 6th place. Next season 2006-07, Belasitsa also performed strongly, finishing in 8th place.

However, after that season, a general decline started, as the team finished in 13th place during the 2007-08 season, saving themselves from relegation in the last round. Unfortunately for Belasitsa, they finished last during the 2008-09 season, thus being relegated.

Financial problems and relegations to lower leagues

After they were relegated to the B Group in 2009, it was discovered that the team was in serious financial and administrative irregularities, and their future was very unclear. Belasitsa could not register enough players for the 2009–10 B Group, so they were disqualified before the season started. They were administratively relegated to the V AFG for that season. In 2012, further economic problems began and the team was in danger from ceasing its operations. However, the team is eventually saved, with the financial support coming from the Municipality of Petrich. Belasitsa was further relegated to the fourth tier of Bulgarian football, the regional amateur league for the 2012-13 season. They achieved first place and were promoted back to the V AFG.

In the next few seasons, the club managed to rebuild their first team and returned to their original stadium, after it had license issues. In seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22, the team had largely fought for promotion to the Second League, but Belasitsa narrowly missed the first spot by a few points on both occasions.

Belasitsa had a very strong 2021-22 season, finishing in first place in the Southwest Third League and clinching promotion to the Second League after several seasons in the lower leagues.

Honours

Bulgarian First League:
*6th place 2005–06

Bulgarian Cup:
*Semi-finals (1): 1981

Previous names

*1923 ''FC Manush Voivoda''
*1928 ''FC Lubomir Vesov''
*1931 ''FC Macedonia''
*1946 ''FC Ilinden''
*1948 ''FC Spartak''

League positions

ImageSize = width:1600 height:60
PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/2023
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1974
Colors =
id:bl1 value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5)
id:bl2 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.3)
id:rs value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.6)
id:rn value:rgb(0.9,0.1,0.1)

PlotData=
bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center
from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1976 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1977 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1978 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1979 till:01/07/1980 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1980 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1981 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/1981 till:01/07/1982 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1984 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 shift:(0,-4) text:22
from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1986 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1986 till:01/07/1987 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1989 shift:(0,-4) text:5
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:1
from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1991 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1996 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1998 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B "
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " A "
from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B "
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " A "
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2009 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: "Reg"
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: "Reg"
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2016 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2022 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " Third League"
from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " Second League"

Current squad

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

Statistics

Most league appearances for Belasitsa Petrich in A PFG

*1. Dimitar Karadaliev – 108
*2. Lozan Trenchev – 105
*3. Yordan Popov – 101
*4. Valeri Stoyanov – 93
*5. Aleksandar Vukov – 86

Season record goals for Belasitsa Petrich

*1. Kostadin Kabranov – 22
*2. Dimitar Karadaliev – 19
*3. Vavá – 18
*4. Georgi Bibishkov – 16
*4. Dimitar Dimitrov – 16
*5. Gabrijel Radojičić – 13
*5. Ivan Yanev – 13

Notable managers

References

{{Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

Association football clubs established in 1923
Belasitsa

1923 establishments in Bulgaria