Nikola Shterev - Starika Sports Complex ( bg, Спортен комплекс „Никола Щерев - Старика“, Sporten Kompleks Nikola Shterev - Starika) or simply Starika is a

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 ...

complex in

Komatevo Komatevo ( bg, Коматево) is a neighbourhood of the city of Plovdiv, southern Bulgaria. It has 6,500 inhabitants. Komatevo was a village up to 1969 when it was incorporated into Plovdiv together with Proslav. The neighbourhood is conne ...

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 ...

, Bulgaria. It serves as the training grounds of

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 ...

and as a home to its reserve team and youth academy. For nearly ten years, from late 2013 to April 2023, the first team used the venue for training sessions and official matches, while their stadium, the Hristo Botev Stadium, was being reconstructed.

Overview

The venue has a total of six fields, two of which have an

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

surface, the first one is standard size and the other is long. The surface of the remaining four terrains is made from grass. Three of them are standard size, the last one being long. A stand with a seating capacity of 1,998 spectators is situated next to one of the fields. The stand consists of two levels. The first one contains two built-in changing rooms, a gym, training rooms, referee rooms, a storage room, a doctor's office, a massage room and a press conferences room. The second level contains a fanshop and a cafeteria. The venue also consists of a hotel part. In July 2023, the venue's name was changed to Nikola Shterev - Starika Sports Complex, in honor of Botev's legend -

Nikola Shterev Nikola Shterev ( bg, Никола Щерев) (born 13 March 1903 – 27 December 1972) was a Bulgarian international football player and coach. On club level Shterev won one national championship with Botev Plovdiv in 1929. Career Shterev star ...

Renovations

2016

In order to meet the licensing criteria 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 ...

, the club bought four floodlight pylons, which were then situated around the official field.

Tenants

In 2017, the football complex was leased to

Maritsa Plovdiv Maritsa ( bg, Марица) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Plovdiv, that plays in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football league system. It was established in 1921, after the merger of the teams Vampir and T ...

, until their stadium was licensed for professional football matches. In 2023,

Krumovgrad Krumovgrad ( bg, Крумовград , tr, Koşukavak ) is a town in Kardzhali Province in the south of Bulgaria, located in the Eastern Rhodopes on the banks of the river Krumovitsa. The majority of its population is ethnic Turkish people, Tur ...

announced they will play their home games on the venue during the 2023-24 season, as their stadium didn't cover

Bulgarian First League 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 ...

standards.Шефът в „Крумовград“: Неманя Миланович остава, ще играем на „Колежа“, ще строим стадион!
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References

External links

{{Plovdiv Botev Plovdiv Sports venues in Plovdiv Football venues in Bulgaria