Etar ( bg, Етър) 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 sports football club based in

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

, that plays in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football. Etar is the official successor of Etar 1924, which was dissolved for financial reasons after the 2012–13 season. The current Etar was established after the former folded and quickly ascended from the amateur leagues, eventually promoting to the

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 ...

at the end of the 2016–17 season. The club's home ground has been

Ivaylo Stadium Stadion Ivaylo ( bg, Стадион „Ивайло“, en, 'Ivaylo Stadium' ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Etar Veliko Tarnovo. The stadium ...

since 2013. Etar plays in all-violet kits and their nickname is 'The Bolyars'.

History

Foundation and Amateur League (2013–2016)

The club was founded as OFC Etar Veliko Tarnovo in 2013 with the license of FC Botev Debelets. In their first season they finished in 5th position in

V Group V, or v, is the twenty-second and fifth-to-last letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''vee'' (pronounced ), plural ...

. In January 2016,

Boncho Genchev Boncho Genchev ( bg, Бончо Генчев; born 7 July 1964) is a Bulgarian retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and a current manager. He started in his home country in the lower leagues before moving to Lo ...

became the new manager of the team which was in 3rd place at the halfway point in the season, only two points behind the 1st place team. The selection included Lyubomir Genchev coming from

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 ...

team

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, Stefan Hristov from

Spartak Pleven OFK Spartak ( bg, ОФК Спартак) is a Bulgarian municipal association football club from the city of Pleven founded on 10 September 1919. It currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. The team's grea ...

and the leading goalscorer in the first part of 2015–16 season in

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 ...

Petar Dimitrov Petar Dimitrov ( bg, Петър Димитров; born 28 February 1982) is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a winger or forward. Dimitrov is an attacking right midfielder. Career Dimitrov played for a few clubs, including CSKA Sofia, Belasit ...

. The team eventually won all its matches, winning the league and being promoted to

Professional Football (2016–present)

On 9 June 2016 Etar were officially approved for the new 2nd division — Second League, with the club changing its abbreviation to "SFC Etar".

Ferario Spasov Ferario Spasov (Bulgarian: Ферарио Спасов; born 20 February 1962 in Dupnitsa) is a Bulgarian football coach. Managerial career He has been manager of Litex Lovech and CSKA Sofia. From 1 April 2016 he became the manager of Etar V ...

remains in his position as manager and with a good selection team made promotion to First League. Etar were promoted as champions of the 2016–17 Second League, sealing their title on the final day of the season with a 2–2 away draw against

Nesebar Nesebar (often transcribed as Nessebar and sometimes as Nesebur, bg, Несебър, pronounced ) is an ancient city and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centr ...

, coupled with

Septemvri Sofia Septemvri ( bg, Септември) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the First League, the first tier of Bulgarian football. Its home ground is the Septemvri Stadium, but due to it ...

's 2–0 away defeat to Oborishte. Etar's first season into the elite was difficult. The team finished 13th in the regular phase, with only four wins. This placed Etar as one of the candidates for relegation. In the relegation phase, Etar finished last in their group and had to play playoff/play out matches in order to remain in the elite. In the first round, Etar beat

Pirin Blagoevgrad Futbolen klub Pirin ( bg, Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. Th ...

3-1 aggregate and advanced to the second round. There, the violets faced

Dunav Ruse FC Dunav ( bg, Дунав, officially named ''"Дунав от Русе"'') is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Ruse, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. Part o ...

. Two strong matches resulted in a 4-1 aggregate win, and Etar secured their status as a member of the top tier. On 4 January 2018

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov ( bg, Красимир Генчев Балъков, ; born 29 March 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who last served as the head coach of Bulgarian club CSKA 1948. A former attacking ...

was announced as the new manager in the club with

Stanislav Genchev Stanislav Genchev ( bg, Станислав Генчев; born 20 March 1981) is a Bulgarian former footballer and now manager, who is currently the manager of Lokomotiv Sofia. Career SC Vaslui SC Vaslui signed Genchev as a free player, on 14 J ...

Iliyan Kiryakov Iliyan Ivanov Kiryakov ( bg, Илиян Иванов Киряков; born 4 August 1967) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a right or left back. During a professional career which spanned nearly 20 years, he played fo ...

and Kaloyan Chakarov as first team coaches. After 4 seasons in the First League, Etar was relegated to the Second League at the end of the

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

season.

League positions

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Nickname, shirt and colors

Their main nicknames are the Bolyars and the Violets, the latter in reference to the colour of their home kit, which is often mistaken for purple.

Honours

Domestic

First League: * Winners (1): 1990–91 Second League: * Winners (1): 2016–17 Third League: * Winners (1): 2015–16 * Runners–up (1): 2014–15

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 ...

: * Semifinals (4): 1959-60, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1992-93

Players

Current squad

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

Foreign players

Up to five non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the

Bulgarian First Professional 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 ...

however only three can be used in a match day. Those non-EU nationals with European ancestry can claim citizenship from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry he can claim Bulgarian citizenship after playing in Bulgaria for 5 years. EU Nationals EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) * Alejandro Goncalves Non-EU Nationals * Martín Morán * Javier Betegón

Etar II

Etar II ( bg, Етър II) is a

n football team based in

. It is the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

of Etar Veliko Tarnovo, and currently plays in Third League, the third level of Bulgarian football.

Current squad

Notable players

The footballers enlisted below have international caps for their respective countries or more than 100 caps for Etar. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries. ;Bulgaria *

Ivan Petkov Ivan Petkov ( bg, Иван Петков; born 22 January 1985) is a Bulgarian footballer who currently plays for Etar Veliko Tarnovo II as a striker. Petkov started his career at Zagorets Nova Zagora FC Zagorets (ФК Загорец) is a Bul ...

* Ivan Stoyanov *

Ventsislav Vasilev Ventsislav Vasilev ( bg, Венцислав Василев; born 8 July 1988) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who currently plays as a defender for Minyor Pernik. Career He started his professional career in his former club Minyor Pernik ...

* Georgi Sarmov * Hristo Ivanov * Georgi Pashov *

Daniel Mladenov Daniel Mladenov ( bg, Даниел Младенов; born 25 May 1987) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Etar Veliko Tarnovo. Career Youth career Mladenov started his career in his home town Kyustendil in the lo ...

* Ivaylo Dimitrov * Ivan Ivanov ;Europe * Artjom Artjunin ;Central America * Romeesh Ivey ;Africa * Alioune Badará * Alasana Manneh *

Gaëtan Missi Mezu Gaëtan Missi Mezu Kouakou (born 4 May 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for side Martigues. Born in France, he plays for the Gabon national team. Club career Missi Mezu was born in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. He began ...

Goalscoring and appearance records

*Players in bold are still playing for Etar.

Past seasons

*Seasons in '' First League'': 4 *Seasons in '' Second League: 2 *Seasons in ''

'' (now '' Third League''): 3

Managers

Club officials

Board of directors

Current technical body

References

External links

*
bgclubs.eu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etar Veliko Tarnovo * Association football clubs established in 2013 2013 establishments in Bulgaria Football clubs in Veliko Tarnovo Phoenix clubs (association football)