PFC 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 greatest achievements are the Bulgarian Cup final in 1957 and the third place in the Bulgarian Championship during the following season.

Spartak was once among the most prominent and consistent teams in the Bulgarian A Group. Between 1952 and 1988, Spartak only missed 5 seasons of top flight football. However, after 1989, a decline began in the club, and Spartak has not played in the A Group since the 2001–02 season.

History

Spartak Pleven was created in 1919, by a student from Pleven, Dragomir Nestorov. He along with a couple of friends founded the club under the name "Skobelov".

The year 1931 remains important for the club's history. This is because then the club changed its name to "Belite Orli". In 1941, the club was given their first ground by the Pleven municipality.

Things began to change in 1944, when the new government in Bulgaria began to interfere in sports as well. In 1946, it was decided that Belite Orli should be renamed to "Republikanec". However, the fans of the club were against the new name and in a meeting, it was decided to change the team's name to "Spartak Pleven", which it still carries today. In 1949, other football teams began to appear in the city, such as "Lokomotiv" and "General Vinarov". However, it was decided that all the teams should be united into one, strong team, so the name "Septemvri" was given to the new team. The team even managed to promote to the elite the same year. However, less than a year later, it was decided that Spartak Pleven would separate and act as a club on its own.

It was decided that there would be a qualifying tournament for the club's in Pleven to decide which team would participate on a professional level. Torpedo Pleven won that tournament and went to A PFG, while Spartak would start from the regional groups. However, the team quickly managed to promote back to professional football, gaining a place in the Bulgarian elite by 1951. Beginning in 1952, Spartak became a consistent member of the Bulgarian top tier. In 1958, Spartak achieved its greatest success, finishing third. Only two seasons later, however, Spartak was relegated, ending a nine year stay in the A Group.

It didn’t take long for Spartak to return to the top level. The team finished first in the 1961 B Group, thus promoting back after just one year in the second level. The next five seasons were spent in the A Group, although a 7th place finish was the most that Spartak could achieve. In 1966, the team was relegated again to the B Group. Spartak was again among the best teams in the second level, finishing first once more in 1967, thus returning back to A Group.

Beginning in the 1967-68 season, Spartak managed another nine year stay in the A Group. This period wasn’t however remembered for any significant results, as two nine-placed finishes in 1971 and 1975 were the best the team could achieve. Another relegation followed at the end of the 1976-77 season. This time it took two seasons for Spartak to return to the A Group.

The next five seasons were spent in the A Group. Although Spartak managed to produce some noteworthy results, the club was also involved in bribery schemes with other teams from the elite, which resulted in an administrative relegation in 1983. Spartak originally finished 5th. The team managed to recover quickly though, returning to the A Group after just one year. Spartak managed to remain in the top level for four more seasons, although it mostly placed towards the bottom of the table, eventually relegating after the 1987–88 A Group season.

The next eight years were spent outside the top level. Spartak was in serious danger of relegating to the third tier on some occasions, such as the 1989-90 season, when Spartak finished 12th. Spartak eventually began improving its performance in the upcoming years, eventually managing to earn promotion back to the A Group at the end of the 1995-96 season. Spartak only managed to stay two years in the top level, again dropping to the second level after the 1997–98 A Group. It took three years for Spartak to again regain its status in the top level. The 2001–02 A Group season ended in relegation, however.

To date, the 2001-02 season remains the last one for Spartak in the A Group. Since then, Spartak Pleven has been bouncing between the second and third tiers.

The record low came in 2009, when the club declared bankruptcy. This led to Spartak being reformed and started playing from the amateur leagues. In 2012, Spartak returned to the second level, but an immediate relegation followed. Another promotion to the B Group came in 2015, but again this was short-lived, with relegation coming in 2017.

At the end of the 2018-19 season, Spartak finished first in the North-West third league and managed to gain promotion to the second tier for the 2019-20 season. The team, however, experienced difficulties in the second tier, both financially and performance wise. Spartak largely remained in the relegation zone, struggling to survive. They were even deducted three points for not showing on a game. In May 2020, the Bulgarian Football Union decided to cancel the remainder of the season due to the coronavirus epidemic outbreak in Bulgaria. At the time, Spartak was in 16th place (second to last), which meant relegation to the third tier, after just one year in the second league.

After two seasons in the Third League, Spartak returned to the second level as champions of the 2021-22 Northwest Third League.

Colours

Spartak Pleven's colours are blue and white.

Honours

* First League:
** Third place: 1958
* Second League:
** Winners (5): 1960–61, 1966–67, 1977–78, 1983–84, 2000–01
* Third League:
** Winners (4): 2011–12, 2014–15, 2018–19, 2021–22
*Bulgarian Cup:
** Runners-up: 1957
* Cup of the Soviet Army
** Runners-up: 1987

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:01/07/1950 till:01/07/2023
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1951
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:01/07/1950 till:01/07/1951 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1950 till:01/07/1951 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group
from:01/07/1951 till:01/07/1952 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1952 till:01/07/1953 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/1953 till:01/07/1954 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1954 till:01/07/1955 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1955 till:01/07/1956 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1956 till:01/07/1957 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1957 till:01/07/1958 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1958 till:01/07/1959 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1960 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1951 till:01/07/1960 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1961 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1961 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1961 till:01/07/1962 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1963 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1963 till:01/07/1964 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1964 till:01/07/1965 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1965 till:01/07/1966 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/1961 till:01/07/1966 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1966 till:01/07/1967 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1966 till:01/07/1967 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1967 till:01/07/1968 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/1968 till:01/07/1969 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/1969 till:01/07/1970 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1971 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1971 till:01/07/1972 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/1972 till:01/07/1973 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1976 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/1967 till:01/07/1976 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1977 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1978 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1978 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1979 till:01/07/1980 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1981 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1981 till:01/07/1982 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1983 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 shift:(0,-4) text:9
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:14
from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1988 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1989 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1990 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1996 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1998 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/2001 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group"
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2009 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group"
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: "Regional"
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2012 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V"
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B"
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:1
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2015 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V"
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B"
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " 2nd"
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2019 color:red shift:(0,14) text: "3rd"
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " 2nd"
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2022 color:red shift:(0,14) text: "3rd"
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: " 2nd"

Players

'

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

Past seasons

European Record

Matches

Notable stats

References

*
*

External links

Official website

{{Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria)

Association football clubs established in 1919
Spartak Pleven

1919 establishments in Bulgaria