FC Montana
FC Montana (Bulgarian: ФК Монтана) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Montana, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football.
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| Full name | Football Club Montana | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Славата (The Glory) | ||
| Founded | 20 March 1921 as SC Hristo Mihaylov | ||
| Ground | Stadion Ogosta | ||
| Capacity | 8,000 | ||
| Owner | Montana Municipality | ||
| Chairman | Rumen Panayotov | ||
| Head coach | Nikola Spasov | ||
| League | First League | ||
| 2019–20 | Second League, 3rd (promoted) | ||
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Montana plays its home matches at the Ogosta Stadium, which has a capacity of 8,000 spectators. The club's traditional colours are blue, white and red. After a prolonged period of absence, they were propelled back into professional football in the mid 90s with the help of some experienced and talented footballers, including the ex-captain of English Aston Villa and Bulgarian international Stiliyan Petrov.
FC Montana was founded in 1921 when the few amateur sports clubs and organizations in the city decided to merge into one club. The new club was named SC Hristo Mihaylov after the Bulgarian communist party activist Hristo Popmihaylov, who was born in the town. Since then, Montana have spent a total of nine seasons in the Bulgarian First League and 40 seasons in the lower Second League. They have also reached the Bulgarian Cup final once, in 2016.
Honours
First League:
Second League:
Bulgarian League Cup:
History
PFC Montana was founded on 1921 under the name SC Hristo Mihaylov, after a union of a few sports clubs from the city. From 1957 to 1990 the sports club wears the name of FC Septemvriyska Slava. Since 1990, the club uses the name PFC Montana.
Until 2009, Montana has played three seasons in the top flight, between 1994 and 1997. Montana joined the division in 1994, and the same year the club finished thirteenth out of sixteen clubs in its first season. The same season, Montana reached the semi-final of the Bulgarian Cup. Montana's best season in the A PFG was in the 1995-96 season - 9th place. In this campaign, the team led by Anatoli Tonov, Todor Pramatarov, Rumen Panayotov and Angel Chervenkov, the club reached the final of the currently folded Bulgarian League Cup tournament, but was knocked out by Neftochimic Burgas. In the 1996-97 season, Montana finished in the 15th place and was relegated to the second division. A part of the squad was then the talented seventeen-year-old Stiliyan Petrov, which was sold the same year to CSKA Sofia. Otherwise according to the fans, Boyan Gergov is Montana's most prominent figure, being the club's top goalscorer with a total of 157 goals in 364 matches. The following 1997-1998 season, after a financial collapse, Montana was relegated to the Bulgarian V AFG. However, after a 7-year stay in the V AFG, the club finished in the 2nd position in the North-West V AFG, and Montana returned in the West B PFG for the upcoming 2004-05 season.
In 2008, the chairman of PFC Montana appointed Ivan Marinov as a manager of the club. The following year, with the financial support of the mayor of the city Zlatko Zhivkov, the club finished the season in the West B PFG in the first place and therefore Montana gained promotion to the top flight for the upcoming season. The same year, Montana's striker Ventsislav Ivanov became the top goalscorer of the division with the impressive 19 goals.
In season 2009-10 in the then "A" football group, Montana finished 11th and remained in the league for 4 consecutive seasons, before being relegated to the lower division on 15th place. They remained in the "B" group for 2 seasons before finishing 1st and being promoted to the first division. They started the new 2015-16 season with a surprising 0-0 draw as a guest to a strong sided Beroe, then defeating with the impressive 6-0 Botev Plovdiv, with Ivan Minchev scoring a hattrick. The good matches continued as Montana finished 1-1 with the champion Ludogorets Razgrad. The same season Montana would go all the way to the Bulgarian Cup final, before losing 1-0 to CSKA Sofia in a match with above 33,300 attendance. However, Montana would later finish 9th in the "A" group and successfully defend its place in the relegation playoffs for the next season in the renamed "First Legue". The season didn't go well for Montana as they finished 13th and lost the relegation playoff against Septemvri Sofia in a close 2-1 match. In season 2018-2019 Montana finished second and once again played in a promotion playoff against Vitosha Bistritsa, in which lost with 3-0.
However in the next season, after 3 years of awaiting for promotion, Montana finished third in the 2019-20 season in the second tier, qualifying for playoffs. On July 17th, Montana defeated Dunav Ruse 4-1, and was finally promoted to the First League after the long wait.
Recent seasons
| Season | Lvl | Place | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Bulgarian Cup | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | A Group (I) | 10 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 30 | 46 | 32 | Second round | ||
| 2011–12 | A Group | 11 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 29 | 51 | 31 | Second round | ||
| 2012–13 | A Group | 15 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 27 | 57 | 16 | Second round | ||
| 2013–14 | B Group (II) | 4 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 36 | 24 | 44 | Second round | ||
| 2014–15 | B Group | 1 | 25 | 3 | 2 | 72 | 16 | 78 | Second round | ||
| 2015–16 | A Group (I) | 9 | 4 | 9 | 19 | 23 | 42 | 21 | Runners-up | ||
| 2016–17 | First League (I) | 13 | 5 | 4 | 26 | 29 | 66 | 19 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2017–18 | Second League (II) | 4 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 50 | 20 | 56 | Round of 16 | ||
| 2018–19 | Second League | 2 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 49 | 25 | 63 | Round of 32 | ||
| 2019–20 | Second League | 3 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 40 | 17 | 42 | Round of 32 | ||
| Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation. | |||||||||||
League positions
Stadium
FC Montana's home ground is the Ogosta Stadium in Montana. The stadium was built in 1965, but the ground underwent a total reconstruction after 41 years, in 2006. It has approximately 8,000 seats, spread in two opposite stands, with pitch dimensions of 105×68 metres. The record attendance at the stadium is 11,500 spectators and it was achieved at a game between CSKA Sofia and Montana. The stadium's name is derived from the river Ogosta, which passes through the town.
Players
Current squad
As of 24 July 2020
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2020.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Former managers
References
- "Джамбазки пак поема "Монтана". sportal.bg. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
- "Джамбазки се завърна в "Монтана". Бившият треньор на тима стана главен скаут на клуба". blitz.bg. 2014-02-04. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
- "Монтана" смени Митов с Ферарио Спасов". sportal.bg. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
- "Михаил Мадански последва Феро и си тръгна от "Монтана". gong.bg. 2015-11-10. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
- "Емил Велев се раздели с "Монтана" по взаимно съгласие". dnevnik.bg. 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
- "Монтана остана без треньор" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 3 October 2016.
- "Джамбазки с втора оставка за 10 дни" (in Bulgarian). blitz.bg. 17 April 2017.
- "Отбор от Първа лига обяви новия старши треньор - Орела кацна на "Огоста"" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 20 April 2017.
- "Монтана остана без треньор" (in Bulgarian). blitz.bg. 11 June 2017.
- "Явор Вълчинов е новият треньор на Монтана" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 14 June 2017.
- "Монтана остана без треньор" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 27 August 2017.
- "Монтана и Феро пак се събраха" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 28 August 2017.
