OFC Vihren Sandanski

OFC Vihren (Bulgarian: Вихрен Сандански) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Sandanski, currently playing in the South-West Third League. Sandanski's home ground is the Sandanski Stadium in Sandanski with a capacity of 6,000. Vihren Sandanski's team colours are green and white.

Vihren
Full nameOFC Vihren Sandanski
Nickname(s)The Gladiators
FoundedMay 24, 1925 (1925-05-24)
GroundSandanski Stadium,
Sandanski
Capacity6,000
ManagerZdravko Lazarov
LeagueSouth-West Third League
2018–19South-West Third League, 3rd

Vihren was founded in 1925, changing its name several times during its early existence. Up until the early 2000s, Vihren played mostly in either the second or third tiers of Bulgarian football. Season 2004-05 is arguably the most important in the club's history, as the team managed to promote to the A PFG, or first tier of Bulgarian football, for the first time. Vihren managed to play four consecutive seasons in the elite, before suffering relegation after the 2008-09 season. Since then, the Gladiators have played mostly in the third regional tier.

Equipment

Currently the team's home kit is green and the away kit is white. Various combinations of green and white have been used through the years, but green remains the basic colour of the team.

History

The club was founded on 24 May 1925. It has carried the names Ustrem, Gotse Delchev, Yane Sandanski and Cherveno zname throughout its history.

Until the 2004/05 season, the team participated in either the second or the third Bulgarian division, but gained promotion to the Bulgarian A PFG for the 2005/06 season. Before their first year of playing in A PFG, Vihren's owner decided to bring players from other country. His first signing was the ex-FC Porto player Jose Furtado. He was from the Portuguese side G.D. Tourizense for free. Brazilian player Serginio Dias, and Portuguese players Mauro Alexandre and Nuno Almeida were just a few players who signed for FC Vihren after Furtado. The team coach was named Petar Zhekov. Vihren finished season 2005-06 on 10th place in A PFG with 30 points. In season 2007-08, FC Vihren's owner Konstantin Dinev decided to bring Portuguese coach Rui Dias. The club signed eight Portuguese and two Brazilian players. But three months later, Rui Dias was discharged for poor results. At the end of the season, the team finished in 10th place. Season 2008/09 started excellent with a 1-0 win against Bulgarian Vice-champion Levski Sofia. In the 4th round, the club defeated Lokomotiv Sofia. In January 2008, Vihren signed notable Greek players Christos Maladenis and Dimitrios Zografakis. In the end of the season the team finished in 14th place and were relegated to B PFG.

League positions
Regional Amateur Football Groups (Bulgaria)

Honours

Bulgarian A PFG:

  • 9th place: 2005–06 and 2006–07

Bulgarian Cup:

  • quarter finalist Cup of the Soviet Army: 1985/86

Current squad

As of 1 February 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  BUL Kostadin Kotev
2 MF  BUL Bozhidar Yankov
3 DF  BUL Valeri Georgiev (captain)
4 DF  BUL Valentin Udev
5 DF  BUL Dimitar Kalchev
6 DF  BUL Daniel Zlatkov
7 MF  BUL Kristiyan Nikolov
8 MF  BUL Ivan Chalakov
9 FW  BUL Metodi Kostov
10 FW  SEN Lay Diatte
11 MF  BUL Atanas Chipilov
12 GK  BUL Ferdi Myumyunov
No. Pos. Nation Player
13 MF  BUL Atanas Dimitrov
14 MF  BUL Nikola Georgiev
15 FW  BUL Vladimir Kabranov
16 MF  BUL Dimitar Petkov
17 MF  BUL Vasil Bozhinov
19 MF  BUL Aleksandar Yakimov
21 DF  BUL Georgi Peychev
23 MF  BUL Milen Zlatkov
25 MF  BUL Yordan Harizanov
77 GK  BUL Dimitar Pangev
98 MF  BUL Ivan Lazarov

Managerial history

This is a list of the last ten Vihren managers:

Name Nat From To
Kostadin Todorov January 2000 January 2001
Vasil Metodiev January 2001 June 2002
Yordan Bozdanski December 2002 May 2004
Petar Zhekov June 2004 May 2005
Petar Zhekov June 2005 May 2006
Dionysis Beslikas June 2006 August 2006
Petar Zhekov August 2006 May 2007
Rui Dias June 2007 October 2007
Eduard Eranosyan October 2007 November 2007
Filip Filipov December 2007 incumbent

As of December 31, 2009.

Ḥristo Ristoskov== Notable players ==

  • Vasil Metodiev
  • Vladimir Karakachiev
  • Todor Mechev
  • Krasimir Bakalov
  • Valentin Stankov
  • Atanas Manushev
  • Plamen Mitsanski
  • Emil Mitsanski
  • Hristo Zlatinov

Former foreign players

Brazil

Cape Verde

Croatia

  • Bruno Šiklić
  • Vedren Muratović
  

France

Spain

  • Sergio Ocana


Greece

Hungary

Macedonia

  • Slavcho Georgievski
  

Nigeria

  • Shikoze Udoji
  • Emejuru Okwudili
  • Yusuf Bello

Portugal

  

Serbia

Uruguay

Argentina

Venezuela

gollark: In any case, I got mine shut down without warning for using data from EATW to prevent or at least reduce sickness, sooo...
gollark: Yes, which is reverse engineering.
gollark: Ah, well, thing is that most of them require reverse engineering of some sort, which TJ09 appears to hate for stupid reasons or other.
gollark: Tomorrow: TJ09 destroys all fansites.
gollark: That's a possibility, but an unlikely one, I guess.

References
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