PFC Litex Lovech

Litex (Bulgarian: Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club from the town of Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Football Club.

PFC Litex Lovech

Full name	Professional Football Club Litex Lovech
Nickname(s)	Оранжевите (The Oranges)
Short name	Litex
Founded	1921 (1921) as Hisarya Sports Club
Ground	Gradski Stadion, Lovech, Bulgaria
Capacity	8,100
Owner	Litex Commerce JSC
Chairman	Danail Ganchev
Manager	Zhivko Zhelev
League	Second League
2018–19	Second League, 5th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

The club's home ground is the Lovech Stadium, which has a capacity of 8,100 seats, electric floodlights and permission to stage European matches. As one of the successful Bulgarian clubs outside the capital Sofia, Litex have won the domestic championship four times and the Bulgarian Cup on four occasions. Together with CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia, Litex was also the third football club to represent the country regularly in the European Club Association.

However, the club was expelled during the 2015-16 season for administrative reasons to become CSKA Sofia which sparked controversy, being relegated to the Third League. The club has lost its status as a top club in Bulgaria since then, and has largely been a mediocre side in the second tier in the following years.

History

1921–1996

The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya and began playing league football two years later, in 1923. Over the years, the club has changed its name several times. From 1957 it was named Karpachev, before becoming Osam in 1979. Under that name the club played constantly in the B Group, the second division of Bulgarian football and was near to promotion several times. A notable player during this period was Plamen Linkov, who broke the club's appearance record, playing 575 matches and scoring 167 goals respectively.

In 1990, after Bulgaria's transition to market economy, privately owned company LEX became the main sponsor of the club. During the same year, the new owners changed the name of the football club to LEX. The 1993–94 B Group proved to be impressive for the club, as the team finished first in the second division and qualified for the A Group, a notable milestone never done before in the club's history. LEX's debut season in the A Group was also noteworthy, as the team ranked 11th at the end of the season. The next season however proved to be unsuccessful and the club, renamed Lovech, was relegated to the B Group.

Litex's former top goalscorer Dimcho Belyakov.

Grisha Ganchev ownership (1996–2016)

In June 1996, the club was purchased by Grisha Ganchev, petrol businessman and a citizen of Lovech, and it was renamed to Litex. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high-profile players. Ferario Spasov was named as the new Litex coach. He led the club back to the A Group at their first attempt. During the 1996–97 season Litex also reached the quarter-finals of the Bulgarian Cup and the final of the Bulgarian League Cup, which was lost after a penalty shoot-out.

Litex players with the Bulgarian Cup in 2009.

In 1997, Litex was promoted for the second time to the top division and immediately became Bulgarian champions, finishing the season 5 points ahead of the second-placed Levski Sofia, unprecedented before in the Bulgarian football history. The striker of the team Dimcho Belyakov also became top goalscorer with his 21 goals contributed during the season. In addition, midfielder Stoycho Stoilov received the Best Player of the League award. The club's first participation in the European club tournaments was also promising, with Litex eliminating Swedish club Halmstads BK after 4–3 on both ties and reaching the second qualifying round, where it was knocked out by the Russian powerhouse Spartak Moscow.

A year later Litex successfully defended their league title, losing only two league games during the course of the season. They became the first provincial club to win back-to-back league titles since the 1920s. During their campaign, Litex also inflicted the biggest defeat in CSKA Sofia's history, an 8-0 thrashing at the Lovech Stadium.

During the first decade of the 21st century, Litex won the Bulgarian Cup four times—in 2001 after defeating Velbazhd Kyustendil 1–0 in extra time, in 2004 against CSKA after a penalty shoot-out, in 2008 after a 1–0 win over Cherno More Varna,[1] and in 2009, after a 3–0 thrashing over Pirin Blagoevgrad.[2] In early August 2007, Litex signed a three-year sponsorship and advertising contract with Bulgarian mobile operator GLOBUL and started the 2007–08 season with the logo of the mobile service i-mode on the team's kits. In December 2007, Litex became the first Bulgarian club to have a branded mobile phone game, Litex Football. Before the start of the 2008–09 season, Litex lost the Bulgarian Supercup final with 0-1 from CSKA Sofia after a goal from Kiril Kotev in the 65th minute. A season later, Litex again failed to win the Bulgarian Supercup final, this time against domestic title holders Levski Sofia.

Litex with the A PFG title in 2010

In 2009–10, Litex became champions of Bulgaria for the third time in their history, finishing the season with 12 points advantage than the runners-up CSKA Sofia.[3] On 12 August 2010, Litex defeated Beroe 2–1 to finally secure the Bulgarian Supercup, the last possible remaining domestic trophy never won before by the club. In 2010–11 Litex retained their fourth league title, securing the championship after a 3–1 away win against Lokomotiv Sofia on 21 May 2011.[4]

Expulsion and new beginning as CSKA Sofia (2015–present)

In the summer of 2015, Grisha Ganchev stepped down from his position as an owner, only to reallocate his main investments to Bulgarian football club CSKA Sofia, which was struggling financially with unpaid debts during the time. As a result, his son Danail took over at Litex, with previous shareholder Bulgarian joint stock company Sport 96 remaining in the club as a subsidiary of Litex Commerce JSC.

On 16 December 2015, the Bulgarian Football Union expelled Litex Lovech from the A Group.[5] The decision was taken in response to an incident that occurred during Litex Lovech's 12 December tie with Levski Sofia, when chairman Stoycho Stoilov controversially pulled the squad off the field in protest of 2 players being sent off at a score of 1–0 for the Lovech club.[6] On 20 January 2016 the team was administratively relegated to the B Group for the upcoming 2016–17 season. Litex's players however were allowed to complete their participation in the Bulgarian Cup and could finish the 2015–16 season with the club's reserve squad, Litex Lovech II, playing in the B Group.

On 27 May 2016, the legal firm that represented PFC Chavdar Etropole - "PFC Chavdar EAD" was renamed to "PFC CSKA-1948 AD".[7] On 6 June 2016 the legal firm that represented PFC Litex Lovech—"PFC Litex-Lovech AD"—was renamed to "PFC CSKA-Sofia EAD",[8] with "PFC CSKA-1948 AD" being written in as its owner. That legal firm later applied to take part and was accepted into the reformed First League,[9] as PFC CSKA Sofia. The shift was made because the old legal firm that represented PFC CSKA Sofia - "PFC CSKA AD" did not gain a professional license, and later went bankrupted and ceased operations as of 9 September 2016. PFC Litex Lovech later started playing in the Third League, taking the place of FC Botev Lukovit.[10]

On 4 July 2016, former Litex player Zhivko Zhelev was appointed as a manager of a team, consisting mainly of academy players.[11] The renewed Litex team started the new season and managed to win its first official match. The squad also played in the 2016–17 Bulgarian Cup, eliminating First League outfits of Slavia Sofia and Cherno More on their way to the semifinals,[12] where Litex lost to reigning 5-time champions Ludogorets Razgrad on an aggregate score of 0–11. Litex also was promoted to the Second League, after winning the North-West Group of the Third League.

League positions

Recent league statistics

Season	League	Place	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Bulgarian Cup
2007–08	A Group	4	16	9	5	51	26	56	Winner
2008–09	A Group	4	17	7	6	53	26	58	Winner
2009–10	A Group	1	22	4	4	59	17	70	Third round
2010–11	A Group	1	23	6	1	56	13	75	Semifinals
2011–12	A Group	5	17	8	5	57	28	59	Semifinals
2012–13	A Group	5	15	5	10	56	24	50	Quarterfinals
2013–14	A Group	3	21	9	8	74	37	72	Quarterfinals
2014–15	A Group	4	16	6	10	49	36	54	Quarterfinals
2015–16	A Group	10	0 (8)	0 (9)	0 (3)	0 (29)	0 (19)	0 (33)	Semifinals
2016–17	Third League (III)	1	25	2	1	114	9	77	Semifinals
2017–18	Second League (II)	10	10	9	11	26	26	39	Quarterfinals
2018–19	Second League (II)	5	12	9	9	43	26	45	Round of 32
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

Stadium

Lovech Stadium

Litex Lovech's home ground is the Lovech Stadium, a football stadium in Lovech. Built in 1962, the ground underwent a total reconstruction in 1999 and was brought to a suitable standard to host international matches later that year. The stadium has a capacity of 8,000 seating places with pitch dimensions of 105 to 68 meters. The venue's record attendance of 12,500 was achieved during a domestic league match against Levski Sofia on 19 April 1998. The record attendance in the European club competitions was achieved against English club Aston Villa on 18 September 2008, when around 8,000 spectators supported the team.

In the summer of 2010, a massive reconstruction of the venue started. New side stands with roof covers were built and the media sectors were expanded in order to meet the UEFA guidelines for Champions League matches. On 12 July 2010, the stadium was awarded with a Category 3 ranking by UEFA. The reconstructions continued in the summer of 2011, when the main stand of the stadium was completed.

Honours

Domestic

First League:

• Winners (4): 1997–98, 1998–99, 2009–10, 2010–11
• Runners-up (1): 2001–02
• Third place (3): 2002–03, 2005–06, 2013–14

Second League:

• Winners (2): 1993–94, 1996–97

Third League:

• Winners (1): 2016–17

Bulgarian Cup:

• Winners (4): 2000–01, 2003–04, 2007–08, 2008–09
• Runners-up (3): 1998–99, 2002–03, 2006–07

Bulgarian Supercup:

• Winners (1): 2010
• Runners-up (5): 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011

Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League:

• Semi-finals (1): 2017

Bulgarian League Cup:

• Runners-up (1): 1997

European

UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League:

• Round of 32 (2): 2001–02, 2005–06

European record

Main article: PFC Litex Lovech in European football

Competition	S	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
UEFA Champions League	4	16	8	1	7	29	28	+ 1
UEFA Europa League	13	56	23	12	21	76	60	+ 16
Total	17	72	31	13	28	105	88	+ 17

Players

Current squad

As of 1 August 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 Stanislav Nistorov 3 DF  BUL Aleksandar Angelov 4 MF  BUL Adrian Girginov 5 MF  BUL Yoan Baurenski (on loan from CSKA Sofia) 7 FW  BUL Radoslav Zhivkov 8 FW  BUL Petar Hristov (on loan from Arda) 9 MF  BUL Boris Tyutyukov 10 MF  BUL Hristo Radkov (on loan from CSKA Sofia) 11 DF  BUL Galin Minkov 12 MF  BUL Dobromir Bonev

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  BUL Nikolay Yankov 15 DF  BUL Hristiyan Petrov 16 DF  BUL Ivan Ivanov 17 MF  BUL Petar Petrov 19 MF  BUL Andrey Yordanov (on loan from CSKA Sofia) 22 DF  BUL Plamen Nikolov (captain) 23 MF  BUL Ivan Mitrev (on loan from CSKA Sofia) 24 GK  BUL Iliya Shalamanov (on loan from CSKA Sofia) 34 MF  BUL Oleg Dimitrov 77 DF  BUL Martin Sandov

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2020.

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, or held any club record. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.

Bulgaria Georgi Denev Kiril Despodov Petar Hubchev Zoran Janković Rosen Kirilov Radostin Kishishev Vitomir Vutov Plamen Linkov Stefan Kolev Dimitar Karadaliev Dimcho Belyakov Stoyan Stavrev Atanas Bornosuzov Hristo Yanev Nikolay Dimitrov Angel Lyaskov Kristiyan Malinov Stanislav Manolev Georgi Milanov Plamen Nikolov Tsvetomir Panov Ivaylo Petkov Ivelin Popov Strahil Popov Tiago Silva Simeon Slavchev Stoycho Stoilov Aleksandar Tsvetkov Svetoslav Todorov Mihail Venkov Hristo Yovov Stefan Yurukov Zlatomir Zagorcic Petar Zanev Zdravko Zdravkov Zhivko Zhelev

Europe Alban Bushi Altin Haxhi Armando Vajushi Jurgen Gjasula Džemal Berberović Jean-Philippe Caillet Wilfried Niflore Alexandre Barthe Robert Popov Bogdan Pătraşcu Florin Prunea Laurențiu Reghecampf Eugen Trică Igor Bogdanović Nebojša Jelenković Bjørn Maars Johnsen Milivoje Novakovič

South America Sandrinho Tom Doka Madureira Wilmar Jordán Danilo Moreno Asprilla Alejandro Cichero

Africa Mourad Hdiouad

Note: For a complete list of Litex Lovech players, see Category:PFC Litex Lovech players.

Managerial history

Further information: List of PFC Litex Lovech managers

This is a list of the recent Litex Lovech managers:

Name	From	To	Honours
Stoycho Mladenov	June 2004	Nov 2004
Itzhak Shum	15 November 2004	May 2005
Ljupko Petrović	1 July 2005	12 June 2007	1 Bulgarian Cup
Ferario Spasov	June 2007	Nov 2007
Miodrag Ješić	Nov 2007	May 2008	1 Bulgarian Cup
Stanimir Stoilov	1 June 2008	28 August 2009	1 Bulgarian Cup
Angel Chervenkov	1 September 2009	5 August 2010	1 Bulgarian A PFG
Petko Petkov (interim)	5 August 2010	1 September 2010	1 Bulgarian Supercup
Lyuboslav Penev	2 September 2010	24 October 2011	1 Bulgarian A PFG
Atanas Dzhambazki	24 October 2011	31 December 2011
Hristo Stoichkov	5 January 2012	5 June 2013
Zlatomir Zagorčić	1 July 2013	31 March 2014
Miodrag Ješić	31 March 2014	25 May 2014
Krasimir Balakov	26 May 2014	10 July 2015
Ljupko Petrović (interim)	10 July 2015	5 August 2015
Laurențiu Reghecampf	6 August 2015[13]	3 December 2015
Ljupko Petrović	3 December 2015	3 January 2016
Lyuboslav Penev	22 January 2016	2 June 2016
Zhivko Zhelev	4 July 2016	Present

Notable stats

Plamen Linkov, the club's top scorer

Most appearances for the club Rank Name Apps 1 Plamen Linkov 575 2 Nebojša Jelenković 307 3 Vitomir Vutov 245 4 Zhivko Zhelev 225 5 Nikolay Dimitrov 210

Most goals for the club

Rank	Name	Goals
1	Plamen Linkov	167
2	Stefan Yurukov	84
3	Svetoslav Todorov	70
4	Hristo Yovov	54
5	Dimcho Belyakov	48

First professional league top scorer with the club

Year	Name	Goals
1999	Dimcho Belyakov	21
2000	Svetoslav Todorov	19
2006	Milivoje Novakovič	16
2010	Wilfried Niflore	19
2014	Wilmar Jordán	20

Notes: Last update 16 May 2010

All-time top scorers in A PFG

• Updated 13 December 2014[14]

Rank	Name	Goals scores	Games played	Assists	Goals per game	Years played
1	Svetoslav Todorov	56	127	22	0.44	1997–01, 2009–12
2	Stefan Yurukov	55	113	11	0.49	1996–97, 1998–02, 2003–04
3	Hristo Yovov	45	97	20	0.46	2000–04
4	Wilfried Niflore	39	72	11	0.54	2008–11
5	Dimcho Beliakov	35	67	11	0.52	1994–97, 1998–99, 2004
6	Zhivko Zhelev	31	196	7	0.16	1996–07
7	Wilmar Jordán	29	54	7	0.54	2013–15
8	Zoran Janković	29	64	17	0.45	2000–02, 2004, 2007–08
9	Georgi Milanov	28	106	20	0.26	2009–13
10	Krum Bibishkov	27	60	6	0.45	2007–09

References

1. "Litex claim third Bulgarian Cup". UEFA.com. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
2. "Stoilov guides Litex to cup glory". UEFA.com. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
3. "Litex can party like it is 1999". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
4. "Litex retain Bulgarian crown". UEFA.com. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
5. "Litex thrown out of Bulgarian league". BBC. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
6. "Bulgarian champions may quit league". BBC. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
7. Бизнесмен от Смолян е с 38 100 акции в новия ЦСКА
8. http://www.novsport.com/news1967141_1003.html
9. "First Division Clubs in Europe" (PDF). uefa.com. UEFA. p. 21. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
10. http://www.gol.bg/litex/2016-07-06/vartelezhka-liteks-shte-rita-vav-v-grupa-s-litsenza-na-botev-lukovit
11. Литекс сформира нов отбор, назначи треньор
12. ""Литекс" отстрани "Славия" и стигна 1/8-финалите за Купата на България" (in Bulgarian). dnevnik. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
13. "Soccer-New Litex coach Reghecampf eyes domestic double". Reuters. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
14. Ваюши и Десподов от Литекс влязоха в историята Football24.bg, 13 August 2013

External links

Official websites

• Official website
• UEFA Profile

Supporters website

• Ultras website

Information and statistics

• Litex at worldfootball.net