PFC Septemvri Sofia

Septemvri (Bulgarian: Септември) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, who compete in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Its home ground is the Septemvri Stadium, but due to its poor condition the team plays its home matches at the Bistritsa Stadium and 57^th Public School's FIFA-certified football field.

PFC Septemvri Sofia

Full name	Professional Football Club Septemvri
Nickname(s)	The Blue-Reds The Septembrians
Founded	5 November 1944 (1944-11-05)
Ground	Stadion Dragalevtsi, Sofia
Capacity	1800
Chairman	Rumen Chandarov
Manager	Hristo Arangelov
League	Second League
2019–20	Second League, 2nd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

The club's biggest success to date is the winning of the Bulgarian Cup in 1960 and finishing 5th in the Bulgarian first division during the same season. Septemvri is known for its strong youth academy, which over the years has developed numerous players for Bulgaria's elite clubs and the national team.

History

Early ages

On November 5, 1944 the clubs Sportclub Sofia, Sokol and Vazrazhdane unite under the name of FC Septemvri Sofia. On March 26, 1945, the additional clubs of Botev (Konyovitsa), Ustrem (Zaharna fabrika), Pobeda (Krasna Polyana), and Svoboda (Tri kladentsi) merge into the club. In May 1948, the club, then playing in the 1st Sofia Division, is briefly merged with second-division CDV/Chavdar (Sofia) and the unified club wins the 1948 Bulgarian Championship by overcoming Levski Sofia in the final.[1]

FC Septemvri's roots prior to merging with CSKA Sofia (see lower right corner)

Septemvri starts the 1948–49 season in the newly formed A Republican Football Group, but only six months later is separated from CDV (Chavdar) and removed from the division, with the current title given to CDNV, Chavdar's new name, which would ultimately become CSKA Sofia. At the end of the 1948–49 season, Septemvri is allowed to take part in a two-match play-off for entering first division against Marek Dupnitsa. After both matches end with a 2:0 win for each team, a third game is played in which Septemvri falls 1:0 and remains in second division.

From 1949 to 1969, Septemvri exists as an independent club, during which period it reaches the height of its success. In 1959, the club finishes first in the B PFG and is promoted to first division for the 1959–60 season. That same season, Septemvri finishes in 5th place and claims the Bulgarian Cup after a dramatic 4:3 win over Lokomotiv Sofia in extra time. The club's stay among the elite lasts only two years, as in 1961 it is relegated to the B PFG, where it remains until 1968.

In 1969, during another period of football reform in Bulgaria, Septemvri was again merged into CSKA Sofia. This unification continued for almost 20 years, until 1988, when the club became independent again and joined the V AFG. In 1993, Septemvri won a promotion to the B PFG. In 1998, the club became the champion of the B PFG and joined the elite for the first time since 1961. It finished in 16th place and was relegated again.

2000s

During the 2000–01 season, the club finished in 13th place in the B PFG and was relegated to the V AFG, where it remained until 2008. In March 2008, the club was heavily penalized after a scandalous match against FC Bansko, when coach Rumen Stoyanov ordered his players to leave the field, a serious offence according to Bulgarian Football Union regulations.[2] With an executive decision, the BFU removed Septemvri from the V AFG and placed it in the A OFG, the Sofia Regional Football Group.[3] Despite this setback, the club attained 1st place in the division in the 2008–09 season and qualified for a play-off match for entering the V AFG against FC Novi Iskar.[4] After an emotional 0–0 in regular time, penalty kicks were in order to determine the team going forward. Septemvri lost the penalty shootout 5–4.[5]

Chandarov era (2015–present)

Merge with DIT academy and Pirin Razlog (2015–2017)

In 2015, Rumen Chandarov, owner of DIT Sport Academy, one of the best Bulgarian football academies in the last few years, announced that he is the new owner of Septemvri, with the goal of getting the young players to compete in the First Professional Football League of Bulgaria. The team merged with Conegliano German and started the 2015–16 season from V Group. Nikolay Mitov was appointed as a manager of the team. In the end of the 2015 it was decided that the team will give a bigger chance to their U19 players, so most of the players who joined in the season start left and only seven players left, but 18 players joined from the U19 team which was third in the Elite Youth Group by the end of 2015. Some media announced that Chandarov will stop financing the team also due to the fact that he started financing Botev Plovdiv, but Chandarov said that this is not true and the only reason to do this is to make youth players enter the men's football.[6]

On 24 June 2016, Pirin Razlog merged into PFC Septemvri Sofia. From the new season 2016–17 Septemvri will compete in the new Second League, the second division of Bulgarian football.[7] Septemvri returned and in the Bulgarian Cup and draw the Bulgarian First League team Beroe Stara Zagora. They won the match on 21 September 2016 with 2–0, goals scored by Georgi Stoichkov and Petar Tonchev.[8] The team finished their season in Second League in 2nd place two points behind the winners of the group — Etar and qualified for the Promotion playoffs against elite member Montana.[9] The team won the playoff on 3 June 2017 with 2–1 final result and returned to the top level after 19 years.[10]

Return to First Professional League (2017–present)

On 8 June 2017, Dimitar Vasev was announced as the manager who would lead the team in their return to the First League with Hristo Arangelov, the caretaker manager after Nikolay Mitov, as his first assistant.[11] The team announced that they would play to Vasil Levski National Stadium until their Septemvri Stadium is built.[12] Later, the club owner Rumen Chandarov revealed that the team would play at Bistritsa Stadium after the stadium gained a First League licence, since he didn't want Septemvri to play in front of empty seats.[13][14] Septemvri's first match was against Dunav Ruse on 17 July and the team lost the match 0–2.[15] Week later Septemvri won their second match against Pirin with Boris Galchev scoring the winning goal.[16] After four defeats in five games, Vasev was released and Nikolay Mitov returned in charge after his release from Levski Sofia.[17] Septemvri finished the half season in 10th place with 23 points after a 2–1 win over Cherno More.[18]

On 20 February 2018, Septemvri's executive director Georgi Markov died aged 46, three years after he suffered a heart attack.[19]

Septemvri secured their place in First League on 15 April 2018 after a 0–2 win over Dunav Ruse and qualified for European play-off quarter-finals.

Septemvri could not avoid relegation in the next season, however, as they were relegated after losing in the relegation playoffs to FC Arda Kardzhali , 0-1. This ended their two year stay in the Bulgarian elite.[20]

Back in the second tier after two seasons in the elite, Septemvri managed to maintain their good form and remained largely within the top three in the Second League, a strong candidate for promotion. The 2019-20 season was eventually not finished, due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Bulgaria. The last matches were played in early March. At that time, Septemvri was second in the league, three points behind CSKA 1948. This means that Septemvri will face the 13th placed team from the First League in a promotion playoff.

Seasons

Season by season

As of 29 May 2019[21]

Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup 1944-45 1ª Sofia 5th Did not play 1945-46 1ª Sofia 7th Did not play 1946-47 1ª Sofia 4th Did not play 1947-48 1ª Sofia 1st Pre-limited 1948 A Group 4th Did not play 1949 B Group 2nd Did not play 1950 B Group 7th Did not play - 1952 A RFG 1st Did not play

Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup 1953 B Group 11th Did not play 1954 B Group 3rd Did not play 1955 B Group 2nd Did not play 1956 B Group 1st Did not play 1957 B Group 3rd Did not play 1958 B Group 4th Did not play 1958–59 B Group 1st Did not play 1959–60 A Group 5th Winner 1960–61 A Group 14th Quarter-finals

Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup 1961–62 B Group 3rd Did not play 1962–63 B Group 2nd Round of 16 1963–64 B Group 3rd Round of 16 1964–65 B Group 2nd Quarter-finals 1965–66 B Group 2nd Did not play 1966–67 B Group 11th Did not play 1967–68 B Group 10th Did not play 1968–69 — 1969–88 merge with CSKA

Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup 1988–89 V Group 17th Did not play 1989–90 A RFG 1st Did not play 1990–91 A RFG 1st Did not play 1991–92 V Group 4th Quarter-finals 1992–93 V Group 1st Pre-limited 1993–94 B Group 4th Pre-limited 1994–95 B Group 4th Did not play 1995–96 B Group 10th Quarter-finals 1996–97 B Group 12th Pre-limited 1997–98 B Group 1st Round of 16 1998–99 A Group 16th Quarter-finals

Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup 1999–00 B Group 9th Round of 16 2000–01 B Group 13th Pre-limited 2001–02 V Group 3rd Did not play 2002–03 V Group 2nd Did not play 2003–04 B Group 13th Round of 16 2004–05 V Group 10th Did not play 2005–06 V Group 10th Did not play 2006–07 V Group 8th Did not play 2007–08 V Group 20th Did not play 2008–09 A RFG 1st Did not play 2009–10 A RFG 1st Did not play

Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup 2010–11 V Group 8th Did not play 2011–12 V Group 13th Did not play 2012–13 V Group 14th Did not play 2013–14 V Group 16th Did not play 2014–15 A RFG 4th Did not play 2015–16 V Group 8th Did not play 2016–17 Second 2nd 2nd Round 2017–18 First 10th 2nd Round 2018–19 First 12th Semi-finals 2019–20 Second 2nd Round of 16

• Seasons in A Group(now First League): 6
• Seasons in B Group (now Second League): 26
• Seasons in V Group: 14
• Seasons in A Regional Group: 6
• Seasons in I Sofia Division: 4

Last 5 seasons

Season	League	Place	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Bulgarian Cup
2013–14	V AFG	16	2	0	28	9	93	6	not qualified
2014–15	A RFG (IV)	4	13	1	5	64	21	40	not qualified
2015–16	V AFG (III)	8	13	3	16	67	62	42	not qualified
2016–17	Second League (II)	2	17	8	5	52	26	59	Second Round
2017–18	First League (I)	10	12	5	15	32	48	41	Second Round
2018–19	First League	12	12	6	19	41	62	42	Semi-finals
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

League positions

Honours

Domestic

• First League:
  • 5th place (1): 1959–60

• Second League:
  • Winners (3): 1955−56, 1958−59, 1997−98

• Third League:
  • Winners (1): 1992−93

• A Regional Group:
  • Winners (5): 1952, 1989–90, 1990–91, 2008–09, 2009–10

• Bulgarian Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1959–60

Crest, Shirt and Kit manufacturer

Crest history

• 
  1950–1952
• 
  1957–1959
• 
  1959–1969
• 
  1988–2015
• 
  2015–present

Kits and manufacturers

From 1944 to 1990 team main color is red with white or blue. From 1990 to 2010 team main color is purple, but in the period between 2001 and 2007 they used white with red colors. From 2011 team first kit is dark red.

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt partner
1990–1995	Adidas	Canel
1995–1997	Puma
1997–1999		Bingbul
1999–2001	Reusch
2001–2010	Unknown	None
2010–2011	Mitre
2011–2013	Givova
2013–2015	Sportika
2015–2017	Joma
2017–	Uhlsport	Efbet

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 Nikolay Bankov 4 DF  BUL Ivan Arsov 5 MF  BUL Georgi Sarmov (captain) 6 DF  BUL Asen Georgiev 7 MF  BUL Tsvetomir Vachev 8 DF  BUL Aleksandar Todorov 9 FW  BUL Vladimir Nikolov 10 MF  BUL Asen Chandarov 11 DF  BUL Asparuh Smilkov 14 MF  MKD Mario Ilievski

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  BUL Angel Granchov 16 MF  BUL Kristiyan Peshov 17 MF  BUL Dimitar Kostadinov 19 FW  BUL Kristian Taskov 21 GK  BUL Pavel Zdravkov 22 FW  BUL Kiril Kirov 23 DF  BUL Vasil Popov 24 MF  BUL Stefan Gavrilov 25 DF  BUL Ivan Stoyanov 26 MF  BUL Martin Filipov

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.

No. Pos. Nation Player

No. Pos. Nation Player

Foreign players

Up to one non-EU national can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Second League. 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)

Non-EU Nationals

Notable players

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

Bulgaria Manol Manolov Gavril Stoyanov Dimitar Milanov Dimitar Largov Dimitar Yakimov Aleksandar Vasilev Atanas Gerov Asparuh Nikodimov Pavel Panov Dimitar Yordanov Bozhidar Iskrenov Plamen Nikolov Krasimir Koev Marius Urukov Vladimir Yonkov Radoslav Vasilev Boris Galchev

Europe Darko Glišić Suad Sahiti

Africa Simba Marumo Alassane Diaby

Appearance records

Most appearances for the club in First League

As of 1 August 2019

Rank Name Career Appearances 1 Boris Galchev 2017– 65 2 Chris Gadi 2017–2019 49 3 Yanko Georgiev 2017–2019 48 4 Georgi Stoichkov 2016– 46 5 Ishmael Baidoo 2017–2019 45 6 Ivan Tilev 2016– 44 7 Ivan Stoyanov 2017– 39 8 Fabiano Alves 2017–2019 38 9 Asen Chandarov 2017– 37 10 Vasil Dobrev 2017– 33

Most goals for the club in First League

As of 1 August 2019

Rank Name Career Goals 1 Boris Galchev 2017– 14 2 Chris Gadi 2017–2019 13 3 Martin Toshev 2017–2018 11 4 Dimitar Yakimov 1958–1960 10 5 Christopher Mandiangu 2018–2019 6 6 Ishmael Baidoo 2017–2019 5 7 Vladimir Yonkov 2003 4 – Radoslav Vasilev 2016–2017 4 – Asen Chandarov 2016– 4

Club officials

Board of directors

Position	Name	Nationality
President	Rumen Chandarov
Executive Director	Vacant
Sports Director	Kristiyan Dobrev
Administrator	Irina Gorolomova
Housekeeper	Georgi Aleksandrov
Director of Youth Academy	Vacant

Current technical body

Position	Name	Nationality
Head Coach	Hristo Arangelov
Assistant Coach	Stefan Goshev
Goalkeeper Coach	Hristo Nikolov
Physical Coach	Georgi Petrov
Physical Coach	Yasen Ekimov
Physiotherapist	Lyubomir
Physiotherapist	Mircho Kraynov
U19 Coach	Dimitar Stoilov
U17 Coach	Hristian Voinov
U15 Coach	Kiril Kirilov

Manager history

Dates Name Honours 1944–1946 Dimitar Dimitrov 1946 Milos Strujka 1947–1948 Hristo Nelkov 1948–1949 Anton Kuzmanov 1951–1953 Ivan Radoev 1953–1957 Atanas Dinev 1957–1959 Lozan Kotsev 1959–1961 Trendafil Stankov 99991 Bulgarian Cup 1961–1964 Sergy Yotsov 1964–1969 Stoyan Petrov 1969–1988 merged with CSKA Sofia 1988–1990 Alyosha Dimitrov 1990–1992 Angel Rangelov 1992–1993 Pavel Panov 1993–1994 Sergey Todorov 1994–1995 Stefan Grozdanov

Dates Name Honours 1995 Yordan Yordanov 1995–2000 Pavel Panov (2) 2000–2003 Bisser Hazday 2003–2005 Rumen Traykov 2006–2007 Rumen Stoyanov 2008 Ognyan Abadzhiev 2008–2009 Yordan Yordanov 2009–2010 Mihail Mihailov 2010–2013 Tsvetan Atanasov 2013–2015 Mihail Mihailov (2) 2015–2016 Nikolay Mitov 2016 Hristo Arangelov 2016–2017 Nikolay Mitov (2) 2017 Hristo Arangelov (2) 2017 Dimitar Vasev 2017–2018 Nikolay Mitov (3) 2018–2019 Hristo Arangelov (3)

References

1. "Дали да признаем титлите и медалите на АС-23, Шипка и Чавдар за успехи и на ЦСКА?". (in Bulgarian) Sportal.bg. 23 March 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
2. "Треньорът на Септември извади отбора в Банско, футболистите потрошиха съблекалнята". (in Bulgarian) Sport1.bg. 16 March 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
3. 2007-2008 Bulgarian League Standings (All Divisions) The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
4. 2008-2009 Bulgarian A OFG Sofia Standings (in Bulgarian) Bulgarian-Football.com Retrieved 22 March 2010.
5. 2008-2009 Bulgarian A OFG Sofia Play-off Results (in Bulgarian) Bulgarian-Football.com Retrieved 22 March 2010.
6. "СЕПТЕМВРИ ИЗЛЕЗНА В ПОЧИВКА, РАЗДЕЛИ СЕ С ЧАСТ ОТ ФУТБОЛИСТИТЕ СИ". Archived from the original on 2016-02-23. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
7. "Пирин (Разлог) стана Септември (София)". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
8. "Ники Митов изхвърли Берое". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
9. "СЕПТЕМВРИ ЩЕ ТЪРСИ МЯСТО В ЕЛИТА В БАРАЖ СРЕЩУ МОНТАНА". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
10. "Шедьовър на Галчев прати Септември в елита (видео+галерия)". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
11. ДИМИТЪР ВАСЕВ ЩЕ ВОДИ СЕПТЕМВРИ В ПЪРВА ПРОФЕСИОНАЛНА ЛИГА
12. "Шеф на Септември: Нямаме интерес към Алвеша (ВИДЕО) - Футбол". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
13. Blitz.bg/Sport. "Румен Чандъров: Взех Септември, защото е люпилня на млади таланти". Blitz.bg/sport. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
14. "Септември реши къде ще домакинства в Първа лига". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
15. ""Септември" се завърна в елита със загуба от "Дунав"". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
16. Септември удари Пирин в Благоевград, Галчев герой
17. Новини. "Николай Митов се завърна начело на Септември". fcseptemvri.com. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
18. Новини. "Два гола на Мартин Тошев донесоха победа за Септември в последният мач за годината". fcseptemvri.com. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
19. "Трагедия! Почина Георги Марков". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
20. "Септември мина през Русе по пътя към Европа (видео)". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
21. "Корените на ФК Септември" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2018.

External links

• Official website (in Bulgarian)
• Fans website (in Bulgarian)
• Septemvri at bgclubs.eu
• Septemvri at UEFA.com
• DIT Academy Official website