FC Vitosha Bistritsa

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FC Vitosha Bistritsa
Full nameFootball Club Vitosha Bistritsa
Nickname(s)"The Bistritsa Tigers"
Short nameVitosha
Founded1958; 66 years ago (1958)
GroundStadion Bistritsa
Capacity2,500
ManagerNikolay Hristozov
LeagueSouthwest Third League
2022–23Second League, 17th (relegated)
WebsiteClub website

FC Vitosha (Bulgarian: ФК Витоша) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Bistritsa, Sofia City Province, which competes in the Southwest Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. It is named after the Vitosha mountain range, where Bistritsa is located.

Vitosha was founded in 1958, however, the club spent the majority of its history playing in lower leagues. In 2017, Vitosha managed to promote to the First League for the first time ever. The club was relegated after the 2019-20 season and re-founded in 2021.

The club became notable for having Bulgaria's prime minister, Boyko Borisov, as a registered player of the squad in the lower divisions.[1][2][3] The increased popularity of the club due to Borisov's presence led to its coach and players being featured on the TV series BNT Taxi in 2011.[4]

History

1958–2007: Regional divisions

The club was founded in 1958 and played in the regional divisions until 2007 when it gained promotion to the third division. In the 1972–73 Bulgarian Cup they entered the preliminary round but eventually lost to Pirin Blagoevgrad with a 3-0 result.

2007–2016: Amateur division and B Group breakthrough

From 2007 to 2016 the team played regularly in the

B Group
for the first time in their history.

During the

Bansko with an aggregate score of 3-1 to advance to the Round of 16 of the Bulgarian Cup for the first time ever. Previously, their highest achievement had been reaching the Round of 32 in the 1972 Bulgarian Cup
.

Vitosha Stadium

2016–2020: From third tier to first tier, then dissolution

Vitosha finished the 2015–16 V Group in second place after CSKA Sofia, but due to the adoption of a new league structure for the Second League, they were promoted again.[6] In the meantime, the club started investing in a youth academy consisting of five youth teams for the 2016–17 season and reconstruction works on the club's stadium. On May 3, 2017, Vitosha presented an update of their current club crest.[7] A few days later, on May 8, 2017, they also signed a sponsorship agreement with Bulgarian gambling company Efbet for the upcoming two seasons.[8]

On June 2, 2017, Vitosha won the play-off relegation match against Neftochimic Burgas and achieved promotion to the top division for first time in their history.[9]

Despite their poor performance during the regular season of their maiden season in the top tier, where Vitosha finished last with the worst defense and attack, and gaining only one victory, Vitosha avoided relegation from the 2017–18 First League, winning the play-offs against Pirin Blagoevgrad and Lokomotiv Sofia. Vitosha improved their performance in the next season, avoiding relegation once more.

The

2019-20 season
was disastrous for Vitosha, however. The team finished in the last place in the regular season, with only one win. Since the number of matches in the second phase was reduced by half for the season, Vitosha was mathematically relegated even before the relegation phase started. This ended their three-year stay in the Bulgarian top tier.

On 28 September 2020, after several matches from the new season were completed, the first team was dissolved while keeping only the youth teams.[10]

2021–present: Re-founding and amateur leagues

On 25 May 2021 the team announced that they would join the Third League playing the most with youth academy players and Nikolay Hristozov as manager.[11] At the end of the 2021–22 season, Vitosha finished in second place in the Southwest Third League, but the team was promoted to the Second League after Tsarsko Selo, which was relegated from the First League, announced its dissolution, thus leaving an empty spot in the Second League. The Bulgarian Football Union gave Vitosha the place in the Second League, since they had accumulated the most points out of all second-placed teams from the regional third leagues.

During the 2022–23 season, while competing in the Second League, Vitosha also qualified for the Bulgarian Cup. Vitosha made a surprising performance by eliminating first tier side

Chernolomets Popovo in the first round. Vitosha set up a meeting with another First League team, Lokomotiv Sofia in the round of 16.[12]

Honours

Players

Current squad

As of 1 May 2023

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
4 DF Bulgaria BUL Ivo Harizanov
5 DF Bulgaria BUL Giulio Charlov
6 DF Bulgaria BUL Teodor Dimitrov
7 MF Bulgaria BUL Kristiyan Kochilov
8 MF Bulgaria BUL Kiril Yanakiev
10 MF Bulgaria BUL Georgi Amzin
11 DF Bulgaria BUL Steven Slavkov
12 GK Bulgaria BUL Tsvetelin Stavrev
16 DF Bulgaria BUL Martin Fotirov
18 MF Bulgaria BUL Stanislav Petrov
22 MF Bulgaria BUL Krasimir Panchev
23 FW Bulgaria BUL Emil Gargorov (captain)
No. Pos. Nation Player
24 DF Bulgaria BUL Kristiyan Dimitrov
25 GK Bulgaria BUL Kaloyan Petkov
27 DF Bulgaria BUL Slavi Paskalev
41 FW Bulgaria BUL Deyan Hristov
77 DF Bulgaria BUL Plamen Krumov
77 FW Bulgaria BUL Tsvetomir Vachev
80 MF Bulgaria BUL Martin Stankev
86 FW Bulgaria BUL Valeri Bojinov
88 MF Bulgaria BUL David Ganchev
99 FW Bulgaria BUL Hristiyan Dimitrov
- DF Bulgaria BUL Kristiyan Uzunov

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

Goalscoring and appearance records

As of 1 December 2019

Most appearances for the club in First League

Rank Name Career Appearances
1 Bulgaria Chetin Sadula 2013–2020 69
2 Bulgaria Rumen Gyonov 2014–2019 68
3 Bulgaria Lachezar Kotev 2016–2020 67
4 Bulgaria Todor Gochev 2017–2019 62
5 Bulgaria Georgi Amzin 2014– 60
– Bulgaria Stefan Hristov 2017–2019 60
7 Bulgaria Grigor Dolapchiev 2017–2019 56
8 Bulgaria Kristiyan Kochilov 2015–2020 55
– Bulgaria Ivaylo Lazarov 2016–2019 55
10 Bulgaria Petko Tsankov 2017–2019 54
As of 1 December 2019

Most goals for the club in First League

Rank Name Career Goals
1 Bulgaria Grigor Dolapchiev 2017–2019 11
2 Bulgaria Stefan Hristov 2017–2019 9
3 Bulgaria Emil Gargorov 2019– 7
4 Bulgaria Ivaylo Lazarov 2016–2019 6
5 Bulgaria Chetin Sadula 2013–2020 5
6 Bulgaria Daniel Peev 2017–2018 4
7 Bulgaria Daniel Kutev 2017–2020 3
8 Bulgaria Ivan Valchanov 2018–2019 2
– Bulgaria Iliya Dimitrov 2019–2020 2

Personnel

Kostadin Angelov who was head coach of the team between 2015 and 2018.

Manager history

Dates Name Honours
1959–2007 Unknown
2007–2014 Bulgaria Yasin Mishaui 99991 Amateur Cup title
2014 Bulgaria Nikolay Todorov
2014–2015 Bulgaria Borislav Georgiev
2015–2018 Bulgaria Kostadin Angelov
2018–2019 Bulgaria Rosen Kirilov
2019 Bulgaria Engibar Engibarov
2019–2020 Bulgaria Asen Bukarev
2020 Bulgaria Kostadin Angelov
2021– Bulgaria Nikolay Hristozov

Current technical body

Position Name Nationality
Head coach Nikolay Hristozov Bulgaria
Assistant coach Yordan Varbanov Bulgaria
Goalkeeper coach Valentin Galev Bulgaria

League stats

Seasons

2017–18 FC Vitosha Bistritsa season

2018–19 FC Vitosha Bistritsa season

2019–20 FC Vitosha Bistritsa season

League positions

Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria)Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria)Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria)First Professional Football LeagueSecond Professional Football League (Bulgaria)Bulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian V AFG

Past seasons

Season League Place W D L GF GA Pts Bulgarian Cup
2010–11
V Group
(III)		 3 27 4 7 70 24 85 not qualified
2011–12 V Group 6 19 4 13 53 36 61 not qualified
2012–13 V Group 2 22 5 3 52 10 71 not qualified
2013–14
 B Group (II) 11 7 7 12 22 24 28 Second round
2014–15 V Group (III) 4 18 6 6 57 22 60 not qualified
2015–16 V Group 2 23 5 4 72 16 74 not qualified
2016–17 Second League (II) 3 15 8 7 37 23 53 First round
2017–18
First League
(I)		 13 2 11 24 22 68 17 First round
2018–19
First League
 13 13 5 19 35 50 44 Second round
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

References

  1. ^ Boiko Borissov and Vitosha FC to face Nottingham United in a Friendly The Sofia Echo 2010-08-17. Retrieved on 2011-07-28.
  2. ^ Bulgaria's versatile PM eyes player of year award Reuters 2011-11-28. Retrieved on 2011-11-29.
  3. ^ Bulgarian PM named country's best footballer AFP 2011-12-5. Retrieved on 2011-12-6.
  4. ^ BNT Taxi (in Bulgarian) Archived 2012-05-25 at the Wayback Machine BNT 1 2011-12-9. Retrieved on 2011-12-9.
  5. ^ Bulgarian PM Wins Amateur Football Cup, Ministers Cheer Novinite.com 2012-5-30 Retrieved on 2012-08-13.
  6. ^ Ботев (Враца) и Витоша (Бистрица) се завръщат във Втора лига
  7. ^ Витоша Бистрица с нова емблема
  8. ^ Витоша (Бистрица) с нов генерален спонсор
  9. ^ "Сензация! "Бистришките тигри" изхвърлиха "шейховете" от Първа лига" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 2 June 2017.
  10. ^ ИЗВЪНРЕДНО: Закриха Витоша (Бистрица), напуска Втора лига
  11. ^ Витоша (Бистрица) се завръща на футболната карта
  12. ^ "Витоша (Бистрица) изхвърли Ботев (Враца) от турнира за Купата с дузпа в последната минута" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 19 November 2022.

External links

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