OFC Belasitsa Petrich
Full name | OFC Belasitsa Petrich | |||
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Nickname(s) | Komitite | |||
Founded | 1923 | |||
Ground | Stadion Tsar Samuil | |||
Capacity | 9,500 | |||
Chairman | Ivan Zlatinski | |||
Head coach | Petar Kolev | |||
League | Second League | |||
2022–23 | Second League, 12th | |||
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OFC Belasitsa (Bulgarian: ОФК Беласица Петрич) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Petrich, currently playing in the Second League. The team was founded in 1923. They play at the Stadion Tsar Samuil in Petrich, which has a capacity of 9,500. The club last played in the first tier of Bulgarian football during the 2008-09 season.
History
Founding and early years
Belasitsa Petrich was founded in 1923 as FC Manush Voivoda. From 1957 the club was called DFS Belasitsa after the union of the local football clubs "Stroitel", "Cherveno zname", "Torpedo" and "Spartak", i.e. all the teams from Petrich.
First promotion to the top tier
In 1980, Belasitsa promoted to the
During these years, Belasitsa earned themselves a reputation for playing very strong football for a team not based in a major city. The team relied almost entirely on youth academy players for the first team. They played in the Bulgarian elite up until season
Second promotion and golden era
Belasitsa returned to the A Group in 1999, ending a 15-year absence from the top tier of Bulgarian football. However, the team largely struggled and was eventually relegated back after just one season in the top level. In 2001, 2 years after their relegation from the top flight, Belasitsa returned to the top level through administrative decisions made by its owners. That year Belasitsa united with
A year later, Belasitsa returned to the top level, and began its best ever campaign in the Bulgarian elite, managing to stay 6 consecutive seasons, up until 2009. One of the reasons for such strong results during these years was that the team had brought a lot of talented Brazilian players, including Marcelo Vava, Dianu, Marquinos, and Eduardo Du Bala. In 2005, the team hired Macedonian coach Stevica Kuzmanovski, under whose guidance Belasitsa achieved its best ever result in the Bulgarian league, finishing in 6th place. Next season 2006-07, Belasitsa also performed strongly, finishing in 8th place.
However, after that season, a general decline started, as the team finished in 13th place during the 2007-08 season, saving themselves from relegation in the last round. Unfortunately for Belasitsa, they finished last during the 2008-09 season, thus being relegated.
Financial problems and relegations to lower leagues
After they were relegated to the
In the next few seasons, the club managed to rebuild their first team and returned to their original stadium, after it had license issues. In seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22, the team had largely fought for promotion to the Second League, but Belasitsa narrowly missed the first spot by a few points on both occasions.
Belasitsa had a very strong 2021-22 season, finishing in first place in the Southwest Third League and clinching promotion to the Second League after several seasons in the lower leagues.
In 2023, the club celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Honours
- 6th place 2005–06
- Semi-finals (1): 1981
Previous names
- 1923 FC Manush Voivoda
- 1928 FC Lubomir Vesov
- 1931 FC Macedonia
- 1946 FC Ilinden
- 1948 FC Spartak
League positions
Current squad
- As of 1 June 2023
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 2023 and Transfers winter 2023–24.
Statistics
Most league appearances for Belasitsa Petrich in A PFG
- 1. Dimitar Karadaliev – 108
- 2. Lozan Trenchev – 105
- 3. Yordan Popov – 101
- 4. Valeri Stoyanov – 93
- 5. Aleksandar Vukov – 86
Season record goals for Belasitsa Petrich
- 1. Kostadin Kabranov – 22
- 2. Dimitar Karadaliev – 19
- 3. Vavá– 18
- 4. Georgi Bibishkov – 16
- 4. Dimitar Dimitrov – 16
- 5. Gabrijel Radojičić – 13
- 5. Ivan Yanev – 13
Notable managers
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