PFC Akademik Sofia

Akademik

Akademik Stadium, Sofia
Capacity	10,000
Manager	Vasil Ivanski
League	football division dissolved in 2012
Home colours Away colours

Akademik Sofia (

Akademik was founded in 1947 by students from the Sofia University and debuted in A PFG in 1949. The team would quickly establish itself as a top flight team in Bulgarian football in the next decades. Akademik became one of the top Bulgarian teams in the 1950s and 1970s, performing strongly in the domestic and European competitions alike, having been crowned Balkans Cup champion in 1974, among other achievements. Akademik's last appearance in the Bulgarian First League came in 2010-11, after which the club experienced financial problems and folded after the 2011-12 season. An unofficial successor (Akademik 1947 Sofia) was founded in 2013, starting from the fourth division.

History

Akademik was founded in the 1947, by Sofia University (the oldest higher education institution in Bulgaria, founded on 1 October 1888) students as a football club. Two years later, Akademik were promoted for the first time to the Bulgarian A Group. The 1950 season in the domestic league was very successful for the team, which finished 3rd in the top division. In the next campaign, Akademik finished fourth and reached the final of Bulgarian Cup, losing 0–1 to CSKA Sofia. In 1952 the club's form dropped, however, and they were relegated to B PFG finishing second to last, before Spartak Varna. Akademik would wait 12 years for another taste of top level football, when in 1964 the club managed to promote to the A Group again. The 1964–65 season was largely unsuccessful, with the students finishing last, suffering an immediate return to the B Group.

The third promotion to A Group in 1969 marked the beginning of Akademik's golden age. From 1969 to 1979, Akademik spent their longest ever period in the top division. In 1974, Akademik won its first international throphy, beating

The glorious period for the Students ended when the club was relegated at the end of the 1978–79 season. Akademik won just six games in the campaign and this put them in last place. In the next season, the team won promotion back to the top division, scoring 100 goals in the B Group campaign. In 1981, the Students qualified for second time for the UEFA Cup, where they lost 1–3 on aggregate in the first round against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In the same 1981–82 season, Akademik did not perform well in the league and was relegated once more. From 1982 to 2010, Akademik spent their longest ever period out of the top division.

After 28 years in the lowers divisions of Bulgarian football, in 2009–10 Akademik finished 2nd in B Group and the club managed to participate in the play-off for promotion in the

The team finished 7th in the 2011–12 B Group, meaning they were relegated to the V AFG. However, the team decided not to play the following season, citing financial problems as the main reason. The team was subsequently dissolved in 2012. An unofficial successor, Akademik 1947 Sofia, was founded in 2013. According to the Bulgarian Football Union, the new club is a separate entity and records are not carried over from the original club.

League positions

Honours

Domestic

• A Group
  :
  • Third place (2): 1950, 1975–76

• B Group
  :
  • Winners (2): 1963–64, 1979–80
  • Runners-up (1): 2009–10

• Bulgarian Cup:
  • Runners-up (1):
    1951

European

• Balkans Cup
  • Winners (1): 1974

• UEFA Cup
  • 1/16 finalist: 1976–77

European cup history

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1976–77	UEFA Cup	1		Slavia Prague	3–0	0–2	3–2
		2		A.C. Milan	4–3	0–2	4–5
1981–82	UEFA Cup	1		1. FC Kaiserslautern	0–1	1–2	1–3[2]

Notable stats

Most appearances for the club in A PFG # Name Apps 1 Iliya Chalev 253 2 Yuliyan Ivanov 209 2 Mladen Vasilev 209 4 Bogomil Simov 177 5 Boris Angelov 172 6 Lozan Lozanov 156 7 Stefan Parvanov 154 8 Milen Goranov 147 9 Petar Zafirov 141 10 Todor Paunov 132

Most goals for the club in A PFG # Name Gls 1 Mladen Vasilev 68 2 Milen Goranov 38 3 Alyosha Dimitrov 33 4 Bogomil Simov 30 5 Ivan Trendafilov 26 6 Vasil Spasov 21 7 Yordan Nikolov 18 8 Hristo Konakov 16 9 Kiril Milanov 16 10 Plamen Tsvetkov 15

References

External links

• PFC Akademik Sofia on
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