PFC Litex Lovech
Full name | Професионален Футболен Клуб „Литекс Ловеч“ Professional Football Club Litex lovech | ||
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Nickname(s) | оранжевите (The Oranges) | ||
Short name | Litex | ||
Founded | 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club | ||
Ground | Gradski Stadion, Lovech, Bulgaria | ||
Capacity | 8,100 | ||
Owner | Litex Commerce JSC | ||
Chairman | Grisha Ganchev and Danail Ganchev | ||
Manager | Alen Tupajić | ||
League | Second League | ||
2022–23 | Second League, 9th | ||
Website | Club website | ||
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Litex (Bulgarian: Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club.
The club's home ground is the
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
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
Grisha Ganchev ownership (1996–2016)
In June 1996, the club was purchased by
In 1997, Litex was promoted for the second time to the
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
During the first decade of the 21st century, Litex won the Bulgarian Cup four times—in 2001 after defeating
In
Expulsion and new beginning (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 as a subsidiary of Litex Commerce JSC.
On 16 December 2015, the
On 27 May 2016, the company that represented
On 4 July 2016, former Litex player
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
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
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:
- Bulgarian Cup:
- Winners (4): 2008–09
- Winners (4):
- Bulgarian Supercup:
- Winners (1): 2010
- Second League:
- Third League:
- Winners (2): 1973–74, 2016–17
European
- UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League:
European record
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 5 February 2024
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.
Notable players
Had international caps for their respective countries, or held any club record. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.
Managerial history
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 | 22 June 2022 | |
Andrey Andreev | 22 June 2022 | 16 March 2023 | |
Ljupko Petrović | 16 March 2023 | 26 June 2023 | |
Dobromir Mitov | 27 June 2023 | 16 October 2023 | |
Alen Tupajić | 16 October 2023 |
Notable stats
Most appearances for the club
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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 13 April 2023
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
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35 | 67 | 11 | 0.52 | 1994–97, 1998–99, 2004 |
6 | Zhivko Zhelev | 31 | 196 | 7 | 0.16 | 1996–07 |
7 | Wilmar Jordán
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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
- ^ "Litex claim third Bulgarian Cup". UEFA.com. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- ^ "Stoilov guides Litex to cup glory". UEFA.com. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
- ^ "Litex can party like it is 1999". UEFA.com. 2 May 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ "Litex retain Bulgarian crown". UEFA.com. 21 May 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
- ^ "Litex thrown out of Bulgarian league". BBC. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- ^ "Bulgarian champions may quit league". BBC. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- ^ Бизнесмен от Смолян е с 38 100 акции в новия ЦСКА
- ^ "В Ловеч ще бъде създаден нов футболен клуб".
- ^ "First Division Clubs in Europe" (PDF). uefa.com. UEFA. p. 21. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
- ^ "Въртележка: Литекс ще рита във "В" група с лиценза на Ботев Луковит".
- ^ Литекс сформира нов отбор, назначи треньор
- ^ ""Литекс" отстрани "Славия" и стигна 1/8-финалите за Купата на България" (in Bulgarian). dnevnik. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
- ^ "Soccer-New Litex coach Reghecampf eyes domestic double". Reuters. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
- ^ Ваюши и Десподов от Литекс влязоха в историята Football24.bg, 13 August 2013
External links
- Official websites
- Supporters website
- Information and statistics