POFC Botev Vratsa

PMFC Botev Vratsa^[1]
Full name	Професионален Общински Футболен Клуб Ботев Враца; Professional Municipal Football Club; Botev Vratsa
Nickname(s)	Зелените Лъвове; (The Green Lions)
Founded	1921; 103 years ago
Ground	Stadion Hristo Botev
Capacity	25,000 (8,935 seated)
Owner	Vratsa Municipality
Chairman	Hristo Iliev
Head coach	Hristo Yanev
League	First League
2023–24	First League, 14th of 16
Website	http://www.botev-vratsa.com/

Botev (Bulgarian: Ботев) is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football.

The club was founded in 1921. Since 1948, Botev have played their home games at Stadion Hristo Botev. It is situated in the Hristo Botev sport complex, in the east part of Vratsa. The stadium originally had 25,000 seats. After a recent reconstruction, which took place in 2008, 2009, 2015 and in 2022, the stadium has 9 reconstructed seated sectors with a total of 8 935 seats.

Botev's longest continuous period in the top tier was 26 consecutive seasons between 1964 and 1990. The club's highest ever league finish came in 1970–71 when it finished third in the top flight.

History

Botev Vratsa Football Club was founded in 1921 by Nikola Kunov, Ivan Abuzov, Nako Paunov, Gergo Boytchev, Todor Orozov, Hristo Lighenski and Angel Rachinski. The place of foundation is a playground near the Old market in Vratsa. Between 1921 and 1956 various sport clubs were founded in the city. In 1957 most of the sport clubs in the city are joined to form FC Botev Vratsa. Between 1957 and 1964 Botev Vratsa is a member of Bulgarian second division. In 1964 the club entered the Bulgarian top division and played there for 26 seasons.^[2] The team of Vratsa has 788 games in the top flight of Bulgarian football.

Botev's most glorious moment came in 1971, when the team finished third in Bulgarian top division, after CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia. Botev did, however, represent Bulgaria in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup where they lost in the first round to Dinamo Zagreb, then representing Yugoslavia, 2–8 on aggregate. The first game in Vratsa, in the presence of 35,000 spectators, ended with a 2–1 loss. The second game in Zagreb finished 6–1.

The biggest success in the Bulgarian Cup is a semi-final in 1960–61, 1974–75 and 1984–85. After the 1989–90 A Group season, Botev was relegated to B Group. In the next 19 years, the club participated in either the second or the third Bulgarian division.

Botev managed to return to the top flight in 2011, after they won the eastern group of the 2010–11 B Group, thus ending a 21-year absence from the top level of Bulgarian football. The 2011-12 A Group season was successful because Botev avoided relegation, finishing 12th, which was the main goal of the club. The next season was less successful, with Botev finishing 13th, which meant that they were relegated after a two-year spell in the top flight. In the next couple of years, Botev Vratsa bounced between the second and third tiers, until 2018, when the team managed to return to the top flight, by winning the 2017-18 Second League. This ended a 5-year absence from the top flight.

Among the club's legendary players is Martin Petrov, considered by most Botev fans as the greatest player to have ever been involved with the club, and one of the greatest Bulgarian players. The list of other famous players to have come from the clubs' youth system consists of Iliya Valov, Valentin Iliev, and Valentin Stanchev. Nikolay Penkov is the player with most league appearances for the club – 334. The player with most league goals for the club is Georgi Kamenov, with 150 goals for Botev.

Colours, signs and symbols

Botev is known as one of the "green" teams in Bulgaria, but red is just as characteristic in the club's history. Until 1971, the home colours were red and black vertical stripes. To commemorate the 50th anniversary, officials decided to re-brand the entire image of Botev by selecting green as main colour from 1972 on. At the same time, the club logo was also changed, selecting a lion as its centerpiece to commemorate the revolutionary flags of the Hristo Botev revolutionaries. Until that point, the portrait of Hristo Botev himself was used as club logo. The most recent re-branding of the club was in 2009, when the fans initiated a return of the lion to the club logo, almost 15 years after it had been removed. The new logo, which incorporated the original graphic from 1971 was crafted by lifelong fan Aleksandar Alekov.^[3]

Honours

Domestic

First League
- Third place (1): 1970–71
Bulgarian Cup:
- Semi-finals (2): 1961, 1974–75
Second League:
- Winners (3): 1963–64, 2010–11, 2017–18

League positions

European record

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1971–72	UEFA Cup	1R	Dinamo Zagreb	1−2	1−6	2−8
1983	Intertoto Cup	Group 8	Hammarby	1–2	1–2	3rd
			Arminia Bielefeld	0–1	0–4
			Bryne	1–0	3–0

Competition	S	P	W	L	GF	GA	GD
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup	1	2	0	2	2	8	- 6
UEFA Intertoto Cup	1	6	2	4	6	9	- 3
Total	2	8	2	6	8	17	- 9

Players

Current squad

As of 30 September 2024^[update]

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	Lyubomir Vasilev
6	DF	ESP	David Suárez
7	FW	BUL	Ivan Vasilev
8	FW	UKR	Danylo Kondrakov
9	MF	BUL	Daniel Genov
10	MF	BUL	Spas Georgiev
11	DF	BUL	Martin Achkov
14	FW	CTA	Marco Majouga
15	FW	BUL	Miroslav Marinov
16	GK	BEN	Saturnin Allagbé
17	MF	BUL	Chavdar Ivaylov
19	FW	COL	Brayan Perea (captain)
20	DF	CGO	Messie Biatoumoussoka


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	MF	SEN	Boubacar Traorè
22	MF	BUL	Antoan Stoyanov (on loan from Levski Sofia)
24	MF	BUL	Martin Smolenski
25	DF	BUL	Deyan Lozev
29	DF	BUL	Martin Bachev
32	DF	BUL	Martin Dichev
33	DF	BUL	Stefan Tsonkov
34	GK	COL	Federico Barrios
70	DF	BUL	Dilyan Georgiev
77	MF	BUL	Stefan Velev
88	MF	BUL	Ivan Neshkov
97	MF	BUL	Vladislav Naydenov

For recent transfers, see Transfers winter 2023–24 and Transfers summer 2024.

Foreign players

Up to twenty foreign nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Bulgarian First League, however only five non-EU nationals can be used during a match day. 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

David Suárez

EU Nationals (Dual citizenship)

Non-EU Nationals

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, held any club record, or had more than 100 league appearances. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.