PMFC Botev Vratsa[1]
Full nameПрофесионален Общински Футболен Клуб Ботев Враца
Professional Municipal Football Club
Botev Vratsa
Nickname(s)Зелените Лъвове
(The Green Lions)
Founded1921 (1921)
GroundStadion Hristo Botev
Capacity25,000 (8,935 seated)
OwnerVratsa Municipality
ChairmanHristo Iliev
Head coachHristo Yanev
LeagueFirst League
2022–23First League, 13th of 16
WebsiteClub website

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 together 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

League positions

First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)Bulgarian Second LeagueBulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football Group

Players

First-team squad

As of 9 July 2023[4]

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 Bulgaria BUL Lyubomir Vasilev
3 DF Bulgaria BUL Martin Kavdanski
4 DF Brazil BRA Luiz Soares
6 MF Bulgaria BUL Plamen Petrov
8 MF Bulgaria BUL Mitko Panov
9 MF Bulgaria BUL Daniel Genov
10 MF Bulgaria BUL Spas Georgiev
11 FW France FRA Jean-Pierre Da Sylva
14 FW Central African Republic CAF Marco Majouga
15 FW Bulgaria BUL Miroslav Marinov
16 MF Bulgaria BUL Krasimir Todorov
17 MF Bulgaria BUL Chavdar Ivaylov
18 MF Portugal POR Diogo Barbosa
19 FW Colombia COL Brayan Perea
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 DF Bulgaria BUL Martin Hristov
21 DF Senegal SEN Boubacar Traorè
22 DF Bulgaria BUL Petar Kepov
23 DF Argentina ARG Bryan Mendoza
24 MF Bulgaria BUL Martin Smolenski
26 FW Ivory Coast CIV Junior Djile
28 DF Brazil BRA Eduardo Kunde
30 DF Bulgaria BUL Petko Ganev
34 GK Colombia COL Federico Barrios
37 MF France FRA Mario-Jason Kikonda
76 GK Bulgaria BUL Krasimir Kostov (captain)
77 MF Bulgaria BUL Stefan Velev
88 MF Bulgaria BUL Ivan Neshkov

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

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.

Managers

Kit

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (chest / back)
2019–2022 Italy Erreà WINBET
2022–2023 Italy Zeus WINBET / SportRespect
2023– United States Nike

References

  1. ↑ "PMFC Botev, Vratsa, football club".
  2. ↑ "B" Group archive Archived 2008-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "Botev Vratsa history". botevvratsa.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Отборът 2022/23 – Футболен клуб Ботев Враца".
  5. ↑ "Italian head coach signs Botev Vratsa (in Bulgarian)". Livesport.bg. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Botev Vratsa appoint the new manager". Gong.bg. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "Ясен Петров обеща да върне Ботев (Вр) в елита". topsport.bg. 20 June 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Georgieva, Maria (5 December 2013). "Бойко Величков пое Ботев Враца". 7sport.net. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
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