Vihren

Full name	OFC Vihren Sandanski
Nickname(s)	The Gladiators
Founded	May 24, 1925 (1925-05-24)
Ground	Sandanski Stadium, Sandanski
Capacity	6,000
Manager	Naci Şensoy
League	South-West Third League
2021–22	South-West Third League, 17th
Home colours Away colours

OFC Vihren (Bulgarian: ОФК Вихрен) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Sandanski, currently playing in the South-West Third League. Sandanski's home ground is the Sandanski Stadium in Sandanski with a capacity of 6,000. Vihren Sandanski's team colours are green and white.

Vihren was founded in 1925, changing its name several times during its early existence. Up until the early 2000s, Vihren played mostly in either the second or third tiers of Bulgarian football. Season 2004-05 is arguably the most important in the club's history, as the team managed to promote to the A PFG, or first tier of Bulgarian football, for the first time. Vihren managed to play four consecutive seasons in the elite, before suffering relegation after the 2008-09 season. Since then, the Gladiators have played mostly in the third regional tier.

Equipment

Currently the team's home kit is green and the away kit is white. Various combinations of green and white have been used through the years, but green remains the basic colour of the team.

History

The club was founded on 24 May 1925. It has carried the names Ustrem, Gotse Delchev, Yane Sandanski and Cherveno zname throughout its history.

For a very long period of its existence, Vihren was considered a minor club from southwest Bulgaria. It always stood in the shadows of the other more successful clubs from the region, such as Pirin Blagoevgrad, and Belasitsa Petrich, who regularly competed in the A Group.

In 1977, Vihren first promoted to the B Group, remaining there 13 consecutive seasons before falling back to the V Group. In 1993, Vihren returned to the B Group, but only for one season, after which relegation again followed.

In 2003, Vihren again returned to the second level. In the 2004–05 season, Vihren finished first and gained promotion to the A Group for the 2005–06 season, marking the team's debut in the top tier. Before their first year of playing in A PFG, Vihren's owner decided to bring players from other countries to bolster the team's chances of surviving in the top flight. His first signing was the ex-FC Porto player Jose Furtado. He was from the Portuguese side G.D. Tourizense for free. Brazilian player Serginio Dias, and Portuguese players Mauro Alexandre and Nuno Almeida were just a few other players who signed for Vihren after Furtado. The team coach was named Petar Zhekov. Vihren finished season 2005–06 on 9th place in A PFG with 30 points.

The next season, 2006-07, Vihren managed to gain 37 points, finishing in 9th place once again.

In season 2007–08, Vihren's owner, Konstantin Dinev decided to bring Portuguese coach Rui Dias. The club signed eight Portuguese and two Brazilian players. But three months later, Rui Dias was discharged for poor results. At the end of the season, the team finished in 10th place.

Season 2008–09 started excellent with a 1–0 win against Bulgarian vice-champion Levski Sofia. In the 4th round, the club defeated Lokomotov Sofia. In January 2008, Vihren signed notable Greek players Christos Maladenis and Dimitrios Zografakis. In the end of the season, however, the team finished in 14th place and were relegated to B Group, ending a four-year stint in the elite.

The following two seasons were spent in the second tier, but financial problems overwhelmed the club, forcing its folding in 2011 and withdrawal from the B Group. The next season, Vihren was refounded from the fourth level, the A RFG. The team then promoted to the V Group in 2013.

League positions

Current squad

As of 1 August 2020

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 Dimitar Pangev 2 DF  BUL Martin Popov 3 DF  BUL Valeri Georgiev (captain) 4 DF  BUL Valentin Udev 5 DF  BUL Dimitar Kalchev 6 DF  BUL Daniel Zlatkov 7 MF  BUL Kristiyan Nikolov 9 FW  BUL Metodi Kostov 10 FW  BUL Vladimir Kabranov 11 MF  BUL Atanas Chipilov 12 GK  BUL Veselin Ganev

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 DF  BUL Borislav Ingov 14 MF  BUL Nikola Georgiev 15 FW  BUL Chigozie Udoji 16 MF  BUL Kostadin Apostolov 17 DF  BUL Valentin Kostov 18 MF  BUL Kostadin Kostadinov 19 MF  BUL Aleksandar Yakimov 20 DF  BUL Krasimir Zdravkov 21 MF  BUL Ivan Gyurov 23 MF  BUL Milen Zlatkov 98 MF  BUL Ivan Lazarov

Managerial history

This is a list of the last ten Vihren managers:

Name	Nat	From	To
Kostadin Todorov		January 2000	January 2001
Vasil Metodiev		January 2001	June 2002
Yordan Bozdanski		December 2002	May 2004
Petar Zhekov		June 2004	May 2005
Petar Zhekov		June 2005	May 2006
Dionysis Beslikas		June 2006	August 2006
Petar Zhekov		August 2006	May 2007
Rui Dias		June 2007	October 2007
Eduard Eranosyan		October 2007	November 2007
Filip Filipov		December 2007	incumbent

As of December 31, 2009.

Notable players

Former foreign players

External links

• Official website (in Bulgarian)
• OFC Vihren Sandanski at bgclubs.eu