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
2022–23	First League, 13th of 16
Website	Club 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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

Domestic edit

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 edit

Players edit

First-team squad edit

As of 16 February 2024^[update]^[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	BUL	Lyubomir Vasilev
6	DF	BUL	Plamen Petrov
7	DF	BUL	Ilker Budinov (on loan from Ludogorets)
8	MF	FRA	Kléri Serber (on loan from Toulouse)
9	MF	BUL	Daniel Genov
10	MF	BUL	Spas Georgiev
11	FW	MLI	Lassana N'Diaye
13	DF	BUL	Martin Achkov
14	FW	CAF	Marco Majouga
15	FW	BUL	Miroslav Marinov
17	MF	BUL	Chavdar Ivaylov
18	MF	POR	Diogo Barbosa
19	FW	COL	Brayan Perea


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
20	DF	BUL	Martin Hristov (on loan from Botev Plovdiv)
21	MF	SEN	Boubacar Traorè
23	DF	ITA	Bryan Mendoza
24	MF	BUL	Martin Smolenski
27	DF	CGO	Messie Biatoumoussoka
28	DF	BRA	Eduardo Kunde
30	DF	BUL	Petko Ganev
34	GK	COL	Federico Barrios
37	MF	FRA	Mario-Jason Kikonda
76	GK	BUL	Krasimir Kostov (captain)
77	MF	BUL	Stefan Velev
81	MF	BUL	Mitko Panov
88	MF	BUL	Ivan Neshkov

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

Foreign players edit

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 (Dual citizenship)

Luiz Felipe
Jean-Pierre Da Sylva
Marco Majouga
Bryan Mendoza

Non-EU Nationals

Brayan Perea
Federico Barrios

Notable players edit

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.