FC Sevlievo (Bulgarian: ФК Севлиево) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Sevlievo, which currently competes in the North-West Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football league system. Their home ground is Stadion Rakovski, which currently has a capacity of 5000.

FC Sevlievo
Full nameFootball Club Sevlievo
FoundedDecember 29, 1922; 101 years ago (1922-12-29) as SC Rakovski
4 June 2015; 9 years ago (2015-06-04) as FC Sevlievo
GroundStadion Rakovski,
Sevlievo
Capacity5,000
ManagerAnatoli Tonov
LeagueNorth-West Third League
2023–24North-West Third League, 3rd
Websitehttps://www.fcsevlievo.com/

Founded as SC Rakovski in December 1922, the club was declared bankrupt in 2015 and re-founded as FC Sevlievo.

History

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Rakovski

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The club was founded on 29 December 1922 as SC Rakovski by a group of football enthusiasts of the Association for Tourism in Rositsa. Upon its formation, Ivan Tsochev, Boris Popivanov, and Serafim Ganushev became the president, secretary, and steward respectively. Brothers Sokurov, who played on the team, chose to name it Rakovski in honor of the Bulgarian national hero Georgi Sava Rakovski. They played their first game against Viktoria F.C. from Veliko Tarnovo, ending in a 1:1 draw.

After the reorganization of some of the sports associations in Bulgaria, some voluntary sports organizations arose in Sevlievo. The most popular was DSO Red Flag (Bulgarian: ДСО Червено знаме). In 1957, every voluntary sports organizations union in VSO Rakovski.[clarification needed] Two years later Rakovski was admitted into the Bulgarian Third Division. In 1968 the club was promoted for the first time to B PFG, the second division of Bulgarian football.

 
Plamen Markov led Sevlievo to their first promotion in 2002–03.

In 1980, the club was renamed F.C. Rositsa.

Vidima-Rakovski

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The team became known as PFC Vidima-Rakovski in 1997, after the union between F.C. Rakovski and F.C. Vidima, a little club of the Vidima Standart Ideal works. In the next 1998–99 season, the team won the Cup of Amateur Bulgarian league.

In the 2002–03 season, with Plamen Markov as head coach, Vidima won promotion to the A Group for the first time ever. Gerasim Zakov scored the club's first top league goal in a 3–3 draw against Lokomotiv Sofia. The 2003-04 campaign, remembered as the first A PFG season in the club's history, ended in a good 12th place. In the same season, Vidima-Rakovski had their best Bulgarian Cup run, beating Kameno and Belasitsa Petrich before losing to Lokomotiv Sofia in the quarter-finals. In the next campaign, Vidima won just nine games and was relegated back to the second level after two years among the best.

After the 2006-07 season, Vidima-Rakovski finished 2nd in B PFG, and managed to participate in the play-off for promotion to the A PFG. On June 2, 2007, Vidima won the play-off against PFC Naftex Burgas with a result of 1-0 and qualified for the first division for the second time in the club's history. However, Vidima largely struggled during the 2007-08 season, at the end not managing to avoid relegation once more.

In 2010, Vidima won a third promotion to the top division by winning the Western B PFG. They finished at 14th place in A PFG in the next season and secured their top division status after winning a relegation play-off against Sportist Svoge, which Vidima won after a penalty shoot-out.

In the 2011-12 season, the team finished 14th in the league, winning only 3 out of 30 matches. As a result, Vidima was relegated once more and competed in B PFG in the 2012–2013 season. The team began experiencing financial problems at the time and was relegated from the B Group in 2013.

FC Sevlievo

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The club re-formed as FC Sevlievo on 4 June 2015, after Vidima Rakovski declared bankruptcy.[1]

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt partner
2015–2017   ASICS none
2017–2022   Krasiko Libra
2022– ELITBET

Honours

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Players

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First-team squad

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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 Iliya Kanchev
2 DF   BUL Aleks Georgiev
3 DF   BUL Tihomir Trifonov
5 DF   BUL Georgi Pavlov
6 DF   BUL Atanas Fidanin (captain)
7 MF   BUL Hristiyan Vasilev
8 MF   BUL Nikolay Nikolaev
9 MF   BUL Stiviyan Makaveev
10 FW   BUL Tihomir Kanev
11 FW   BUL Galin Stoyanov
12 GK   BUL Krasi Uzunov
No. Pos. Nation Player
13 MF   BUL Nikolay Banov
14 MF   BUL Iliyan Trifonov
15 MF   BUL Stefan Ivanov
16 GK   BUL Dimitar Pantev
22 MF   BUL Kristiyan Kolev
23 DF   BUL Nikolay Ragin
37 DF   BUL Ivaylo Iliev
83 DF   BUL Ivan Penev
92 DF   BUL Pavlin Ivanov
93 MF   BUL Dobrin Petrov

Managers

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Dates Name Honours
2015–2016   Milen Vankov
2016–2017   Martin Doychev
2017–   Milen Vankov[2]

League positions

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Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria)Bulgarian V AFGBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian A Football GroupBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian V AFG

Shirt and sponsors

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Past seasons

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Season League Place W D L GF GA Pts Bulgarian Cup
2015–16 V Group (III) 9 13 3 14 49 56 42 Did not qualify
2016–17 Third League (III) 3 18 4 6 69 33 58 Did not qualify
2017–18 Third League 2 20 4 6 60 27 64 First round
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

Sevlievo Ladies

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FC Sevlievo Ladies
Full nameFootball Club Sevlievo Ladies
GroundRakovski Stadium,
Sevlievo
Capacity5,000
ManagerYoanna Dzhambazova
LeagueBulgarian Women's League
2022–235th

The football club also has a women's sports department named FC Sevlievo Ladies, currently playing in the top tier of Bulgarian Bulgarian Women's League football, Bulgarian Women's League.

First-team squad

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As of 26 August 2023

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 DF   BUL Bilyana Ivanova
2 DF   BUL Aysu Bezhkova
5 DF   BUL Yoana Tomova
6 DF   BUL Viyara Peliteva
7 MF   BUL Antoniya Angelova
8 MF   BUL Desislava Dimitrova
9 FW   BUL Aneliya Kukunova
10 FW   BUL Elena Petkova
11 MF   BUL Mihaela Marinova
12 GK   BUL Eleonora Kolesnikova
No. Pos. Nation Player
13 DF   BUL Hristiyana Kovacheva
14 MF   BUL Zara Georgieva
15 DF   BUL Monika Simonova
17 MF   BUL Elena Lukanova
19 FW   BUL Vesela Petkova
20 MF   GEO Ana Makharadze
21 FW   BUL Ivayla Kieva
22 DF   BUL Vili Karadakova (captain)
23 GK   BUL Victoria Ivanova
77 MF   BUL Silviya Naydenova

Past seasons

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Season League Place W D L GF GA Pts
2015–16 Bulgarian women's football championship (I) 7 4 4 10 21 51 16
2016–17 Bulgarian women's football championship  –  –  –  –  –  –  –
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

References

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  1. ^ Севлиево с нов клуб от есента, ще развива школа
  2. ^ "Милен Ванков отново е треньор на ФК "Севлиево"" (in Bulgarian). sevlievci.com. 7 July 2017.
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