Club Overview

Botev Plovdiv Football Club was founded on March 12, 1912 by students from the Catholic College and the First High school in Plovdiv. They chose to name it "Botev" in honour of the Bulgarian national hero Hristo Botyov.

The club is one of the best known clubs in Bulgaria. BPFC has won 2 League titles and 2 National cups. Internationally the club has reached one Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals (1963) and one Balkans Cup winners (1972).

Club History

The club has changed its name several times due to political reasons in the era of communist regime (1945-1989) in Bulgaria:

• DNV (1947-1951)
• DNA (1952-1955)
• SKNA (1956-1957)
• Botev (1957-1968)
• Trakia (1968-1989)

The current official name is PFC Botev Plovdiv but all fans recognized it as Botev Plovdiv Futbolen Klub.

Club Rivalries

Levski Sofia. Both teams Levski and BPFC are most popular in their cities and as proud representatives continue the traditional rivalry between Sofia and Plovdiv. It is a duel - the administrative capital versus cultural capital, first versus second biggest city, efficiency versus attraction.

Stars of the Current Squad

• Todor 'the Lemon' Timonov
• Daniel Bozhkov-Dundy

Club Legends

• Dinko Dermendzhiev-Chico
• Georgi Popov-Toumby
• Georgi Slavkov-Benks
• Petar Zehtinski
• Marin Bakalov
• Kostadin Vidolov
• Georgi Hristov-Penyo

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

• Georgi Slavkov - European Golden Boot Award 1981

Team Honours

• Champion of Bulgaria: 1929, 1967
• National Cup winner: 1962, 1981
• Balkans Cup winners: 1972

Club Management

Owner - A joint stock company named PFK Botev 1912 AD and headed by Dimitar Hristolov-Selski. He is on power since 19 March 1999, when bought 35% of shares and lately acquired freehold of the club company.

Senior coach - Kostadin Angelov was named head of BPFC team in the summer of 2008. He came to the College after serving as PFC Vidima Rackovski boss and replaced Tencho Tenev in office.

Uniforms

Since 1917 the team has played in yellow and black, very often in stripes. There are two versions how colors have been chosen. The first one is linked with the founders roots and tells that yellow and black are symbol of the unity between the catholic collegians (yellow) and the orthodox schoolfellows (black). The second one explains that because the founders copied the whole organizational structure from the then very popular Austrian clubs, they took the colors of the Austro-Hungarian imperial flag (also the first club badge was an exact copy of the SK Rapid Wien crest). Red is adopted as a third colour. Team played in yellow-red jersey in 1930s and 1940s and in red-white in 1950s.

Stadium

Home ground of Botev Plovdiv is Stadion Botev, located in the neighborhood of Kamenitza, close to the downtown. The stadium was originally named The College and is still known by this name among the fans. The reason is that in the early 1900s the pitch was owned by the Catholic College. The stadium was renovated between 1959 and 1961.

Sponsors

Important Links

References