FC Vihren Sandanski

Vihren
Full name FC Vihren Sandanski
Nickname(s) The gladiators
Founded 24 May 1925
Ground Sandanski Stadium,
Sandanski
(Capacity: 6 000)
Chairman Vacant
Manager Filip Filipov
League West B PFG
2010–11 West B PFG, 7th
Home colours
Away colours

FC Vihren (Bulgarian: Вихрен Сандански) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Sandanski, currently playing in the West B PFG, the second division of Bulgarian football. The club's home ground is the Sandanski Stadium in Sandanski with a capacity of 6,000. Vihren Sandanski's team colours are green and white.

Contents

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. Until the 2004/05 season, the team participated in either the second or the third Bulgarian division, but gained a promotion to the Bulgarian A PFG for the 2005/06 season. In the first year of A PFG, FC Vihren's owner decided to bring players from other country. His first signing was the ex-FC Porto player Jose Furtado. He was from the Portugal G.D. Tourizense for free. Brazilian player Serginio Dias, and Portuguese players Mauro Alexandre and Nuno Almeida were just a few players who signed for FC Vihren after Furtado. The team coach was named Petar Zhekov. Vihren finished season 2005/06 on 10th place in A PFG with 32 points. In season 2007-08, FC Vihren's owner Konstantin Dinev decided to bring Portuguese coach Rui Dias. With the club from Sandanski signed also eight Portuguese and two Brazilian players. But three months later, Rui Dias was discharged for poor results. Again the team finished on 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 Lokomotiv Sofia. In January 2009, with Vihren signed notable Greek players Christos Maladenis and Dimitrios Zografakis. In the end of the season the team finished in 14th place and were relegated to B PFG.

Recent Seasons

Season Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Cup Notes
2004-05 B PFG 1 30 21 5 4 56 15 68 1/16 Promoted
2005-06 A PFG 10 28 10 2 16 35 55 32 1/4
2006-07 A PFG 10 30 11 4 15 27 39 37 1/8
2007-08 A PFG 10 30 9 6 15 26 29 33 1/8

Current squad

As of March 1, 2011 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
2 DF Vangel Stoyanov
3 DF Ivo Harizanov
4 DF Tsvetelin Radev
5 MF Blagoy Nakov
6 DF Aleksandar Dyulgerov
7 MF Martin Stankev
8 MF Kostadin Nikolov
9 FW Aleksandar Ruskov
10 MF Antonio Laskov
11 FW Andon Gushterov
12 GK Hristo Bahtarliev
13 DF Rumen Karadakov
No. Position Player
14 DF Iliyan Panchev
15 FW Petar Shopov
16 MF Vasil Zahariev
17 MF Goran Churkin
18 MF Kiril Andreev
21 FW Tomas Galabov
22 DF Yuri Ivanov
23 MF Kristian Krastev
25 MF Gondju Ibrahim
26 MF Petyo Dinkov

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
Dionisos Beklias 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

  • Vasil Metodiev
  • Vladimir Karakachiev
  • Todor Mechev
  • Krasimir Bakalov
  • Valentin Stankov
  • Atanas Manushev
  • Plamen Mitsanski
  • Emil Mitsanski
  • Hristo Zlatinov
  • Pando Kotov
  • Kiril Katzarov
  • Ivan Stoyanov
  • Bozhko Pandaziev
  • Iliya Tochev
  • Krasto Penev
  • Evgeni Mihaylov
  • Georgi Bachev

Former foreign players

Brazil

Cape Verde

Croatia

  • Bruno Šiklić
  • Vedren Muratović

France

 

Greece

Hungary

Macedonia

Nigeria

 

Portugal

 

Serbia

Uruguay

Argentina

Venezuela

External links