PFC Ludogorets Razgrad
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| Full name |
Професионален футболен клуб Лудогорец Разград (Professional Football Club Ludogorets Razgrad) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) |
Орлите от Разград (The Eagles from Razgrad) | |||
| Founded | 18 June 2001 | |||
| Ground | Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad | |||
| Capacity | 6,000 | |||
| Owner | Kiril Domuschiev | |||
| Chairman | Aleksandar Aleksandrov | |||
| Manager | Stoycho Stoev | |||
| League | A Group | |||
| 2012–13 | A Group, 1st | |||
| Website | Club home page | |||
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 Current season | ||||
PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgarian: ПФК Лудогорец Разград) or simply Ludogorets is a Bulgarian association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in A Football Group, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 2001 as Ludogorie Football Club. In their first season in A Group, Ludogorets achieved a remarkable result by winning both the A Group trophy and the Bulgarian Cup.
The club's name comes from the name of the region in which Razgrad is located – the Ludogorie region of north-eastern Bulgaria.
The club's home colors are green and white. Ludogorets' home base is the Ludogorets Arena in Razgrad, a stadium with capacity of 6,000 seats and electric floodlights.[1] After becoming champions in A Group in the first year after being promoted from B Group, Ludogorets became the third Bulgarian team after the two most prestigious clubs, CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia to achieve a treble – winning A Group, the Bulgarian Cup and also the Bulgarian Supercup.
History
Foundation
The club was founded on 18 June 2001 as Ludogorie Football Club by Aleksandar Aleksandrov and Vladimir Dimitrov. In 2002 it was renamed to Razgrad 2000 after a merger with a youth football team. Razgrad 2000 won its group a couple of years in a row, but didn't have a big enough budget to enter the higher division. It was promoted to the top division of amateur football in Bulgaria, V Group (third division) at the end of the 2005-06 season.
Domuschiev era (2010–present)
In the 2009–10 season, Razgrad 2000 won promotion again, this time to the professional B Group (second division). In 2010, the club acquired the license of Ludogorets Razgrad, a club dating from 1945, which had been dissolved in 2006. The year 1945 still appears on the club crest. In July 2010, Ivaylo Petev was appointed as manager. In September, the club was purchased by the businessman Kiril Domuschiev, with the clear intention to bring Ludogorets to A Group. The takeover was followed by a flurry of bids for high profile players. In May 2011, the club completed this feat in Domuschiev's first season by winning promotion to A Group for the first time in the club's history.[2]
Prior to the start of season 2011–12, Ludogorets completed the transfers of Emil Gargorov, Alexandre Barthe, Stanislav Genchev, Svetoslav Dyakov, Uroš Golubović, Ľubomír Guldan and Marcelinho. Ivan Stoyanov signed during the first month of the season. Ludogorets were unbeaten in the first nine games of the season before losing 2–1 to Litex Lovech. In the last game before the winter break, Ludogorets drew 2–2 with CSKA Sofia, ending the autumn half of the season in first place. But, with three losses in a row in the middle of the spring half-season (to Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Slavia and Cherno More), Ludogorets lost their lead in the standings to CSKA Sofia up until the end of the season. On the last day of season 2011–12 they won the game with CSKA Sofia 1-0, with a goal scored by former Levski striker Miroslav Ivanov. The game was effectively a champions title match since Ludogorets were two points behind the team from Sofia, and the victory made them champions of Bulgaria in their first season in the top division, just one point ahead of CSKA.[3]
On 16 May 2012, Ludogorets completed the domestic double when they won their first Bulgarian Cup title, after a 2–1 victory against Lokomotiv Plovdiv at Lazur Stadium in Burgas.[4]
In August 2012, Ludogorets won the Bulgarian Supercup, after beating the Bulgarian Cup runner-up Lokomotiv Plovdiv 3–1, and becoming the first team to win a treble in its first season in A Group.
Ludogorets started the 2012–13 season with eight wins in a row and nine matches without a loss, and finished the half-season in first place, as in the previous season, with just one loss and seven goals conceded out of 15 matches. But for the Bulgarian Cup the team was eliminated in the Round of 32 by CSKA Sofia with an aggregate score of 2–2 from the two legs and CSKA continuing into the next round on away goals. In the spring half-season Ludogorets occupied the first place with just three matches to go before the end of the season. Nevertheless, they were defeated 1–0 by Levski, and Levski took the lead of A Group. On the final day of the season Ludogorets had to beat the already relegated team Montana and to hope that Slavia would prevent Levski from winning the match. In the last minutes of the Levski-Slavia match Levski conceived an own goal which making the end result a 1–1 draw, allowing Ludogorets to win their second championship title.
On 10 July 2013, Ludogorets played in its second Supercup game against the 2013 Bulgarian Cup winners Beroe Stara Zagora. After a 1–1 draw in regular time, the match went to penalties, where Beroe won 5–3, after Marcelinho missed the third penalty for Ludogorets.
In Europe
Ludogorets were entered in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League in 2012–13, where they were beaten 3-4 on aggregate by Dinamo Zagreb. In the 2013–14 Champions League they came through the qualifiers, beating Slovan Bratislava and Partizan Belgrade, but lost in the play-off to FC Basel.
Ludogorets played in Group B of the 2013–14 Europa League. They were unbeaten in the group stage and won the group with five wins in six games, including both home and away victories over PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb.[5] Their only dropped points were a 1–1 home draw with Chornomorets Odesa.
Crest and shirt
Ludogorets colors are green and white.
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt partner |
|---|---|---|
| 2006–2010 | Tomy Sport | None |
| 2010–2012 | Adidas | Huvepharma |
| 2012– | Navibulgar |
Honours
Bulgarian A Group:
- Winners (1): 2012
- Winners (1): 2010–11
European record
| Competition | S | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League / European Cup | 2 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 13 | - 1 |
| UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | +9 |
| Total | 2 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 23 | 15 | +8 |
Matches
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–13 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q |  Dinamo Zagreb |
1–1 | 2–3 | 3–4 |  |
| 2013–14 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q |  Slovan Bratislava |
3–0 | 1–2 | 4–2 |  |
| 3Q |  Partizan |
2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | | ||
| PO |  Basel |
2–4 | 0–2 | 2–6 | | ||
| UEFA Europa League | Group B |  PSV Eindhoven |
2–0 | 2–0 | 1st | | |
| Dinamo Zagreb |
3–0 | 2–1 | |||||
 Chornomorets Odesa |
1–1 | 1–0 | |||||
| Round of 32 |  Lazio |
– | – | ||||
- Notes
- 2Q: Second qualifying round
- 3Q: Third qualifying round
- PO: Play-off round
UEFA ranking
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 121 |  Maribor | 15.150 |
| 122 | Chornomorets Odesa | 15.026 |
| 123 |  PFC Ludogorets Razgrad | 14.975 |
| 124 |  Vaslui | 14.951 |
| 125 | Partizan | 14.825 |
Players
First-team squad
- As of 5 January 2014 [8]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see List of Bulgarian football transfers winter 2013–14.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Foreign players
Up to three non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in A Group. 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 |
EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) |
Non-EU Nationals |
Recent seasons
| Season | Group | Position | M | W | D | L | G | D | P | Bulgarian Cup | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-04 | OFG Razgrad | 1 | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 46 | 10 | 37 | ||
| 2004-05 | OFG Razgrad | 1 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 55 | 22 | 38 | ||
| 2005-06 | OFG Razgrad | 1 | Promoted | ||||||||
| 2006-07 | North-East V Group | 2 | 32 | 17 | 8 | 7 | 52 | 31 | 59 | not participate | |
| 2007-08 | North-East V Group | 6 | 34 | 15 | 5 | 14 | 55 | 44 | 50 | not participate | |
| 2008-09 | North-East V Group | 4 | 36 | 22 | 4 | 10 | 68 | 42 | 70 | not participate | |
| 2009-10 | North-East V Group | 2 | 34 | 26 | 2 | 6 | 79 | 28 | 80 | not participate | Promoted |
| 2010-11 | East B Group | 1 | 24 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 38 | 16 | 44 | Round of 32 | Promoted |
| 2011-12 | A Group | 1 | 30 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 73 | 16 | 70 | Winner | Achieved treble |
| 2012-13 | A Group | 1 | 30 | 22 | 6 | 2 | 58 | 13 | 72 | Round of 32 |
Personnel
Board of directors
| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Kiril Domuschiev | |
| President | Alexander Alexandrov | |
| Chairman of the Board of Directors | Temenuga Gazdova | |
| Managing Director | Angel Petrichev | |
| Director Youth Academy | Yakov Paparkov | |
| Public Relations | Vladislav Trifonov | |
Current technical body
| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Sports Director | None | |
| Head Coach | Stoycho Stoev | |
| Assistant Coach | Georgi Dermendgiev | |
| Assistant Coach | Yavor Valchinov | |
| Goalkeeper coach | Nikolay Donev | |
| Condition Coach | Sergio Matri |  |
| Physiotherapist | Toni Todorov | |
| Physiotherapist | Petko Petrov | |
| Physiotherapist | Stoyan Aleksiev | |
| Doctor | Yavor Yakimov | |
| Administrator | Plamen Yordanov | |
| Housekeeper | Dimitar Mihov | |
Records
- Ludogorets is the second team in the world, together with FC Levadia Tallinn from Estonia, that after promoting from the second to the first level of the football league pyramid of its country, wins a treble, capturing all of the local trophies - the league, the national cup and the supercup.
- Ludogorets is the first team in Bulgaria, that won two promotions in a row and then succeeded in achieving a treble.
- Ludogorets became the first Bulgarian team to begin their group stage participation in European tournaments with 3 consecutive wins, when in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage they recorded consecutive wins against PSV Eindhoven (2-0), Dinamo Zagreb (3-0) and Chornomorets Odesa (1-0), without conceding a goal in any of the games.
- After the end of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage, Ludogorets became the first Bulgarian team to record 8 wins in European competition in a single season, as well as the first Bulgarian team to record 4 away wins in European competitions in a single season.
- During the 2011–12 season, the club had the most effective attack in A Group, scoring a total of 73 goals.
- During the same season, the club had the best defence in A Group, conceding 16 goals in 30 games. They bettered this in 2012–13, conceding just 13 goals in 30 games.
- Biggest win in A group: 6-0 at home against Slavia Sofia, September 11, 2011
- Biggest loss in A group: 0-2 at home against Cherno More Varna, March 29, 2012, 1-3 away against Cherno More, August 31, 2013, 2-4 at home against Litex Lovech, October 20, 2013
Managers
- Ivaylo Petev (July 1, 2010 – July 21, 2013)
- Stoycho Stoev (July 22, 2013 – Present)
References
- ↑ Ludogorets arena with the best electric floodlights in the league (in Bulgarian)
- ↑ "Ludogorets crash the party in Bulgaria". uefa.com. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
- ↑ "Ludogorets celebrate maiden Bulgarian title". uefa.com. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
- ↑ "Ludogorets clinch maiden Bulgarian Cup". uefa.com. Retrieved 2012-05-16.
- ↑ Europa League: Ludogorets win 2-1 at Dinamo Zagreb in Group B, Sky Sports, 12 December 2013
- ↑ UEFA Club's Ranking 2012
- ↑ UEFA Team Ranking 2014 - Current Stats
- ↑ "А отбор" [A team]. PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (in Bulgarian). ludogorets.com. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
External links
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