PFC Septemvri Sofia

PFC Septemvri Sofia

Full name	Professional Football Club Septemvri
Nickname(s)	The Blue-Reds The Septembrians
Founded	5 November 1944; 79 years ago (1944-11-05)
Ground	Stadion Dragalevtsi, Sofia
Capacity	1,500
Chairman	Rumen Chandarov
Manager	Nikolay Mitov
League	First League
2023–24	Second League, 2nd (promoted)
Website	https://fcseptemvri.bg/
Home colours Away colours

Septemvri (Bulgarian: Септември) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Its home ground is the Septemvri Stadium, but due to its poor condition the team plays its home matches at the Stadion Dragalevtsi.

The club's biggest success to date is the winning of the Bulgarian Cup in 1960 and finishing 5th in the Bulgarian first division during the same season. Septemvri is known for its strong youth academy, which over the years has developed numerous players for Bulgaria's elite clubs and the national team.

On November 5, 1944 the clubs Sportclub Sofia, Sokol and Vazrazhdane unite under the name of FC Septemvri Sofia; the name derives from the revolution of September 1944. On March 26, 1945, the additional clubs of Botev (Konyovitsa), Ustrem (Zaharna fabrika), Pobeda (Krasna Polyana), and Svoboda (Tri kladentsi) merge into the club. In May 1948, the club, then playing in the 1st Sofia Division, is briefly merged with second-division CDV/Chavdar (Sofia) and the unified club wins the 1948 Bulgarian Championship by overcoming Levski Sofia in the final.^[1]

Septemvri starts the 1948–49 season in the newly formed A Republican Football Group, but only six months later is separated from CDV (Chavdar) and removed from the division, with the current title given to CDNV, Chavdar's new name, which would ultimately become CSKA Sofia. At the end of the 1948–49 season, Septemvri is allowed to take part in a two-match play-off for entering first division against Marek Dupnitsa. After both matches end with a 2:0 win for each team, a third game is played in which Septemvri falls 1:0 and remains in second division.

From 1949 to 1969, Septemvri exists as an independent club, during which period it reaches the height of its success. In 1959, the club finishes first in the B PFG and is promoted to first division for the 1959–60 season. That same season, Septemvri finishes in 5th place and claims the Bulgarian Cup after a dramatic 4:3 win over Lokomotiv Sofia in extra time. The club's stay among the elite lasts only two years, as in 1961 it is relegated to the B PFG, where it remains until 1968.

In 1969, during another period of football reform in Bulgaria, Septemvri was again merged into CSKA Sofia. This unification continued for almost 20 years, until 1988, when the club became independent again and joined the V AFG. In 1993, Septemvri won a promotion to the B PFG. In 1998, the club became the champion of the B PFG and joined the elite for the first time since 1961. It finished in 16th place and was relegated again.

During the 2000–01 season, the club finished in 13th place in the B PFG and was relegated to the V AFG, where it remained until 2008. In March 2008, the club was heavily penalized after a scandalous match against FC Bansko, when coach Rumen Stoyanov ordered his players to leave the field, a serious offence according to Bulgarian Football Union regulations.^[2] With an executive decision, the BFU removed Septemvri from the V AFG and placed it in the A OFG, the Sofia Regional Football Group.^[3] Despite this setback, the club attained 1st place in the division in the 2008–09 season and qualified for a play-off match for entering the V AFG against FC Novi Iskar.^[4] After an emotional 0–0 in regular time, penalty kicks were in order to determine the team going forward. Septemvri lost the penalty shootout 5–4.^[5]

In 2015, Rumen Chandarov, owner of DIT Sport Academy, one of the best Bulgarian football academies in the last few years, announced that he is the new owner of Septemvri, with the goal of getting the young players to compete in the First Professional Football League of Bulgaria. The team merged with Conegliano German and started the 2015–16 season from V Group. Nikolay Mitov was appointed as a manager of the team. In the end of the 2015 it was decided that the team will give a bigger chance to their U19 players, so most of the players who joined in the season start left and only seven players left, but 18 players joined from the U19 team which was third in the Elite Youth Group by the end of 2015. Some media announced that Chandarov will stop financing the team also due to the fact that he started financing Botev Plovdiv, but Chandarov said that this is not true and the only reason to do this is to make youth players enter the men's football.^[6]

On 24 June 2016, Pirin Razlog merged into PFC Septemvri Sofia. From the new season 2016–17 Septemvri will compete in the new Second League, the second division of Bulgarian football.^[7] Septemvri also returned in the Bulgarian Cup and drew the Bulgarian First League team Beroe Stara Zagora. They won the match on 21 September 2016 with 2–0, goals scored by Georgi Stoichkov and Petar Tonchev.^[8] The team finished their season in Second League in 2nd place, two points behind the winners of the group — Etar and qualified for the Promotion playoffs against elite member Montana.^[9] The team won the playoff on 3 June 2017 with a 2–1 final result and returned to the top level after 19 years.^[10]

On 8 June 2017, Dimitar Vasev was announced as the manager who would lead the team in their return to the First League with Hristo Arangelov, the caretaker manager after Nikolay Mitov, as his first assistant.^[11] The team announced that they would play to Vasil Levski National Stadium until their Septemvri Stadium is built.^[12] Later, the club owner Rumen Chandarov revealed that the team would play at Bistritsa Stadium after the stadium gained a First League licence, since he didn't want Septemvri to play in front of empty seats.^[13][14] Septemvri's first match was against Dunav Ruse on 17 July and the team lost the match 0–2.^[15] Week later Septemvri won their second match against Pirin with Boris Galchev scoring the winning goal.^[16] After four defeats in five games, Vasev was released and Nikolay Mitov returned in charge after his release from Levski Sofia.^[17] Septemvri finished the half season in 10th place with 23 points after a 2–1 win over Cherno More.^[18]

On 20 February 2018, Septemvri's executive director Georgi Markov died aged 46, three years after he suffered a heart attack.^[19]

Septemvri secured their place in First League on 15 April 2018 after a 0–2 win over Dunav Ruse and qualified for European play-off quarter-finals.

Septemvri could not avoid relegation in the next season, however, as they were relegated after losing in the relegation playoffs to FC Arda Kardzhali, 0-1. This ended their two year stay in the Bulgarian elite.^[20]

Back in the second tier after two seasons in the elite, Septemvri managed to maintain their good form and remained largely within the top three in the Second League, a strong candidate for promotion. The 2019-20 season was eventually not finished, due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Bulgaria. The last matches were played in early March. At that time, Septemvri was second in the league, three points behind CSKA 1948. Septemvri faced the 13th placed team from the First League in a promotion playoff, but lost. On 5 May 2022, after a great second half of season 2021-22, Septemvri secured their return to First League.^[21] This achievement was accomplished under the management of Slavko Matić. Septemvri only managed to make a cameo appearance in the elite, suffering immediate relegation back to the Second League for season 2023–24.

Results of league and cup competitions by season

Season	League										Bulgarian Cup	Other competitions		Top goalscorer
	Division	Level	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos
2017–18	First League	1	32	12	5	15	32	48	41	10th	Second round			Martin Toshev	9
2018–19	First League	1	37	12	6	19	41	62	42	12th ↓	Semi-finals			Chris Gadi	5
2019–20	Second League	2	20	17	1	2	47	19	52	2nd	Round of 16			Preslav Yordanov	9
2020–21	Second League	2	30	17	5	8	54	29	56	3rd	Round of 16			Mario Ilievski	12
2021–22	Second League	2	36	21	7	8	77	35	70	1st ↑	Quarter-finals			Mario Ilievski	15
2022–23	First League	1	35	7	7	21	31	52	28	15th ↓	Round of 16			Atanas Kabov	6
2023–24	Second League	2	34	19	8	7	46	26	65	2nd ↑	Round of 32			Borislav Marinov	9
2024–25	First League	1									Qualified
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

• First League:
  • 5th place (1): 1959–60
• Bulgarian Cup:
  • Winners (1): 1959–60
• Second League:
  • Winners (4): 1955−56, 1958−59, 1997−98, 2021–22
• Third League:
  • Winners (1): 1992−93
• A Regional Group:
  • Winners (5): 1952, 1989–90, 1990–91, 2008–09, 2009–10

• 
  1950–1952
• 
  1957–1959
• 
  1959–1969
• 
  1988–2015
• 
  2015–present

From 1944 to 1990 team main color is red with white or blue. From 1990 to 2010 team main color is purple, but in the period between 2001 and 2007 they used white with red colors. From 2011 team first kit is dark red.

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt partner
1990–1995	Adidas	Canel
1995–1997	Puma
1997–1999		Bingbul
1999–2001	Reusch
2001–2010	Unknown	None
2010–2011	Mitre
2011–2013	Givova
2013–2015	Sportika
2015–2017	Joma
2017–19	Uhlsport	Efbet
2019–22		WINBET
2022–		8888.bg

As of 30 September 2024

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 Ivaylo Iliev 3 DF  BUL Atanas Tomov 4 DF  BUL Martin Hristov (on loan from Botev Plovdiv) 5 DF  BUL Mihail Polendakov 6 MF  NGA Victor Ochayi 7 FW  BUL Nikolay Drosev 8 MF  PAN Martín Morán 9 MF  BUL Asen Chandarov (on loan from Levski Sofia) 10 MF  SSD Manyumow Achol 11 MF  BUL Borislav Rupanov (on loan from Levski Sofia) 12 GK  BUL Vladimir Ivanov 13 DF  CYP Strahinja Kerkez 14 MF  FRA Jean Pierre Sylva 15 FW  FRA Bertrand Fourrier

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  FRA Kléri Serber 17 DF  MOZ Alfons Amade 18 DF  BUL Kubrat Onasci 19 FW  BUL Mitko Mitkov 20 FW  LTU Faustas Steponavičius (on loan from Botev Plovdiv) 21 GK  BUL Dimitar Sheytanov 22 FW  BRA Victor Oliveira 23 FW  MKD Nikola Velickovski 24 FW  EQG Jordan Gutiérrez 25 MF  BUL Aleksandar Dzhamov 26 DF  NED Xandro Schenk 27 DF  BUL Georgi Varbanov 28 MF  CMR Franck Essouma

For recent transfers, see Transfers winter 2023–24 and Transfers summer 2024.

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/EEA nationals can be used during a match day. Those non-EU/EEA 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 five years.

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.

As of 11 October 2023 Most appearances for the club in First League Rank Name Career Appearances 1 Boris Galchev 2017–2020 65 2 Asen Chandarov 2015–2020 2022 60 3 Yanko Georgiev 2017–2019 51 4 Chris Gadi 2017–2019 49 – Ivan Tilev 2016–2020 49 6 Yanko Georgiev 2017–2019 48 7 Dimitar Kostadinov 2017–2021 2022– 47 8 Georgi Stoichkov 2016–2019 46 9 Ishmael Baidoo 2017–2019 45 10 Georgi Stoichkov 2016–2019 43

Most goals for the club in First League Rank Name Career Goals 1 Boris Galchev 2017–2020 14 2 Chris Gadi 2017–2019 12 3 Martin Toshev 2017–2018 11 4 Dimitar Yakimov 1958–1960 10 5 Christopher Mandiangu 2018–2019 6 – Asen Chandarov 2015–2020 2022 6 – Atanas Kabov 2021–2023 6 7 Ishmael Baidoo 2017–2019 5 – Simeon Aleksandrov 2019–2022 2023 5 9 Vladimir Yonkov 2003 4 – Radoslav Vasilev 2016–2017 4 – Dimitar Kostadinov 2017–2021 2022– 4 – Martin Petkov 2022–2023 4

• Players in bold are still playing for Septemvri.

Position	Name	Nationality
President	Rumen Chandarov
Executive Director	Vacant
Sports Director	Kristiyan Dobrev
Administrator	Irina Gorolomova
Housekeeper	Georgi Aleksandrov
Director of Youth Academy	Vacant

Position	Name	Nationality
Head Coach	Nikolay Mitov
Assistant Coach	Bozhidar Jurcovich
Goalkeeper Coach	Hristo Nikolov
Physical Coach	Georgi Petrov
Physical Coach	Yasen Ekimov
Physiotherapist	Lyubomir
Physiotherapist	Mircho Kraynov
Septemvri II Coach	Darko Savić
U19 Coach	Dimitar Stoilov
U17 Coach	Hristian Voinov
U15 Coach	Kiril Kirilov

Dates Name Honours 1944–1946 Dimitar Dimitrov 1946 Milos Strujka 1947–1948 Hristo Nelkov 1948–1949 Anton Kuzmanov 1951–1953 Ivan Radoev 1953–1957 Atanas Dinev 1957–1959 Lozan Kotsev 1959–1961 Trendafil Stankov 99991 Bulgarian Cup 1961–1964 Sergy Yotsov 1964–1969 Stoyan Petrov 1969–1988 merged with CSKA Sofia 1988–1990 Alyosha Dimitrov 1990–1992 Angel Rangelov 1992–1993 Pavel Panov 1993–1994 Sergey Todorov 1994–1995 Stefan Grozdanov 1995 Yordan Yordanov 1995–2000 Pavel Panov (2)

Dates Name Honours 2000–2003 Bisser Hazday 2003–2005 Rumen Traykov 2006–2007 Rumen Stoyanov 2008 Ognyan Abadzhiev 2008–2009 Yordan Yordanov 2009–2010 Mihail Mihailov 2010–2013 Tsvetan Atanasov 2013–2015 Mihail Mihailov (2) 2015–2016 Nikolay Mitov 2016 Hristo Arangelov 2016–2017 Nikolay Mitov (2) 2017 Hristo Arangelov (2) 2017 Dimitar Vasev 2017–2018 Nikolay Mitov (3) 2018–2019 Hristo Arangelov (3) 2019–2020 Milen Radukanov 2020–2022 Hristo Arangelov (4) 2022 Slavko Matić 2022–2023 Svetoslav Petrov 2023–2024 Krasimir Balakov 2024– Nikolay Mitov (4)

• Official website (in Bulgarian)
• Fans website (in Bulgarian) (archived)
• Septemvri at bgclubs.eu
• Septemvri at UEFA.com
• DIT Academy – official website