BC CSKA Sofia

BC CSKA
2023–24 BC CSKA Sofia season
Nickname	"The Аrmy"; "The Reds"
Leagues	NBL
Founded	5 May 1948
Arena	CSKA
Capacity	450
Location	Sofia, Bulgaria
Team colors	Red and white
President	Robert Gergov
Head coach	Rosen Barchovski
Championships	12 NBL 17 Bulgarian Cup
Website	www.cska-basket.bg
Home Away

USC CSKA Sofia
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BC CSKA Sofia (Bulgarian: БК "ЦСКА София") is a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia and part of the CSKA Sofia sports club.

CSKA Sofia men's team have been champions of Bulgaria 12 times and Bulgarian cup winners 17 times. They played their home games at "CSKA" Hall in Sofia. In 2006–07, they took part in the FIBA EuroCup tournament, which is the last participation of the club in European club tournaments

The CSKA Basketball team took over the AC-23, a team which finished in the second place in the national championship in 1942. In 1946, BC "Chavdar" was formed and finished third in the championship.

Basketball is one of the sports that developed in CSKA right from the creation of the Club on 5 May 1948. This "September in CDV" practically takes the whole male and female teams of AS-23, which proves clearly the relationship between CSKA and the first "army" Club in Bulgaria. The new team continued with the composition and the asset of CDV in the current Championship. In the autumn of the same year second place was won, and in 1949 it won the first CDV and the first in its history title in basketball. It was followed by two more titles over the next two seasons, while men generally earned 12 titles and 17 cups in the country. The founders of the Club were Konstantin Totev, Iliya Angelov, Tonko Raynov, Lubomir Katerinski, etc. Later, on the team played Konstantin Kotsev, who after his career became an artist in the National Theatre. At the time still a soldier, Daniel recited excerpts from plays in front of his teammates and he is remembered as one of the most colourful personalities in the "red" Club.

The strongest periods of men's basketball at CSKA were the 1950s and mid-' 60s and ' 70s, when they earned most titles, and in Europe basketball teams such as CSKA (Moscow), AEK (Athens), Olympiakos (Piraeus) and Huventud (Badalona) have been defeated in the european tournaments.

Thus the basketball CSKA won recognition beyond the borders of Bulgaria as well. Reaching of a semifinal in the Cup Winners ' Cup in 1975 and the quarterfinals of the European Cup in 1966 and 1968 are achieved.

In total, for the period 1948-1974 basketball bands broadcast 26 masters of sports and many of them are national team players.

Among the most famous basketball players of CSKA are Dimitar Donev, Kliment Kamenarov, Konstantin Totev, Iliya Angelov, Tonko Raynov, Georgi Maleev, Tsvyatko Barchovski, Temelaki Dimitrov, Atanas Golomeev, Petko Marinov, Milko Arabadzhiiski, Rumen Peychev and others. In CSKA famous coaches like Lubomir Katerinski, Ilia Totev, Kosyo Totev, Tsvyatko Barchovski, Omurtag Kuzmanov and Petko Marinov have worked.

In the mid-80s, on the European scene the "army men" were still performing very well, but the real criteria for success, as they were before, is playing against the big teams in front of full halls of people, which in those times CSKA definitely plays in.

After the changes made on the 10th of November, 1989, the "army" basketball gradually fell into crisis and was on the way of vanishing. The military stopped taking part in developing the sport, which hits the club quite harshly. After 1992 the club cannot manage to win gold in the championship and only wins the "Cup of Bulgaria" in 2005.

During the 2006/2007 season Emil Koen and Vladimir Fedyaev take control over CSKA. They have the ambition to get the legendary team to get up on his feet. The women's team is also recovered, as the "Red angels" make the best season in their history.

In Bulgaria the "Red Angels" won a golden double, and the biggest achievement is the winning of the prestige "Adriatic league", which is one of the most competitive tournaments in Europe. The good times don't last long because of the death of Emil Koen in 2007.

After 2007 comes the time for two very intense years in which various owners change places and in the end the basketball team ends its competitive actions.

Only in 2012 a group of enthusiasts led by Alexander Chamakov and Robert Gergov begin gradual attempts to reincarnate the red team. Because of the lack of enough financial power, they start working solely on the youth academy, but the ambition is starting from season 2016-2017 there to be a men's representative team. After several seasons in the second level in 2022 CSKA won the second division (victory against Shumen II in the final) and from the 2022-23 season returned to the NBL.

After returning to the NBL, the coach of the team is the club legend and at the same time coach of the national team Rosen Barchovski. In the 2022-23 season, CSKA reached the Cup final, where they lost to their eternal rival Levski. For CSKA, this is the first final since 2005. For the championship, the army team won the bronze medals, first ranking in the top 3 since 2007. For the first time in its history, CSKA has a second team competing in the second division of Bulgaria.

• National Basketball League (12): 1949, 1950, 1951, 1965, 1967, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1991, 1992
• Bulgarian Cup (17) (record): 1953, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2005
• BBL A Group/Second League (1): 2022
• European Champions' Cup 1/4 finalists (2): 1966, 1968
• FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup 1/2 finalists (1): 1975
• FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup 1/4 finalists (2): 1974, 1976

FIBA European Champions Cup / FIBA European League

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	3rd leg	Aggregate
1965–66	First round	BBC Etzella	90-47	72-51		162-98
	Second round	Denain Voltaire	86-65	53-61		139-126
	Quarter-finals, Group B	CSKA Moscow	78-63	64-77		3rd place
		Zadar	84-58	53-79	80-73
		AEK	94-69	45-75
1967–68	Second round	KTP	89-61	89-86		178-147
	Quarter-finals, Group A	Simmenthal Milano	106-112	64-76		4th place
		Zadar	89-75	64-79
		Juventud Kalso	106-101	71-80
1977–78	Quarter-finals, Group C	Sutton & Crystal Palace	87-86	84-80		2nd place
		ASVEL	75-66	71-99
1980–81	Quarter-finals, Group D	Eczacıbaşı	85-67	86-95		2nd place
		Partizani Tirana	110-91	83-89
		Sinudyne Bologna	86-90	75-106
1983–84	First round	Sunair Oostende	74–62	76–89		150-151
1984–85	First round	Cibona	97–91	73–89		170-180
1990–91	First round	ENAD	94-89	70-66		164-155
	Eighth-finals	Limoges CSP	90–105	99–119		189–224
1991–92	Round of 32	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	77–132	63–103		140–235
1992–93	First round	Partizani Tirana	125-58	107-75		232-133
	Round of 32	Real Madrid Teka	73–103	78–97		151–200

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup / FIBA European Cup

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1973–74	First round	Gießen 46ers	93-81	74-75	167-156
	Second round	Olympiacos	79-69	59-67	138-136
	Quarter-finals, Group A	Crvena zvezda	88-81	72-80	3rd place
		Saclà Asti	75-83	59-75
1974–75	Second round	AEK	74-59	85-87	146–159
	Quarter-finals, Group A	Juventud Schweppes	79-51	65-88	2nd place
		Crvena zvezda	72-75	91-102
		Thorens Antwerpen	64-57	58-69
	Semi-finals	Spartak Leningrad	57–64	69–79	126–143
1975–76	Quarter-finals, Group A	Olympiacos	99-77	78-91	3rd place
		Rabotnički	90-84	88-117
		ASPO Tours	95-91	84-95
1979–80	First round	APOEL	124-62	111-69	235-131
	Eighth-finals	Panathinaikos	96–93	85–100	181–193
1985–86	First round	Jugoplastika	85–84	87–99	172–183
1988–89	First round	Çukurova Üniversitesi	77-68	74-80	151-148
	Eighth-finals	Snaidero Caserta	74-84	80–103	154–187
1989–90	Eighth-finals	Real Madrid	92-109	87–95	179–204
1992–93	Third round	Benfica	80-84	83-111	163-195
1993–94	First round	Postojna	86–77	66–55	152–132
	Second round	Tofaş	67–63	64–71	131–134

FIBA Europe League / FIBA EuroCup

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2004–05	Qualifying Round, Group A	ČEZ Nymburk	76-80	81-84	6th place
		Fersped Rabotnički	97-84	81-82
		Fenerbahçe	81-86	61-90
		UNICS	88-93	67-98
		Hapoel Galil Elyon	80-83	103-90
		Kyiv	92-96	71-94
2006-07	Round I, Group G	Ural Great Perm	78-86	79-93	4th place
		Türk Telekom	75-79	86-93
		Panionios Forthnet	86-83	70-88

FIBA Korać Cup

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1976–77	Second round	Bosna	117–100	78–102	195–202
1986–87	First round	PAOK	85–83	77-89	162–172
2000–01	Round of 64	Avtodor Saratov	75-109	62-92	137-201

CSKA Sofia roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G/F 1 Georgi Tsekov 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 75 kg (165 lb) 19 – (2005-10-28)28 October 2005 PF 3 Deyan Lazarov 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 19 – (2005-05-03)3 May 2005 PF/C 6 Cam Gregory 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 108 kg (238 lb) 29 – (1995-09-14)14 September 1995 PF/C 7 Kristiyan Chelenkov 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 19 – (2005-11-07)7 November 2005 CG 8 Vasil Bachev 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 32 – (1992-08-11)11 August 1992 SF 10 Damyan Minkov 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 96 kg (212 lb) 22 – (2002-03-06)6 March 2002 CG 11 Ivan Dimitrov 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 18 – (2006-01-20)20 January 2006 PF 12 Aleksandar Radukić 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 105 kg (231 lb) 33 – (1991-05-22)22 May 1991 CG 22 Viktor Gergov 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 20 – (2003-11-20)20 November 2003 CG 23 Boyan Kyosev 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 70 kg (154 lb) 16 – (2008-01-14)14 January 2008 F 24 Georgi Boyanov 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 31 – (1993-05-09)9 May 1993 CG 35 Ventsislav Petkov (C) 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 33 – (1991-10-14)14 October 1991 F 77 Vladimir Nankinski 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 20 – (2004-09-09)9 September 2004	Head coach Rosen Barchovski Assistant coach(es) Daniel Klechkov Physiotherapist(s) Yavor Kasabov Legend (C) Team captain Injured

• Dimitar Donev
• Kliment Kamenarov
• Georgi Maleev
• Tsvyatko Barchovski
• Temelaki Dimitrov
• Atanas Golomeev
• Petko Marinov
• Milko Arabadzhiyski
• Rumen Peychev
• Georgi Glouchkov
• Kosta Iliev
• Omorogbe Nosa
• Allan Tošić
• Trevor Harvey
• Leandro Palladino

Name	From	Until	Honours
Lyubomir Katerinski	1948		3 Bulgarian Leagues 2 Bulgarian Cups
Iliya Asenov		1962	1 Bulgarian Cup
Lyubomir Katerinski	1962		1 Bulgarian League 1 Bulgarian Cup
Kiril Semov			1 Bulgarian League
Tsvyatko Barchovski		1979	1 Bulgarian League 4 Bulgarian Cups
Omurtag Kuzmanov	1979	1981	1 Bulgarian League 1 Bulgarian Cup
Petko Marinov	1981	1990	3 Bulgarian Leagues 4 Bulgarian Cups
Rumen Peychev	1990		2 Bulgarian Leagues 3 Bulgarian Cups
Rosen Barchovski	1998	2006	1 Bulgarian Cup
Jaacob Gino	2006	2006	-
Kreshimir Bashic	2006	2007	-
Vlade Đurović	2007	2007	-
Rosen Barchovski	2007	2008	-
Ivaylo Zhelev	2008	2009	-
Jordan Kolev	2016	2018	-
Teddy Bukov	2019	2020	-
Hristo Tsenov	2020	2022	1 BBL "A" Group
Rosen Barchovski	2022	2024	-

• Lyubomir Katerinski
• Iliya Semov
• Kosyo Totev
• Tsvyatko Barchovski
• Omurtag Kuzmanov
• Petko Marinov
• Rosen Barchovski
• Jaacob Gino

From 2022/23 season CSKA has a second team in the BBL "A" group. The team is not allowed to compete in the NBL and for the Bulgarian Cup. The first head coach is Hristo Tsenov, who led the first team in the second division of Bulgaria until the summer of 2022. In their first historic season, the Reds finished fourth in the West zone, failing to qualify for the National Finals.

Head coaches

Name	From	Until	Honours
Hristo Tsenov	2022	2023	-
Planimir Dafinov	2023	2024	-

No.	Name	Date of birth
3	Martin Dimitrov	(2004-03-01)1 March 2004
4	Tsvetan Ivanov	(2005-02-04)4 February 2005
5	Kaloyan Anachkov (C)	(2005-09-30)30 September 2005
6	Mihail Bosev	(2004-03-26)26 March 2004
7	Kristiyan Chelenkov	(2005-11-07)7 November 2005
8	Dimitar Genov	(2002-01-28)28 January 2002
9	Deyan Lazarov	(2005-05-03)3 May 2005
10	Damyan Minkov	(2002-03-06)6 March 2002
11	Vladimir Nankinski	(2004-09-09)9 September 2004
12	Aleksandar Aleksandrov	(2004-02-04)4 February 2004
13	Georgi Tsekov	(2005-10-28)28 October 2005
20	Kristiyan Dimov	(2005-02-06)6 February 2005
22	Viktor Gergov	(2003-11-20)20 November 2003
23	Konstantin Margaritov	(2006-05-14)14 May 2006
24	Kaloyan Kolev	(2007-04-05)5 April 2007
31	Veselin Gospodinov Jr.	(2002-03-30)30 March 2002
33	Martin Rusev	(2004-05-20)20 May 2004
34	Viktor Margaritov	(2002-12-11)11 December 2002
35	Radoslav Raykov	(2006-04-18)18 April 2006
43	Anton Todorov	(2004-07-01)1 July 2004

• AC-23 (1923–1944)
• Chavdar (1944–1948)
• CSKA Sofia (1948-present)
  • Septemvri pri CDV (Bulgarian: Септември при ЦДВ), September at the Central House of the Troops in 1948 and 1948/49.
  • Narodna Voiska (Bulgarian: Народна Войска), People's Troops in 1950.
  • C.D.N.V. (Bulgarian: Централен Дом на Народната Войска, Ц.Д.Н.В.), Central House of the People's Troops in 1951 and 1952.
  • CDNA (Bulgarian: ЦДНА, Централен Дом на Народната Армия), Central House of the People's Army from 1954 and until the 1961/62 season.
  • CSKA "Cherveno zname" (Bulgarian: ЦСКА „Червено знаме“), CSKA "Red Flag" between 1962/63 and 1967/68.
  • CSKA "Septemvriysko zname" (Bulgarian: ЦСКА „Септемврийско знаме“), CSKA "September's flag" between 1968/69 and 1988/89.
  • CSKA (Bulgarian: ЦСКА), CSKA – Central Sports Club of the Army since 1989/90.

• Bulgarian Championships (1): 2007
• Bulgarian Cup (1): 2007
  • Bulgarian Cup (1): 1974
• Women's Adriatic League (1): 2007
• EuroCup Women 1/16 finalists (1): 2007

EuroCup Women

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2006-07	Preliminary Round, Group C	Botaş SK	67-68	52-57	2nd place
		Hapoel Tel Aviv	85-64	61-79
		Apollon Ptolemaida	86-62	95-66
	Round of 32	Hondarribia Irun	69-66	63-72	132-138

Women's Adriatic League

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2006-07	Regular season	ŽKK Vojvodina	79-64	80-73	3rd place
		Budućnost	92-83	70-76
		Šibenik Jolly	57-63	75-68
		Ragusa Dubrovnik	79-55	84-63
		ŽKK Željezničar Sarajevo	89-78	65-74
		Crvena zvezda	70-54	82-43
		ŽKK Gospić	72-78	65-70
		Jedinstvo	59-50	77-61
		Merkur Celje	84-67	70-71
		ŽKK Herceg Novi	109-70	89-68
	Semi-finals	ŽKK Gospić	75-71
	Final	Šibenik Jolly	73-67

• Official website (in Bulgarian)