FC Lyubimets

Lyubimets

Full name	Football Club Lyubimets
Founded	1921; 103 years ago (1921) /restored 2007/
Ground	Gradski Stadium, Lyubimets
Capacity	4,000
Chairman	Atanas Stalev
Manager	Toshko Yordanov
League	A RFG Haskovo
2023-24	A RFG Haskovo, 4th
Home colours Away colours

FC Lyubimets (Bulgarian: ФК Любимец) is a Bulgarian football club based in Lyubimets. The team was founded in 1921 and re-founded in 2007. The team currently competes in the fourth tier of Bulgarian football, the A RFG Haskovo.^[1]

The club's biggest achievement came in 2013, when Lyubimets managed to promote to the A Group for the first time in club history for the 2013–14 season. Lyubimets was relegated, however, and has since slipped into the amateur levels of Bulgarian football.

The club's home ground is the local Municipal Stadium in Lyubimets, which has an overall capacity of 4,000 seats.

The first club was founded as Football Club Maritsa in 1921. In 1947 the club changed its name to Football Club Strela. In the 1960s the club was finally named Football Club Lyubimets. The club participated in the third and fourth divisions of Bulgarian football for the majority of its history, before being dissolved by the end of the 1993–94 season.

In 2007, thirteen years later, the club was restored as Football Club Lyubimets 2007. In its first season, the club was promoted for the first time to the second division. In its first season in professional football, the club finished in 7th place.

On 9 January 2013, club's former player Veselin Velikov was announced as the new manager.^[2] Four months later he led Lyubimets to promotion to the A PFG for first time in the club's history, finishing in 2nd place in the B PFG.^[3]

The maiden season in the professional top-flight began with a 1–0 win over defending champions Ludogorets Razgrad, a big surprise in Bulgarian football. Lyubimets went on to earn 9 points from their first four games, including wins against Lokomotiv Sofia and Europa League participants Botev Plovdiv (2–1 away in Plovdiv). The team's form dropped after the fifth round, however, as it managed to win only one of their next 18 games in the first phase. This placed them in the relegation group for the remainder of the season. In the relegation round, they won only one of twelve possible matches, and were relegated to the B PFG, after finishing last.

In the summer of 2014, the BFU decided to refuse to give FC Lyubimets a license for the second league, similarly to the other teams relegated that year from the first tier, Neftochimic and Pirin Gotse Delchev. This was done mainly because of financial reasons, as Lyubimets could not provide enough financial resources to sustain themselves in professional football. Lyubimets was subsequently relegated to the fourth tier, the regional league of Haskovo. The team returned to the third tier after two seasons in the fourth division, but was relegated immediately.

• Bulgarian B Group
  • Runners-up (1): 2012–13

As of 1 November 2016^[update] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  BUL Ivan Yordanov 8 MF  BUL Nikolay Nikolaev 9 FW  BUL Ventsislav Yordanov 10 MF  BUL Georgi Drumev 11 DF  BUL Emil Asenov 12 GK  BUL Ventsislav Dimitrov

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 DF  BUL Martin Belomorski 15 MF  BUL Nikolay Ilchev 19 FW  BUL Hristo Dyulgerov 21 MF  BUL Dimitar Dimitrov 22 MF  BUL Atanas Evtimov

After restored

Name Nationality Years Dimcho Markov June 2006–Oct 2008 Ivaylo Petev Oct 2008–Aug 2009 Stamen Belchev Aug 2009–Sept 2012 Krasimir Mechev Sept 2012–Jan 2013 Veselin Velikov Jan 1, 2013–Aug 10, 2013 Krasimir Mechev Aug 10, 2013–Jan 7, 2014 Voyn Voynov Jan 9, 2014

After the club was restored in 2007

Most appearances for the club # Name Apps Years 1 Emil Petkov 98 2008–2012 2 Ivan Minchev 78 2009–present 3 Ventsislav Yordanov 72 2008–2010/2012–present 4 Kircho Krumov 59 2008–2009/2010–2011 5 Anton Ognyanov 53 2011–present

Most goals for the club # Name Gls Years 1 Nikolay Pavlov 20 2011–2012 2 Anton Ognyanov 16 2011–present 3 Emil Petkov 12 2008–2012 4 Tzvetomir Matev 10 2010–2011 5 Atanas Lyubenov 8 2009–2011

Notes:

• Bold signals active players
• Correct as of 2013-06-10

• Official Club Website^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Bulgarian)
• Lyubimetz 2007 at bgclubs.eu (in Bulgarian)