BC Yambol () is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club based in

Yambol Yambol ( ) is a city in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the administrative cente ...

. Founded in 1945, Yambol has won the Bulgarian championship once as Yambolgas. They play their home matches at the Diana Hall. The team is a regular first league participant. Former names of the club are Luskov, Tundja, Yambolen and Yambolgas.

History

Founded in 1945, the club joined the third edition of the

Bulgarian Championship The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

to become the first participant of this basketball championship based outside of the capital Sofia. In 1976, the club, as "Luskov"-Yambol, appointed Simeon Varchev as new head coach, who work there until 1980. He recruit some new young players including

Georgi Glouchkov Georgi Nikolov Glouchkov (alternate spelling: Gueorgui) (; born January 10, 1960) is a Bulgarian former professional basketball player and president of Bulgarian Basketball Federation. A 6 ft 8 in (204 cm) forward (basketball), forw ...

, the first bulgarian played in

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. In 1977, they won the first medal for the club, third place in the

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament's format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

and in 1979 the bronze medal in

. In 1980,

moved to

PBC CSKA Sofia BC CSKA Sofia () 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 thei ...

, captain of the team

Ivan Angelov Ivan Angelov (; born 21 January 1979) is a Bulgarian former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. He is a single-time Olympian (2000), and a former Bulgarian record holder in 50, 100, and 200 m backstroke. During his sporting career, Ang ...

retired, and even though Varchev and Ivan Glavov (one of the leading playmakers in league the time) stayed, the club relegated in to the second tier. Yambol stayed there until 1992, when it got promoted and since then remains in the top flight. The coach of the club was Ivan Cholakov, who was team head coach in two periods- 1989-2002 and 2004-2013. In 2002, with the name of Yambolgas by sponsorship reasons, the club won the

after winning to

Lukoil Academic BC Academic Metropol Region () is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. In April 2022, Academic has been reborn and rebranded by the new owners, the German-Bulgarian ex-professional basketball players ...

by 3–0 in the final series. After 29 years in the top flight, Yambol withdrew from NBL, due to financial difficulties, as well as the reconstruction of their

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...

arena and the lack of an available alternative basketball hall. They participate in the second division for the 2024–25 season, mainly with players from their academy, and confirmed their intention of returning to the NBL for the 2025–26 season.

Honours

Winners (1): 2002 ** Silver medal icon

Runners-up (1): 2001 ** Bronze medal icon

Bronze medalist (5): 1979, 2000, 2003, 2011, 2012 *

Bronze medalist (4): 1977, 2000, 2001, 2002

Roster 2022-2023

In Europe

BC Yambol played in

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

(2000, 2001), FIBA Europe Champions Cup for Men 2003/Conference South and NEBL Open 2001/2002.

1999–2000 FIBA Korać Cup The 1999–2000 FIBA Korać Cup was the 29th edition of FIBA's Korać Cup basketball competition. The French Limoges CSP defeated the Spanish Unicaja in the final. This was Limoges' third time winning the title following victories in 1982 and 1983 ...

2000–01 FIBA Korać Cup The 30th edition of the FIBA Korać Cup occurred between September 29, 2000 and April 18, 2001. The competition was won by the Spanish Unicaja, who beat the Yugoslavian Hemofarm in the double finals. Team allocation The labels in the parenthe ...

2002–03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup The 2002–03 FIBA Europe Champions Cup was the first edition of Europe's 3rd-tier level transnational competition for men's professional basketball clubs, the FIBA Europe Champions Cup, following the merger of the FIBA Korać Cup and FIBA Saport ...

Season by season

Notable players

Dimitar Angelov Dimitar Angelov (born August 25, 1979) is retired Bulgarian professional basketball player. He plays as a power forward or small forward and his height is 202 cm. Angelov currently is the head coach for Levski Sofia in the Bulgarian League ...

* Georgi Stankov * Valcho Yordanov *

* Ivan Glavov * Geno Plachkov * Dimitar Dimitrov * Georgi Kovachev * Emil Stamenov * Stanislav Govedarov * Dimitar Horozov * Decho Koeshinov * Rumen Shopov * Martin Durchev * Pavel Marinov * Yulian Radionov * Nikolay Varbanov * Pavlin Ivanov *

Franko Kaštropil Franko Kaštropil (born 8 March 1984) is a Croatian professional basketball player who plays for TV Idstein in the German 2. Regionalliga (German basketball league system, 5th national division). References External links Franko Kaštropil Bask ...

Nemanja Milošević Nemanja Milošević (born July 4, 1987) is a Montenegrin professional basketball player. Professional career Milošević started his career in his home country with power house KK Budućnost Podgorica, Budućnost Podgorica. He won the league ti ...

Ninoslav Tmušić Ninoslav Tmušić (born July 18, 1973) is a former Serbian professional basketball player who last played for KK Karpoš Sokoli, Karpoš Sokoli. References External links Eurobasket ProfileBGBasket ProfileYambolbasket Profile
1973 births L ...

Nenad Djorić Nenad (; Cyrillic script: Ненад) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin. It is common in countries that speak South Slavic languages, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. The name is derived from the ...

* Zoran Stevanovic * John Ofoegbu *

Tony Gugino Tony Gugino (born May 7, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for Academic Plovdiv in the Bulgarian National Basketball League. He played college basketball for Hillsdale College. Professional career During his career, Gugino pla ...

* Yaroslav Zubrytskiy * Volodymyr Ryzhov * Sergey Grishaev * Anatoliy Yasinskiy

Head coaches

* Slavcho Slavov 1956-1959 * Dobri Rusev 1959-1960 * Ivan Stoyanov 1960-1964 * Blagoy Peev 1964-1965 * Ivan Stoyanov 1965-1969 * Velcho Petrov 1969-1972 * Valcho Yordanov 1972-1976 * Simeon Varchev 1976-1980 * Ivan Glavov 1980-1981 * Hristo Kostov 1981-1984 * Ivan Angelov 1984-1986 * Velcho Petrov 1986-1987 * Mityo Georgiev 1987-1989 * Ivan Cholakov 1989-2002¹ *

Zoran Krečković Zoran Krečković ( sr-cyr, Зоран Кречковић, born April 17, 1959) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. Coaching career Krečković began his coaching career in 1996 with IMT Beopetrol in Belgrade. In Feb ...

2002–2003 * Valeri Bachvarov 2003-2004 * Ivan Cholakov 2004-2013² * Yulian Radionov 2013–2015 * Petar Petrov 2015–2017³ * Ivan Cholakov 2017–2020 * Toni Dechev 2020–2022 * Aleksander Aleksiev 2022–2023 * Toni Dechev 2023–2024 * Aleksander Aleksiev 2024–Present ¹During the 2001–02 season, Vitaly Lebedintsev coached 6 regular season games. Lebedintsev was fired in November 2001, and Ivan Cholakov coached the remaining season games.
²During the 2010–11 season, Ivailo Stoimenov coached 7 regular season games. Stoimenov resigned on November 29, 2010, and Ivan Cholakov coached the remaining season games.
³During the 2015–16 season, Ninoslav Marjanovic coached 9 regular season games. Marjanovic resigned on December 5, 2015.
all coaches
/ref>

References

External links

Official websiteEurobasket.com BC Yambol Page
{{BC Yambol current roster Basketball teams in Bulgaria Basketball teams established in 1945 Yambol