Nikola Shterev - Starika Sports Complex () or simply Starika is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

in Komatevo,

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, Bulgaria. It serves as the training grounds of

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

and as a home to its reserve team and youth academy. For nearly ten years, from late 2013 to April 2023, the first team used the venue for training sessions and official matches, while their stadium, the Hristo Botev Stadium, was being reconstructed.

Overview

The venue has a total of six fields, two of which have an

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

surface, the first one is standard size and the other is long. The surface of the remaining four terrains is made from

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

. Three of them are standard size, the last one being long. A stand with a seating capacity of 1,998 spectators is situated next to one of the fields. The stand consists of two levels. The first one contains two built-in changing rooms, a gym, training rooms, referee rooms, a storage room, a doctor's office, a massage room and a press conferences room. The second level contains a fanshop and a cafeteria. The venue also consists of a hotel part. In July 2023, the venue's name was changed to Nikola Shterev - Starika Sports Complex, in honor of Botev's legend - Nikola Shterev.

Renovations

2016

In order to meet the licensing criteria of the

Bulgarian Football Union The Bulgarian Football Union ( BFS) is the governing body of association football in Bulgaria, and a member of UEFA since 1954. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian Parva Liga, and fields its Bulgaria national football team in UEFA and F ...

, the club bought four floodlight pylons, which were then situated around the official field.

Tenants

In 2017, the football complex was leased to Maritsa Plovdiv, until their stadium was licensed for professional football matches. In 2023, Krumovgrad announced they will play their home games on the venue during the 2023-24 season, as their stadium didn't cover

Bulgarian First League 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 ...

standards.Шефът в „Крумовград“: Неманя Миланович остава, ще играем на „Колежа“, ще строим стадион!
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References

External links

{{Plovdiv Botev Plovdiv Sports venues in Plovdiv Football venues in Bulgaria