PFC Litex Lovech

FC Lovech (; formerly Litex Lovech) is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Lovech, that competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club and was known as Litex Lovech from 1996 to 2024.

The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion, which has a capacity of 8,100 seats, electric floodlights and permission to stage European matches. As one of the successful Bulgarian clubs outside the capital Sofia, Lovech have won the domestic championship four times and the Bulgarian Cup on four occasions. Together with CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia, Lovech was also one of the football clubs to represent the country regularly in the European Club Association.

History

1921–1996

The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya and began playing league football two years later, in 1923. Over the years, the club has changed its name several times. From 1957 it was named Karpachev, before becoming Osam in 1979. Under that name the club played constantly in the B Group, the second division of Bulgarian football and was near to promotion several times. A notable player during this period was Plamen Linkov, who broke the club's appearance record, playing 575 matches and scoring 167 goals respectively.

In 1990, after Bulgaria's transition to market economy, privately owned company LEX became the main sponsor of the club. During the same year, the new owners changed the name of the football club to LEX. The 1993–94 B Group proved to be impressive for the club, as the team finished first in the second division and qualified for the A Group, a notable milestone never done before in the club's history. LEX's debut season in the A Group was also noteworthy, as the team ranked 11th at the end of the season. The next season however proved to be unsuccessful and the club, renamed Lovech, was relegated to the B Group.

Grisha Ganchev ownership (1996–2016)

In June 1996, the club was purchased by Grisha Ganchev, petrol businessman and a citizen of Lovech, and it was renamed to Litex. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high-profile players. Ferario Spasov was named as the new Litex coach. He led the club back to the A Group at their first attempt. During the 1996–97 season Litex also reached the quarter-finals of the Bulgarian Cup and the final of the Bulgarian League Cup, which was lost after a penalty shoot-out.

In 1997, Litex was promoted for the second time to the top division and immediately became Bulgarian champions, finishing the season 5 points ahead of the second-placed Levski Sofia, unprecedented in the Bulgarian football history. The striker of the team Dimcho Belyakov also became top goalscorer with his 21 goals contributed during the season. In addition, midfielder Stoycho Stoilov received the Best Player of the League award. In the club's first appearance in European club competition, Litex eliminated Swedish club Halmstads BK 4–3 on aggregate, reaching the second qualifying round, where it was knocked out by Spartak Moscow.

A year later Litex successfully defended their league title, losing only two league games during the course of the season. They became the first provincial club to win back-to-back league titles since the 1920s. During their campaign, Litex also inflicted the biggest defeat in CSKA Sofia's history, an 8–0 thrashing at the Lovech Stadium.

During the first decade of the 21st century, Litex won the Bulgarian Cup four times—in 2001 after defeating Velbazhd Kyustendil 1–0 in extra time, in 2004 against CSKA after a penalty shoot-out, in 2008 after a 1–0 win over Cherno More Varna, and in 2009, after a 3–0 thrashing over Pirin Blagoevgrad. In early August 2007, Litex signed a three-year sponsorship and advertising contract with Bulgarian mobile operator GLOBUL and started the 2007–08 season with the logo of the mobile service i-mode on the team's kits. In December 2007, Litex became the first Bulgarian club to have a branded mobile phone game, Litex Football. Before the start of the 2008–09 season, Litex lost the Bulgarian Supercup final with 0-1 from CSKA Sofia after a goal from Kiril Kotev in the 65th minute. A season later, Litex again failed to win the Bulgarian Supercup final, this time against domestic title holders Levski Sofia.

In 2009–10, Litex became champions of Bulgaria for the third time in their history, finishing the season with 12 points advantage over the runners-up CSKA Sofia. On 12 August 2010, Litex defeated Beroe 2–1 to finally secure the Bulgarian Supercup, the last remaining domestic trophy never won before by the club. In 2010–11 Litex retained their fourth league title, securing the championship after a 3–1 away win against Lokomotiv Sofia on 21 May 2011.

Expulsion and Daniel Ganchev era (2015–2024)

In the summer of 2015, Grisha Ganchev stepped down from his position as an owner, only to reallocate his main investments to Bulgarian football club CSKA Sofia, which was struggling financially with unpaid debts during the time. As a result, his son Danail took over at Litex, with previous shareholder, Bulgarian joint stock company Sport 96, remaining as a subsidiary of Litex Commerce JSC.

On 16 December 2015, the Bulgarian Football Union expelled Litex Lovech from the A Group. The decision was taken in response to an incident that occurred during Litex Lovech's 12 December tie with Levski Sofia, when chairman Stoycho Stoilov controversially pulled the squad off the field in protest after two players were sent off with Lovech leading 1–0. On 20 January 2016, the team was administratively relegated to the B Group for the following 2016–17 season. Litex's players however were allowed to complete their participation in the Bulgarian Cup and finish the 2015–16 season with the club's reserve squad, Litex Lovech II, playing in the B Group.

On 27 May 2016, the company that represented PFC Chavdar Etropole, PFC Chavdar EAD, was renamed PFC CSKA-1948 AD. On 6 June 2016, the representative of PFC Litex Lovech, PFC Litex-Lovech AD, was renamed PFC CSKA-Sofia EAD, with PFC CSKA-1948 AD being written in as its owner. That company later successfully applied to take part in the reformed First League, as PFC CSKA Sofia. The shift was made because the former company that represented PFC CSKA Sofia, PFC CSKA AD, did not gain a professional license, and later went bankrupt, ceasing operations as of 9 September 2016. PFC Litex Lovech was demoted to the Third League, taking the place of FC Botev Lukovit.

On 4 July 2016, former Litex player Zhivko Zhelev was appointed as a manager of a team that consisted mainly of academy players. Litex managed to win its first match of the new season. The squad also played in the 2016–17 Bulgarian Cup, eliminating First League outfits Slavia Sofia and Cherno More on their way to the semifinals, where Litex lost to reigning five-time champions Ludogorets Razgrad on an aggregate score of 0–11. Litex also was promoted to the Second League, after winning the North-West Group of the Third League.

Return to Lovech Municipality (2024–present)

On 17 May 2024, Litex Commerce JSC announced that they will return the ownership of the club to the Lovech Municipality and the team would drop the company name. On 30 May 2024, the deal was finalised and the club become owned by Lovech Municipality. Zhivko Zhelev was announced as the new manager of the club on 17 June 2024. On 18 July the team announced that the new name would be FC Lovech, despite the chance to return to the old name Osam Lovech.

League positions

ImageSize = width:1600 height:60
PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/2026
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1960

Colors =
id:First_tier value:green legend:First_tier
id:Second_tier value:white legend:Second_tier
id:Third_tier value:red legend:Third_tier
id:Fourth_tier value:yellow legend:Fourth_tier
id:Fifth_tier value:blue legend:Fifth_tier
id:Does_not_exist value:black legend:Does_not_exist

PlotData=
bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center
from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1960 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1961 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1961 till:01/07/1962 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1962 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1963 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1963 till:01/07/1964 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1964 till:01/07/1965 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1965 till:01/07/1966 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1966 till:01/07/1967 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/1967 till:01/07/1968 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/1968 till:01/07/1969 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1969 till:01/07/1970 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1971 shift:(0,-4) text:6
from:01/07/1971 till:01/07/1972 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1972 till:01/07/1973 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1974 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B Group"
from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1976 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1977 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1978 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1979 till:01/07/1980 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1981 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1981 till:01/07/1982 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 shift:(0,-4) text:17
from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1986 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/1986 till:01/07/1987 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1989 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1990 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 shift:(0,-4) text:12
from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1994 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B Group"
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1996 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " A Group"
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B Group"
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:2
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:4
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/2016 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " A Group"
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " 3rd"
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2023 till:01/07/2024 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/2024 till:01/07/2025 shift:(0,-4) text:17
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2025 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " 2nd League"
from:01/07/2025 till:01/07/2026 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/2025 till:01/07/2026 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " 3rd League"

Recent league statistics

Stadium

FC Lovech's (or then Litex Lovech) home ground is the Lovech Stadium, a football stadium in Lovech. Built in 1962, the ground underwent a total reconstruction in 1999 and was brought to a suitable standard to host international matches later that year. The stadium has a capacity of 8,000 seating places with pitch dimensions of 105 to 68 meters. The venue's record attendance of 12,500 was achieved during a domestic league match against Levski Sofia on 19 April 1998. The record attendance in the European club competitions was achieved against English club Aston Villa on 18 September 2008, when around 8,000 spectators supported the team.

In the summer of 2010, a massive reconstruction of the venue started. New side stands with roof covers were built and the media sectors were expanded in order to meet the UEFA guidelines for Champions League matches. On 12 July 2010, the stadium was awarded with a Category 3 ranking by UEFA. The reconstructions continued in the summer of 2011, when the main stand of the stadium was completed.

Honours

Domestic

* First League:
**Winners (4): 1997–98, 1998–99, 2009–10, 2010–11
*Bulgarian Cup:
**Winners (4): 2000–01, 2003–04, 2007–08, 2008–09
*Bulgarian Supercup:
**Winners (1): 2010
* Second League:
**Winners (2): 1993–94, 1996–97
* Third League:
**Winners (2): 1973–74, 2016–17

European

*UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League:
**Round of 32 (2): 2001–02, 2005–06

European record

Players

Current squad

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

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, or held any club record. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.

;Bulgaria
* Aleksandar Tsvetkov
* Angel Lyaskov
* Atanas Bornosuzov
* Dimcho Belyakov
* Dimitar Karadaliev
* Georgi Denev
* Georgi Milanov
* Hristiyan Petrov
* Hristo Yanev
* Hristo Yovov
* Ivan Turitsov
* Ivaylo Petkov
* Ivelin Popov
* Kiril Despodov
* Kristiyan Malinov
* Mihail Venkov
* Momchil Tsvetanov
* Nikolay Dimitrov
* Petar Hubchev
* Petar Zanev
* Plamen Galabov
* Plamen Linkov
* Plamen Nikolov
* Radostin Kishishev
* Rosen Kirilov
* Simeon Slavchev
* Stanislav Manolev
* Stefan Kolev
* Stefan Yurukov
* Stoyan Stavrev
* Stoycho Stoilov
* Strahil Popov
* Svetoslav Todorov
* Tiago Silva
* Tsvetomir Panov
* Vasil Bozhikov
* Vitomir Vutov
* Zdravko Zdravkov
* Zhivko Zhelev
* Zlatomir Zagorčić
* Zoran Janković

;Europe
* Alban Bushi
* Altin Haxhi
* Armando Vajushi
* Jurgen Gjasula
* Džemal Berberović
* Alexandre Barthe
* Jean-Philippe Caillet
* Wilfried Niflore
* Robert Popov
* Bjørn Maars Johnsen
* Bogdan Pătraşcu
* Eugen Trică
* Florin Prunea
* Laurențiu Reghecampf
* Igor Bogdanović
* Nebojša Jelenković
* Milivoje Novakovič

;South America
* Sandrinho
* Doka Madureira
* Tom
* Danilo Moreno Asprilla
* Wilmar Jordán
* Alejandro Cichero

;Africa
* Mourad Hdiouad

Managerial history

This is a list of the recent Litex Lovech managers:

Notable stats

Most goals for the club

First professional league top scorer with the club

Notes: Last update 13 April 2023

All-time top scorers in A PFG

*''Updated 13 December 2014''Ваюши и Десподов от Литекс влязоха в историята
Football24.bg, 13 August 2013

References

External links

;Official websites
*


at UEFA.com
;Supporters website

Ultras website
(archived)
;Information and statistics

Litex
at worldfootball.net

{{Football in Bulgaria

Association football clubs established in 1921
Litex
1921 establishments in Bulgaria