Rilski Sportist

FC Rilski Sportist (ФК Рилски спортист Самоков) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Samokov founded in 1947 and currently playing in the South-West Third League. Their home stadium is Iskar Stadium.

Throughout the majority of its history, Rilski Sportist has competed in the lower levels of Bulgarian football, usually the second, or third tiers. In 2002, however, the team managed to promote to the A Group for the first time. Their inexperience led to an immediate relegation. Three years later, Rilski Sportist returned to the A Group, only to be relegated again. Since then, the club has been competing mostly in the amateur levels of Bulgarian football.

The club's nickname is the ‘Skiers’, which originates from the fact that the town of Samokov and nearby Borovets are major resorts for winter sports in Bulgaria.

History

PFC Rilski Sportist was founded in 1947 after the union of a few smaller teams from Samokov. Throughout much of its history, the team competed in the second or third tiers of Bulgarian football.

In 2002, Sportist achieved its first ever promotion to the Bulgarian elite, then known as A Group, for the 2002–03 season. As expected from a newcomer, Rilski Sportist found it difficult to survive. The team managed to win only one game and finished last, thus being relegated, after just one year among the best.

Three seasons later, the team won the 2005–06 B Group, which enabled them to play in the A PFG for a second time. In their second top-flight season, they won 10 games and earned 30 points. They were the only team to win against Levski in the league in that season. However, they were still 3 points behind 13th placed Spartak Varna, meaning that they were relegated again. The two top flight seasons remain their most important achievement overall. Since then, the team has shifted between the second and third tiers of Bulgarian football.

In the second division "The Skiers" have 23 participations – 664 matches in total, with 269 wins, 139 draws and 253 losses. Their best result in the Bulgarian Cup has been reaching the quarter-finals in 1950/51 and 2001/02.

"Rilski Sportist" means "Rila sportsman" in Bulgarian.

Crest history

File:Rilskiold01.png, 1947–1960
File:Rilskiold03.png, 1978–1990
File:Rilski-sportist small.png, 1990–present

League positions

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DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2023
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bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B Group"
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " A Group"
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift:(0,-4) text:7
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift:(0,-4) text:5
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2006 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B Group"
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 color:green shift:(0,14) text: " A Group"
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:6
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 color:white shift:(0,14) text: " B Group"
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: "Regional"
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift:(0,-4) text:3
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2013 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:1
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 color:yellow shift:(0,14) text: "Regional"
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:14
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:11
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2016 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " V Group"
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:9
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:15
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:8
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:16
from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:13
from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:10
from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2023 color:red shift:(0,14) text: " Third League"

Honours

A Group (now First League):
* Fourteenth place (2): 2002–03, 2006–07

B Group (now Second League):
* Winners (2): 2001–02, 2005–06

A Regional – Sofia:
* Winners (2): 2010–11, 2013–14

Bulgarian Cup:
* Quarter-final (2): 1951, 2001–02

Current squad

''As of 6 March 2024''

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, held any club record, or had more than 100 league appearances. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.

;Bulgaria
* Georgi Bozhilov
* Emil Gargorov
* Ivan Karadzhov
* Vasil Kirov

* Iliya Milanov
* Yordan Minev
* Dobromir Mitov
* Milen Radukanov

* Mihail Valchev
* Radoslav Vasilev
* Ivaylo Yordanov

Past seasons

Stadium

Iskar stadium is situated in the southwestern part of Samokov near the biggest park of the city – "Gradski". Built in 1972, the stadium has around 7 000 seating places, most of which are covered. The field measures 105x68 meters. The best attendance was on 31.8.2002 in the match with PFC Levski Sofia – 6 800 spectators.

References

External links

bgclubs.eu

{{Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria)

Rilski Sportist
Rilski Sportist
Samokov
1947 establishments in Bulgaria