FC Rilski Sportist (ФК Рилски спортист Самоков) 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
football club
In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...
from the town of
Samokov
Samokov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in Samokov Valley between the mountain ranges of Rila, Vitosha and Sredna Gora, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due ...
founded in 1947 and currently playing in the
South-West Third League. Their home stadium is
Iskar Stadium
Iskar Stadium is a multi-use all-seater stadium in Samokov, Bulgaria, named after the Iskar River.
It is currently used for football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football ...
.
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
The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
, however, the team managed to promote to the
A Group
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 ...
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
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International ...
’, which originates from the fact that the town of Samokov and nearby
Borovets
Borovets ( , known as Chamkoria ( ) until the middle of the 20th century) is a mountain resort in Samokov Municipality in Sofia Province in Bulgaria.
Geography
Borovets is situated on the northern slopes of Rila mountain, at an elevation of ...
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
Samokov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in Samokov Valley between the mountain ranges of Rila, Vitosha and Sredna Gora, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due ...
. 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
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 ...
, 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
The 2005–06 B Group was the 50th season of the Bulgarian B Football Group, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. The season started on 13 August 2005 and finished on 7 June 2006 with the A Group promotion play-off between the ...
, which enabled them to play in the
A PFG
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 ...
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
FC Spartak Varna () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Varna, which currently competes in the First League, the top level of Bulgarian football league system. Spartak plays its home matches at the local Stadion Spartak.
Founded ...
, 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
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 ...
has been reaching the quarter-finals in 1950/51 and 2001/02.
"Rilski Sportist" means "
Rila
Rila (, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Musala at an e ...
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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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
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 ...
"
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
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 ...
"
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
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
"
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
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
"
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
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 ...
(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
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 ...
:
* Quarter-final (2):
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
,
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
Georgi Penkov Bozhilov (, born 12 February 1987) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays for Kostinbrod. He has played much of his career as a second striker but he has also been used as a striker and as an attacking midfielder.
Car ...
*
Emil Gargorov
Emil Nikolaev Gargorov (; born 15 February 1981) is a retired Bulgarian footballer.
Career
Born in Sofia, Gargorov came through the youth system at Lokomotiv Sofia. He made his first-team debut in a 2–0 away loss against Shumen at Panayot Vo ...
*
Ivan Karadzhov
Ivan Karadzhov (; born 12 July 1989) is a Bulgarian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Career
He made his official debut for CSKA in the last match of 2008-09 season in the Bulgarian A PFG (Professional Football Group) against Lokomo ...
*
Vasil Kirov
Vasil Kirov (; born 7 December 1975) is a Bulgarian footballer currently playing for Rilski Sportist Samokov as a midfielder.
Kirov previously played for PFC Marek Dupnitsa in the A PFG
The First Professional Football League (), commonly k ...
*
Iliya Milanov
Iliya Ventsislavov Milanov (; born 19 February 1992) is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a defender for Rilski Sportist. His twin brother Georgi Milanov is also a footballer.
Career
Litex Lovech
Born in Levski, Pleven Province, Milanov beg ...
*
Yordan Minev
Yordan Milchev Minev ( Bulgarian Cyrillic: Йордан Минев; born 14 October 1980) is a Bulgarian professional footballer, who plays as a full-back.
Club career
Yordan Minev started his career in home town Pazardzhik for local team Heba ...
*
Dobromir Mitov
Dobromir Mitov (; born 3 April 1972) is a retired Bulgarian football defender.
Honours Club
;CSKA Sofia
* A Group: 1996–97
* Bulgarian Cup
The Bulgarian Cup () is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup compe ...
*
Milen Radukanov
Milen Radukanov (; born 12 December 1972) is a former Bulgarian footballer.
Coaching career CSKA Sofia
In 2010, Radukanov was appointed as CSKA Sofia's assistant coach and interpreter for the Romanian head coach Ioan Andone. Because of that fac ...
*
Mihail Valchev
*
Radoslav Vasilev
*
Ivaylo Yordanov
Ivaylo Stoimenov Yordanov (; born 22 April 1968) is a Bulgarian retired professional association football, footballer who played mainly as a striker (association football), striker.
During his career, he represented mainly Sporting CP, Sportin ...
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
PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was ...
– 6 800 spectators.
References
External links
bgclubs.eu
{{Third Amateur Football League (Bulgaria)
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 ...
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 ...
Samokov
1947 establishments in Bulgaria