1.
Lovech Stadium
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Lovech Stadium is a football stadium in Lovech, Bulgaria. It is currently used for football matches, the stadium has more than 8100 seats. On July 12,2010, the received a 3-star rating by UEFA and currently meets the UEFA guidelines to host Champions League. The record attendance of the stadium was achieved at the game between Levski Sofia and Litex Lovech in 1997, Bulgarian cup match, Litex win 2-0 -12,500 spectators. The reconstructions of the stadium started on May 12,2010 and finished on July 10, summer of 2011 renovations of the stadium continued as the main stand was demolished and a new one constructed. Official website of the football club
2.
Lovech
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Lovech is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about 150 kilometres northeast from the city of Sofia. Near Lovech are the towns of Pleven, Troyan and Teteven, the name is possibly derived from the Slavic root lov, hunting + the Slavic suffix -ech. Lovech is situated in the Forebalkan area of northern Bulgaria, on sides of the river Osam, and unifies both mountainous and plain relief. In the northwest the relief gradually changes to the plains of the neighbouring Pleven Province, the average altitude of Lovech is about 200 m above mean sea level. The highest point of the town is Akbair Hill at 450 m, in Stratesh Park, the highest place in the town, there are a great number of lilac bushes, easily seen from the whole town, which are a wonderful view in the spring. Due to this, Lovech is well known as the town of the lilacs, according to the census, held in February,2011, Lovech is populated by 36,600 inhabitants within city limits. In the 1880s the population of Lovech numbered about 7,000, following the census of 1926 Professor Anastas Ishirkov noted the homogeneity of the population which is 95% of Bulgarian origin. Lovech is one of the oldest towns in Bulgaria, traces of human activities from very ancient times were found in the region, mainly in the caves near the town. The reason was the location between the mountains and the flat country, and the presence of a river. The first inhabitants of the town were the Thracian tribe of the Meldi and they founded their capital, called Melta, in the area, which was situated at the place of todays neighbourhood and architecture reserve Varosha. Parts of this road are to be seen in the territory of Lovech today, in the 12th century Lovech was a great trade centre and one of the most famous towns in Bulgaria. In the 17th century Lovech was once again an important trade centre and one of the richest towns in Bulgaria and he was arrested by the Turkish military in a village near Lovech called Kakrina and later hanged in Sofia. The biggest museum of Vasil Levski in Bulgaria containing many items such as notebooks, clothes. Between 1872 and 1874, the Bulgarian master-builder Nikola Fichev, known also as Kolyu Ficheto, built the famous Covered Bridge over the river Osam, the bridge was burned out in 1925, but rebuilt in 1931. Now it connects the new and the old part of the town and its full of cafes, small restaurants, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, an important battle was held at Lovech, known as the Battle of Lovcha. The war and several plagues and migrations in Wallachia drastically reduced the population, there was a substantial number of victims from the Bulgarian population
3.
Zhivko Zhelev
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Zhivko Dinchev Zhelev is a retired Bulgarian football defender and currently head coach of Litex Lovech. Zhelev joined Litex Lovech quite young but fought hard to get a place in the first team and he formed a formidable duet with ex-Bulgarian national defender Rosen Kirilov. However, due to a lack of strikers Zhelev was also used by managers to play as a striker for Litex and he is the defender who has scored the most goals in the whole history of Bulgarian football. He has been considered one of the players by Litex fans, due to his dedicated and selfless manner of playing. He has been awarded the title The best player of Litex in 2006, on 5 January 2010, Steaua and Oţelul agree Zhelev and Ochiroşii swap deal. On 10 January 2010, Steaua signed the Bulgarian centre-back on a free transfer until June 2011, first match in Liga I for Steaua,20 February 2010 • Steaua-Ceahlăul 1–3. First goal in Liga I for Steaua,25 April 2010 • Steaua-FC Timişoara 3–3, on June 2010, Steaua has terminated the contract with Zhelev. On 25 June 2010, Zhelev signed a deal with the Azerbaijani football club Inter Baku. Thus, he joins compatriot Petar Zlatinov in the club squad, at the end of the 2010–11 season, Zhelev returned to Bulgaria and joined Slavia Sofia on a free transfer. He made his league debut at the start of the 2011–12 season in a 1–0 defeat to Levski Sofia on 8 August. Zhelev was frozen out of the first team in October 2013, in March 2015, Zhelev took over from Radostin Kishishev as head coach of Vereya Stara Zagora. However, his assistant Vladislav Yanush will be registered officially as the manager, in July 2016, Zhelev became the manager of Litex Lovech and will be coaching them in the third tier of Bulgarian football. Litex Lovech Bulgarian A Group, 1998–99 Bulgarian Cup,2001,2004 Zhivko Zhelev at National-Football-Teams. com
4.
Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria)
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The Bulgarian Second Professional Football League or simply Second League is the second level of the Bulgarian football league system, below First League and above the Third League. Sixteen teams take part in the league, each playing twice against all the other, once home, most matches are played on Saturdays and Sundays. The league is administered by the Bulgarian Professional Football League, in 2016, the B Groups name was rebranded to Second Professional Football League. A team receives 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw, no points are awarded for a loss. First place, Direct promotion to A Group, Second place, Promotion playoff against the 9th place team from A Group. 13th to 16th place, Relegation to V Group, the B group was established in 1950 when the league was divided in two groups - North and South, in each group participating 10 teams. The first champions of the B Republican Football Group are Spartak, in season 1951 the group is only one - B Republican Football Group with 12 teams. The regulations are - in A Group are going the top team in the final stadings from Sofia, in the next seasons the league had many changes. In 2000 the Bulgarian Football Union changed the name of the division, the league is formed by 18 teams, not like previous seasons -16 teams. To reduce the teams to 16 again in the season the last six teams that finish in the final standings in the league were directly relegated. Before the start of season 2001/2002 the league was again renamed, the championship started with 13 teams, because Lokomotiv and Belasitsa united with two teams from A Group - Lokomotiv with PFC Velbazhd Kyustendil and Belasitsa with PFC Hebar Pazardzhik. That meant, that this was the end of football in the towns of Kyustendil. Returning to the traditions of the B Republican Football Group was the creating of the B Professional Football Group,16 teams participated in the league, each playing twice against all the other, once home and once away, with no play-offs. Before the start of season 2005/2006 the Bulgarian Football Union decided to divide B Group in two groups - West B Group and East B Group with 14 teams in each group, every team plays 13 matches as home team and 13 matches as away team. On May 19,2008 the two groups were extended to 16 teams, for season 2010/2011 the two groups were reduced again with 12 teams in each. The two teams finished in second place in their group enter in a play-off for winning a place at the final play-off for promotion/relegation with the team that finished 14th in A Group. Revolutionary changes were made before the start of season 2012/2013, the former format of B Group with the two groups was replaced by one division, formed by fourteen teams. The following table presents the former champions of B Group
5.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
6.
Away colours
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Away colours are a choice of coloured clothing used in team sports. They are required to be worn by one team during a game between teams that would wear the same colours as each other, or similar colours. This change prevents confusion for officials, players, and spectators, in most sports it is the visiting team that must change – second-choice kits are commonly known as away kits or change kits in British English, and road uniforms in American English. Some sports leagues mandate that teams must always wear an alternative kit. In some sports, conventionally the home team has changed its kit, in most cases, a team wears its away kit only when its primary kit would clash with the colours of the home team. However, sometimes teams wear away colours by choice, occasionally even in a home game, at some clubs, the away kit has become more popular than the home version. Replica home and away kits are available for fans to buy. Some teams also have produced third-choice kits, or even old-fashioned throwback uniforms, in American sports, road teams usually wear a change uniform regardless of a potential colour clash. Further, almost all road uniforms are white in American football, in the National Basketball Association, home uniforms are white or yellow, and visiting teams wear a darker colour. In the United States, color vs. color games are a rarity, most teams choose to wear their color jerseys at home, with the road team changing to white in most cases. White road uniforms gained prominence with the rise of television in the 1950s, a white vs. color game was easier to follow in black-and-white. According to Phil Hecken, until the mid 1950′s, not only was color versus color common in the NFL, even long after the advent of color television, the use of white jerseys has remained in almost every game. The NFLs current rules require that a home jerseys must be either white or official team color throughout the season. If a team insists on wearing its home uniforms on the road, the road team might instead wear a third jersey, such as the Seattle Seahawks Wolf Grey alternate. According to the Gridiron Uniform Database, the Cleveland Browns wore white for home game of the 1955 season. The only times they wore brown was for games at Philadelphia and the New York Giants, in 1964 the Baltimore Colts, Browns, Vikings and Rams wore white regularly for their home games according to Tim Brulias research. The St. Louis Cardinals wore white for several of their home games, until 1964 Dallas had worn blue at home, but it was not an official rule that teams should wear their colored jerseys at home. The use of white jerseys was instigated by general manager Tex Schramm, the Cowboys still wear white at home today
7.
Bulgarian language
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Bulgarian /bʌlˈɡɛəriən/, /bʊlˈ-/ is an Indo-European language, a member of the Southern branch of the Slavic language family. Various evidential verb forms exist to express unwitnessed, retold, with the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Bulgarian became one of the official languages of the European Union. Development of the Bulgarian language may be divided into several periods, prehistoric period – occurred between the Slavonic migration to eastern Balkans and the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia in the 860s. Old Bulgarian – a literary norm of the southern dialect of the Common Slavic language from which Bulgarian evolved. It was used by Saints Cyril and Methodius and their disciples to translate the Bible, Middle Bulgarian – a literary norm that evolved from the earlier Old Bulgarian, after major innovations were accepted. It was a language of literary activity and the official administration language of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Modern Bulgarian – dates from the 16th century onwards, undergoing general grammar, present-day written Bulgarian language was standardized on the basis of the 19th-century Bulgarian vernacular. Bulgarian was the first Slavic language attested in writing, as Slavic linguistic unity lasted into late antiquity, in the oldest manuscripts this language was initially referred to as языкъ словяньскъ, the Slavic language. In the Middle Bulgarian period this name was replaced by the name языкъ блъгарьскъ. In some cases, the name языкъ блъгарьскъ was used not only with regard to the contemporary Middle Bulgarian language of the copyist but also to the period of Old Bulgarian. During the Middle Bulgarian period, the language underwent dramatic changes, losing the Slavonic case system, today one difference between Bulgarian dialects in the country and literary spoken Bulgarian is the significant presence of Old Bulgarian words and even word forms in the latter. Russian loans are distinguished from Old Bulgarian ones on the basis of the presence of specifically Russian phonetic changes, as in оборот, непонятен, ядро and others. As usual in cases, many other loans from French, English. Modern Bulgarian was based essentially on the Eastern dialects of the language, between 1835–1878 more than 25 proposals were put forward and linguistic chaos ensued. Eventually the eastern dialects prevailed, and in 1899 the Ministry of Education officially codified a standard Bulgarian language based on the Drinov-Ivanchev orthography, the language is mainly split into two broad dialect areas, based on the different reflexes of the Common Slavic yat vowel. This split, which occurred at some point during the Middle Ages, led to the development of Bulgarias, E. g. млеко – milk, хлеб – bread. This rule obtains in most Eastern dialects, although some have ya, or an open e sound. The literary language norm, which is based on the Eastern dialects
8.
Bulgaria
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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europes 16th-largest country. Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period and its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State, the following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, in December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgarias transition into a democracy and a market-based economy. Bulgarias population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised, most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are industry, power engineering. The countrys current political structure dates to the adoption of a constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative. Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic, animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans. Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, the latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation. Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins, weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure and this site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies. Thracians, one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians, began appearing in the region during the Iron Age. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria, and kept it until 479 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control, by this time, Christianity had already spread in the region. A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century, the first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria. From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region, in 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska
9.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
10.
Sofia
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Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. The city has a population of 1.26 million, while 1.68 million people live in its metropolitan area, the city is located at the foot of Vitosha Mountain in the western part of the country, within less than 50 kilometres drive from the Serbian border. Its location in the centre of the Balkan peninsula means that it is the midway between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, whereas the Aegean Sea is the closest to it, Sofia has been an area of human habitation since at least 7000 BC. Being Bulgarias primate city, Sofia is a hometown of many of the local universities, cultural institutions. Sofia is one of the top 10 best places for business in the world. Sofia is Europes most affordable capital to visit as of 2013, for the longest time the city possessed a Thracian name, derived from the tribe Serdi, who were either of Thracian, Celtic, or mixed Thracian-Celtic origin. It seems that the first written mention of Serdica was made during his reign, during the Romans civitas Serdenisium was mentioned the brightest city of the Serdi in official inscriptions. The city was major throughout the past ever since Antiquity, when Roman emperor Constantine the Great referred to it as my Rome, other names given to Sofia, such as Serdonpolis and Triaditza, were mentioned by Byzantine Greek sources or coins. The Slavic name Sredets, which is related to middle and to the citys earliest name, the city was called Atralissa by the Arab traveller Idrisi and Strelisa, Stralitsa or Stralitsion by the Crusaders. The name Sofia comes from the Saint Sofia Church, as opposed to the prevailing Slavic etymology among Bulgarian cities and towns. It is ultimately derived from the Egyptian Kemetic word sbÅ, meaning star, door, teaching and wisdom and this was a tradition of collection of wise literature, shared between Mediterranean cultures, which was called sophia in Greek. In these documents the city is called Sofia, but at the time the region and the citys inhabitants are still called Sredecheski. The city became popular to the Ottomans by the name Sofya. In 1879 there was a dispute about what the name of the new Bulgarian capital should be, the citys name is pronounced by Bulgarians with a stress on the o, in contrast with the tendency of foreigners to place the stress on i. The female given name Sofia is pronounced by Bulgarians with a stress on the i, Sofia has an area of 492 km2, while Sofia City Province has an area of 1344 km2. Sofias development as a significant settlement owes much to its position in the Balkans. It is situated in western Bulgaria, at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the Sofia Valley that is surrounded by the Balkan mountains to the north. The valley has an altitude of 550 metres
11.
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria)
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The First Professional Football League is a Bulgarian professional league for mens association football clubs. Standing at the top of the Bulgarian football league system, it serves as the primary football competition. The league determines the champion of Bulgaria and is contested by fourteen teams and it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the second tier of the Bulgarian football league pyramid, the Second League. Known by its previous name A Group, the Bulgarian top-tier was fully restructured during the summer of 2016, the Bulgarian football championship was inaugurated in 1924 as the Bulgarian State Football Championship and has been played in a league format since 1948, when the A Group was established. The champions of the First League have the right to participate in the rounds of the UEFA Champions League based on the leagues European coefficient. Additionally, two UEFA Europa League spots are allocated to the team in the final standings and the winner of the European playoffs. A further fourth spot may also be granted to the fourth placed team in the league ranking. A total of 67 clubs have competed in the Bulgarian top-tier since its establishment, in the last decade, many teams such as the current champions Ludogorets were introduced for the first time in the league. In 2016–17, Vereya Stara Zagora became the 67th club to participate in the competition, since 1948, eleven different teams have been crowned champions of Bulgaria. The three most successful clubs are CSKA Sofia with 31 titles, Levski Sofia with 26 titles, the current champions Ludogorets Razgrad won their fifth consecutive title in their fifth First League season in 2015–16. The first football championship of Bulgaria started in 1924 in a knockout format, an attempt to form a league as the top division of the Bulgarian football league system was made in 1937–1940, when the National Football Division was created. There were 10 teams, each playing twice against all the others, once home, the team that finished first in the table became champions. The first season of the A Republican Football Group started in the autumn of 1948. In that season, ten teams participated in the league, Levski, Septemvri, Lokomotiv, Slavia and Spartak from the capital city Sofia, the first football champion of the A Republican Football Group was Levski in 1948–49. The 1949/50 season in the A Group was not completed, the league was stopped after the first fixture. It was then decided that the championship of Bulgaria would be played in a cycle as in the Soviet Union. In the autumn of 1949, qualification tournaments were played to determine the teams that would play in the next 1950 season, in the next two seasons the number of teams in the league was increased to 12, and for the 1953 season there were 15 teams. In seasons 1954 and 1955 there were 14 teams in the league, in 1958, the championship was again stopped after the spring half-season, as had happened in 1948
12.
Bulgarian Cup
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The Bulgarian Cup is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournaments format is single-elimination, with all matches being one-legged, the competitions winner gets the right to take part in the UEFA Europa League. If the winner has already secured a place through the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, the competition has been dominated by Sofia-based teams. The Sofia teams have won together a number of 61 titles. The two most successful teams are Levski Sofia and CSKA Sofia, the most recent winners of the Bulgarian Cup is CSKA Sofia, who beat Montana 1–0 in the 2016 Bulgarian Cup Final. The first Bulgarian national tournament was the Tsars Cup, the competition is officially recognised as the foundation of the modern domestic cup by the Bulgarian Football Union. The trophy was decided over a series of direct knock-out matches in which the champions of the countrys oblasts played in one-legged single-elimination rounds, in 1937 the first national league was created to determine the football champion of Bulgaria. The tournament for the Tsars Cup, however, remained a prestigious competition in the country, the winners of the trophy between 1938 and 1942 are officially recognised as domestic cup holders by the BFU. The competition was not held between 1942 and 1945 due to World War II and only returned in 1946, Bulgaria was now under Communist rule, and reformed their football league structure and competitions along the lines of other Soviet states. The new Central Football Committee created the Soviet Army Cup in time for the 1945-46 season, for the remainder of the communist period in Bulgaria, an annual two-legged knock-out tournament was held. The tournament had a national scope but initially included only top tier clubs and it served as the primary means of qualification to the UEFA Cup Winners Cup between 1960 and 1982. In 1981, in honour of the 1300th anniversary of the country, the tournament for the Cup of the Soviet Army gradually lost its importance due to the success of the Bulgarian Cup and in 1983 it ceded primacy to the new competition. Levski Sofia, as the club to have won the Soviet Army Cup most times, were awarded the trophy to keep in their collection. The Bulgarian Cup tournament is divided in two phases - the Qualification phase and the Final phase, in this phase are participating teams from the four groups of the amateur division V AFG and teams from Bulgarian A Regional Football Group. In this phase are participating the teams that have won their matches in the Qualification phase, the team from a lower league division is the home team. In matches between teams from same division the team is determined by lot. Round 1 -32 teams participate (the teams that have won their matches in the Qualification phase, round 2 -32 teams participate
13.
PFC CSKA Sofia
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PFC CSKA Sofia is a professional association football club from Sofia, Bulgaria, which currently competes in the countrys premier football competition, the First League. CSKA stands for Central Sports Club of the Army, established on May 5,1948, CSKA have won a record 31 Bulgarian titles, and 4 national supercups, as well as 20 Bulgarian Cups. The clubs home colours are red and white, CSKAs home ground is the Bulgarian Army stadium in Sofia. The clubs biggest rivals are Levski Sofia and matches between the two sides are known as The Eternal Derby of Bulgaria. With the help of Mihail Mihaylov again, in February 1948 Chavdar became the club of the Central House of the Troops. Looking for ways to halt the decline, CDVs administrators sought to merge it with another club. In May 1948, an agreement was reached between CDV and Septemvri Sofia for uniting the clubs under the name Septemvri pri CDV, the contract was signed on 5 May 1948, which is officially considered the clubs date of foundation. The clubs first official game took place on 19 May 1948, against Slavia Sofia at Yunak Stadium, Septemvri pri CDV eliminated Aprilov and Spartak Varna on its way to the final, where it faced Levski Sofia, losing 1–2 in the first leg. The decisive second match took place on 9 September 1948, the score was 3–3 on aggregate, as Septemvri pri CDV led 2–1 near the end of regulation time, when a last-minute goal by Nako Chakmakov gave the club its first title ever. The following two years, C. D. N. V. won two titles in a row, in 1951, the Army club clinched their first double. In 1953, the club was renamed by the authorities again, this time to Otbor na Sofiyskiya Garnizon, in 1962, CDNA was united with DSO Cherveno Zname to form CSKA Cherveno Zname. The Central House of the Peoples Troops ceased its affiliation with the club, CSKA finished third after Spartak Plovdiv and Botev Plovdiv in the 1962–63 season. The following season, CSKA had its worst performance in the Bulgarian championship to date and this led to the sacking of legendary coach Krum Milev after 16 years. CSKA did not recapture the title until 1966, during the 1966–67 season, however, CSKA made its first major international achievement in reaching the semi finals of the European Cup for the first time, where it faced Italian grand Inter Milano. After two hard-fought 1–1 draws, a decisive match was played, which CSKA lost 0–1. The next two seasons were unmemorable for The Army Men, as finished in 5th and 2nd place consecutively. CSKA was again joined with Septemvri Sofia in 1968, and the club took the name CSKA Septemvriysko Zname. The club clinched the title in 1969 with the help of the recent acquisition of Petar Zhekov, the 1970s are widely considered the period when CSKA made its name on the European stage
14.
PFC Levski Sofia
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PFC Levski Sofia, commonly known as Levski Sofia, is a professional association football club based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The team competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system, Levski have participated in more seasons of the Bulgarian football championship than any other team, and are the only Bulgarian team to have never been relegated. They have won 73 trophies including 26 A Group titles,25 Bulgarian Cups and 3 Super Cups, on an international basis, Levski have reached three European Cup Winners Cup quarter-finals and two UEFA Cup quarter-finals. In 2006-07, they became the first Bulgarian club to reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. The teams regular kit colour is all-blue, Levskis home ground is the Vivacom Arena - Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in Sofia, which has a capacity of 25,000 spectators. The clubs biggest rivals are CSKA Sofia, and matches between the two sides are commonly referred to as The Eternal Derby of Bulgaria. Levski is also a member of the European Club Association. Sport Club Levski was founded in 1911 by a group of students at the Second Male High School in Sofia, the clubs name was chosen in honour of the Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski, and the club was officially registered on May 24,1914. In 1914 Levski lost its first official match against FC13 Sofia by 0–2, in that period football wasnt a popular sport in Bulgaria, so there isnt any other information from the period concerning the club. In the summer of 1921, the Sofia Sports League was founded and it united 10 clubs from Sofia, marking the beginning of organized football competitions in the city. The Blues won the first match in the championship for the season 1921–22, held on September 18,1921, Levski captured the first place in the league in 1923 after a dramatic 3–2 win over bitter rival Slavia Sofia and successfully defended the title in the following season. The first National Championship was held in 1924 with Levski representing Sofia, the team went on to win the title in 1933,1937 and 1942, and established itself as the most popular football club in Bulgaria. Levski also became the holder for all times of the Ulpia Serdica Cup by virtue of winning it for the time in a row in 1933. In 1929 Levski became the first semi-professional football club in Bulgaria, after 12 players staged a boycott of the team in demand of financial remuneration, the same year Levski met its first international opponents, losing to Gallipoli Istanbul 0–1 and winning against Kuban Istanbul 6–0. After World War II, Levski became one of the two top clubs in Bulgaria, after winning the championship in 1946,1947,1949,1950 and 1953 Levski would not capture the domestic title again until the mid-1960s. In 1949 the authorities changed the name to Dinamo following the Soviet traditions. The 1960s were marked with return to both on the domestic and on the international stage. The tie against Benfica in the European Cup in 1965 remained memorable for the Eusébio versus Georgi Asparuhov clash, in January 1969 Levski was merged with Spartak Sofia and put under the auspice of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry
15.
European Club Association
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The European Club Association is a body representing the interests of association football clubs in UEFA. It is the sole such body recognised by UEFA, and has member clubs in each UEFA member association and it was formed in 2008 to replace the G-14, which comprised a small number of élite clubs and was unrecognised by UEFA. The ECAs mission statement is to create a new, more democratic governance model that reflects the key role of the clubs. In addition to replacing the G-14, which was dissolved in favour of the ECA on 15 February 2008, the European Club Forum utilized a similar membership selection process as the European Club Association, with 102 members picked every two years. It was decided that the ECA Board would comprise eleven members, the European Club Association will also provide half of the members of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee. The transitional ECA Board was Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Joan Laporta, John McClelland, Umberto Gandini, Peter Kenyon, Maarten Fontein, elections for the Executive Board for the 2017-19 cycle are set to take place at the next General Assembly in Geneva in September 2017. The European Club Association is made up of bodies including working groups, expert panels. These are as follows, Since the creation of the ECA and they provide active advice and support to the ECA Executive Board and to ECA representatives participating in committees or working groups at UEFA, FIFA and EU level. Their contribution is key and strategic to the association, in addition, they drive membership engagement and communication across the organisation on key issues, challenges and opportunities. All working groups are made up of both Ordinary Member and Associated Member Clubs from all four subdivisions, Youth Working Group, Chaired by ECA Executive Board Member Edwin van der Sar, the Youth Working Group attempts to stimulate, develop and protect the grassroots of European club football. Financial Fair Play Panel, charged with collaborating with UEFA in order to elaborate, implement and assess the UEFA Club Licensing. Statutory Affairs Panel, Entrusted with dealing with and analyzing membership applications, issues of eligibility of Members, Womens Football Committee, Acts as a platform to discuss issues related to womens football and to establish a dialogue with relevant stakeholders in womens football. The committee originally consists of 23 clubs including the section of 18 ECA members and 5 non-ECA member womens teams ranked top of their respective National Associations. FFC Turbine Potsdam, Bayern Munich, PAOK, Torres, FC Skonto, Birkirkara, Twente, Lillestrøm FK Kvinner, FC Rossiyanka, Slovan Bratislava, Elitdamfotbal, Zürich Frauen. Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed by UEFA in 2008, the European Club Association was recognized as the body representing the interests of clubs at European level. The target distribution amount for Euro 2008 is €43.5 million, a renewed Memorandum of Understanding for the period 2012-2018 was signed on 22 March 2012 between ECA and UEFA at the occasion of the XXXVI Ordinary UEFA Congress. The memorandum was signed by ECA Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and UEFA President Michel Platini and it paves the way for a fruitful relationship between European clubs and Europes football governing body, reflecting an improved balance between national team and club football. The new MoU supersedes the 2008 MoU and is now in effect until 30 May 2018
16.
1921 in association football
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The following are the football events of the year 1921 throughout the world. September - There is a split in Irish football following the partition of Ireland. The leading Dublin clubs breakaway from the Belfast-based Irish Football Association over a perceived northern bias
17.
Stoycho Stoilov
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Stoycho Stoilov is a former Bulgarian football midfielder. He is currently employed in an official capacity with CSKA Sofia, in his career Stoilov played for Pirin Blagoevgrad, CSKA Sofia, Dobrudzha Dobrich and Litex Lovech. Stoilov also had a spell with 1, FC Nuremberg in the German Fußball-Bundesliga. He was in the Bulgarian squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, on 14 November 2002, Stoilov was seriously wounded after being shot by former army serviceman Simeon Mechev, following a traffic dispute. Stoilov managed to recover after extensive treatment, but the incident effectively spelt the end of his playing career, the culprit was originally to spend 10 years in prison, but his sentence was eventually reduced to 6 years. Mechev was released from jail in August 2011 after remaining behind bars for approximately four years, following his retirement, Stoilov became part of the organizational management of Litex Lovech. CSKA Sofia Bulgarian A Group, 1991–92 Litex Lovech Bulgarian A Group, 1997–98, bundesliga, 2000–01 Stoycho Stoilov at National-Football-Teams. com
18.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
19.
Halmstads BK
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Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad or HBK, is a Swedish football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. HBK is a member controlled club and does not have a single owner, the club gained some European recognition in 1995, when they defeated the successful Italian club Parma A. C. 3–0 at Gamla Ullevi in the first of two matches in the Cup Winners Cup. However, their encounter, in Parma, ended with a crushing 0–4 defeat. In 1913 a group of youngsters, who called themselves Viking, wishing to create a serious organization, met at Hotel Lugnet. They gave their new organization the name Halmstads Bollklubb and chose Axel Winberg as the clubs first chairman and they also applied for membership in the Riksidrottsförbundet, or the Swedish Sports Confederation. In 1917 the club was able to defeat Halmstads Kamraterna twice and end up in place behind IS Halmia. The final in the championship was reached in 1918. In 1919 the club was for the first time able to defeat IS Halmia and Gustav Pytt Söderholm became top goalscorer in the tournament, in 1920 the club won their first district championship title by defeating Falkenbergs FF with 4–0 in the final and boxing was introduced by the club. In 1925 the club won the championship and came in second place in Sydsvenskan. Halmstads BK was able to win Sydsvenskan in 1926 and was to play qualifying matches against IF Elfsborg to reach Allsvenskan, however Elfsborg proved to be too strong and won 2–1 after three matches. Halmstad only reached third place in 1927, a series of injuries made the club use 32 different players in total. Halmstads BK started the decade with ending up in 4th place in the league, a visit by CD Europa did pull a large audience. After a late start in 1931, due to heavy snowing. Unexpected the club won bronze their first season in the top league as when they finished in 4th place, the club was unable to repeat last seasons result and ended up in 9th place in 1935, handball was also made a part of the club this year. Halmstads BK left the top league in 1936 after ending up second last,1938 was a middle year for Halmstads BK as they ended up in 6th position at the end of the season, English club Sheffield United played a friendly against the club and won with 5–2. In 1939 the club celebrated its 25th year and won Division 2, however IFK Göteborg proved to strong in the qualify, Halmstads BK was the superior team in 1941 Division 2 but failed to defeat GAIS in the qualify for Division 1. Halmstads BK won Division 2 after hard competition with local rivals IS Halmia in 1942, the club ended up in 6th place in 1943, only 1 point from earning a medal. Halmstad was close to out of the top division in 1944
20.
FC Spartak Moscow
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FC Spartak Moscow is a Russian football club from Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships and a record 9 Russian championships and they have also won a record 10 Soviet Cups and 3 Russian Cups. Spartak have also reached the semi-finals of all three European club competitions, historically, the club was a part of the Spartak sports society. Other teams in the society include ice hockey club HC Spartak Moscow, currently, the club is not connected with Spartak sports society and is an independent privately owned organization. In the early days of Soviet football, many government agencies such as the police, army, so many statesmen saw in the wins of their teams the superiority over the opponents patronizing other teams. Almost all the teams had such kind of patrons—Dinamo with the police, CSKA with the army and Spartak, the history of the football club and sports society Spartak originates from the Russian Gymnastics Society, which was founded on May 4,1883. In the spring of 1922 the RGO Sokol was renamed into MKS, in 1922, the Moscow Sport Circle, later named Krasnaya Presnya, was formed by Ivan Artemyev and involved Nikolai Starostin, especially in its football team. The team grew, building a stadium, supporting itself from ticket sales, the team changed sponsors repeatedly over the following years as it competed with Dinamo Moscow, whose 35,000 seat Dinamo Stadium lay close by. As a high-profile sportsman, Starostin came into contact with Alexander Kosarev, secretary of the Komsomol who already had a strong influence on sport. In November 1934, with funding from Promkooperatsiia, Kosarev employed Starostin, again the team changed its name, this time to Spartak Moscow. The club founders, four Starostin brothers, played a big role in the formation of the team, the Starostins played for the red-whites in the 1930s but right before World War II they were subjected to repression as the leaders of the most hated team by the state authorities. Elder brother Nikolai Starostin wrote in his books that he had survived in the State Prison System due to his participation in football, after the political rehabilitation, in 1954, he would later return to the team as the squads manager. In 1935, Starostin proposed the name Spartak that was derived from Spartacus, a gladiator-slave who led a rebellion against Rome, Starostin is also credited with the creation of the Spartak logo. The same year, the became a part of newly created Spartak sports society. Czechoslovak manager Antonin Fivebr is credited as the first head coach of Spartak, in 1936, the Soviet Top League was established, where its first championship was won by Dynamo Moscow while Spartak won its second, which was held in the same calendar year. Before World War II, Spartak earned two more titles, in 1937 Spartak won the football tournament of Workers Olympiad at Antwerp. During the 1950s, Spartak, together with Dynamo, dominated the Soviet Top League, when the Soviet national team won gold medals at the Melbourne Olympics, it consisted largely of Spartak players. Spartak captain Igor Netto was the captain of the team from 1954 to 1963
21.
FC Velbazhd Kyustendil
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F. C. Velbazhd is a Bulgarian association football club based in Kyustendil. The club currently competes in the Third League, the club was founded in 1919. Velbazhd have spent the majority of their history between the second and third tiers of the Bulgarian football league system. They won first promotion to the A Group in 1954, and have played a total of 7 seasons in the top flight and this is generally seen as the clubs most successful period. Velbazhd finished third in A Group in 1999,2000 and 2001, competed in the Intertoto Cup in the 2000–01 season, Velbazhd was formed in 1919, though the club changed its name in the following year to Sport Club Motsion. In 1928 they changed their name to Sport Club Borislav, from 1940 to 1945 the club is called Pautalia. After the World War II they changed their name to Cherveno zname, in 1956 the club was renamed to Levski. In 1970 the club returned to its original name Velbаzhd, in 1953 they were promoted to Bulgarian footballs top division for the first time in their history. The 1954 season saw Velbazhd make their first appearance in the top flight of Bulgarian football and this first season was less successful and they were relegated back to the B PFG, finishing on 12th place. In 1994–95 season Velbazhd won their promotion to A PFG. In 1998–99 season they finished 3rd, their highest ever league finish, in the following season Velbazhd also finished 3rd. The clubs forward Mihail Mihaylov became A PFG top scorer with 20 goals, in 2001 Velbazhd reached the Bulgarian Cup Final for the first time, beating Marek Dupnitsa, Metalurg Pernik, Spartak Pleven and Lokomotiv Sofia for a place in the final. However, they lost the final 1–0 to Litex Lovech, Bulgarian A Group, Third place, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01 Bulgarian Cup, Runners-up,2001 As of 1 September 2015 Note, Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality, Note, For a complete list of Velbazhd Kyustendil players, see Category, PFC Velbazhd Kyustendil players
22.
PFC Cherno More Varna
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Founded on March 3,1913, as an association football branch of the larger sports society SC Galata, the club has spent the majority of its existence playing in the top tier of Bulgarian football. Cherno More is named after the Black Sea, and the club is also known by its nickname The Sailors. Cherno Mores home ground is the Ticha Stadium, which has a capacity of 8,250 spectators. As one of the clubs in Bulgarian football outside the capital Sofia, the Sailors have won the Bulgarian championship on four different occasions. The club has a rivalry with neighbouring Spartak Varna, with matches between the two being commonly referred to as The Derby of Varna. Оn March 3,1913, Galata Sports Association was established in the male first high school in Varna, on May 24,1914 Sportist Sports Club, which was formed by Stefan Tonchev and a group of boys in 1909, joined Reka Ticha. Several years later, the first international friendly in Bulgarian club football history was played in 1915 between Reka Ticha and the 21st Pomeranian Regiment of Prussia, which ended in a 4-4 draw, the away match with Levski in Sofia however did not take place. It was written by the sports functionary and Reka Tichas member Stefan Tonchev, on January 21,1919, SC Reka Ticha changed its name to Sports Club Ticha, and the kit colours were chosen to be red and white. In the same year, the Bulgarian musician Nikola Nitsov wrote the anthem of the club. In 1921 Sports Club Granit left the collective membership with SK Ticha due to financial disputes and their emblem was the four-leaf clover and the kit colours were green and white which are still today the official colours of successor Cherno More. SC Vladislav was to become the first team to win the Tsars Cup in 1925 rendering them the first champions of the Kingdom of Bulgaria. The captain, Egon Terzetta is revered by the Cherno More fans as the scorer in the final match, later, in 1945 they will rejoin SK Ticha in a merger and the club will be known as Ticha-Vladislav 45. In 1925 SK Ticha won the Cup of Bucharest, after two wins against Tricolor and Sportul Sudenesc both from Bucharest. This turned to be the first international trophy won by a Bulgarian football club. In 1935 and 1936 SK Ticha finished as runners-up in the knockout National competition, in 1938 the club became Bulgarian champions winning the first edition of the United National Football league. Boyan Byanov of SK Ticha captained the National team in its first ever match against Austria in Vienna, the same year he also participated in the Olympic National team for the Paris games. With the establishment of Communist rule in Bulgaria after WWII, significant changes took place affecting all leading clubs without exception and it was a time for mergers, splits, changing of names and in some cases closure of clubs. All this, to suit the new vision of the new communist ruled government, on 18 February 1945, SC Ticha and SC Vladislav merged with all their available assets and the new name of the club was Ticha-Vladislav
23.
OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad
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OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the Parva Liga, the first division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 2008, after a merger between two clubs from Blagoevgrad, Pirin 1922 and PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad. By an official court decision later that year, the club was announced as a successor of the club records of the former FC Pirin. In 2011, following a bankruptcy of the entity, which represented the club, Pirins football department was merged once again with Perun Kresna. Pirin Blagoevgrads name is adopted from Pirin, a range in southwestern Bulgaria. The clubs home ground is the Hristo Botev Stadium in Blagoevgrad with a capacity of 7,000 spectators, Pirins nickname is Orletata and their kit colours are dark green and white. One of OFC Pirin Blagoevgrads predecessors, FC Pirin, was founded in 1922, the clubs first participation in the UEFA tournaments was not promising. In 1985, Pirin faced the then reigning Swedish champion Hammarby IF, the first game in Blagoevgrad, ended with a 1–3 loss. The second game in Sweden was also a defeat – 0–4, Pirins best season in the Bulgarian top division was in the 1984–85 season, where they finished at 5th place at the end of the season. The club was three times runner-up of the Bulgarian Cup. Also, Pirins youth academy is attributed as being one of the best developers of young, among the clubs famous players are Dimitar Berbatov, Spas Delev, Petar Mihtarski, Ivaylo Andonov, Ivan Cvetkov, Vladislav Zlatinov and Petar Zlatinov. However, after two years, Pirin won the South-West V AFG and the club returned for the season of the Western B PFG. In December 2008, Pirin, which competed in the Western B PFG, was merged with PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad, which played in the A PFG after a significant pressure from the supporters in the town. The new club was named FC Pirin Blagoevgrad and was proclaimed as a holder of the club records of the former FC Pirin. FC Pirins West B PFG place was taken by FC Bansko, then, Nikolay Galchev appointed Petar Mihtarski as a manager of the club. A few months later, under Naci Şensoys management, the successes followed-up and Pirin qualified for the final of the Bulgarian Cup, eliminating subsequently on their way CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia. In the final played at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in Sofia. In the foremath of the 2011–12 season, Pirin Blagoevgrad failed to receive a license for the A Group
24.
Telenor (Bulgaria)
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Telenor is the second-largest Bulgarian GSM/UMTS operator. The company was founded as Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile in 2001 and operated under the brand name Globul to 2014 and it was owned by Greek operator OTE from 2001 to 2013, and from 2005 to 2013 it was part of the Cosmote brand line. As of 2013, the company is 100% owned by Telenor Group, at the end of 2012, Globul reported 4.5 million subscribers, with 36% subscriber market share. As of 2012, Globul had about 62% contract subscribers, about 38% prepaid subscribers, Globul changed its company logo in June 2006 to unify it with the Cosmote brand. Second rebranding started on 16 October 2014 after Telenors acquisition, Globul has been using Telenors name since November 2014. As of 2012, Globuls GSM network covers 99, 98% of Bulgaria’s population and 99, the company has roaming agreements with over 400 operators in more than 170 countries and territories worldwide. In 2005, Globul received a license for developing and implementing 3G UMTS mobile telecommunications network as well as a fixed telephony license. 3G services were launched in September 2006 and have since upgraded to support HSPA+ with speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s download and 5.76 Mbit/s upload. As of December 2012, Globuls UMTS network covers 94, 81% of the countrys population, Telenor uses the access code 089. Until 2003, it used the codes 099 and 098, the latter having been added as the network had expanded, in mid-2003, however, mobile numbers in Bulgaria increased by one digit and the network code changed to 089 only. Alongside Globul, OTE had also owned one of the two public telephone networks in the country – BulFon, which it sold back to the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company in 2005, after Telenor acquired Globul was made the intent that the whole existing network shall be rebuilt. Later in a press release it was revealed that Huawei had been selected, in early 2013 the process has already begun. Telenor created a webpage that shows in which region and when the network would be rebuilt. The deadline is by mid 2015, Telenor also said that the network that they build would be easily made 4G LTE when the market indicates that it is ready for it. Further expansion is expected in 2016, including Bulgaria’s popular seaside resorts, the maximum speed of the Telenor 4G network is 75 Мbps. The service is available in Sofia and most of southern Bulgaria. By mid-December, Telenors LTE service will cover all Bulgarian cities with a population of more than 20,000, including all regional centres, Telenor said it will continue to expand the coverage and the capacity of its LTE network, depending on spectrum availability, further into 2016. Users with older SIM cards will be able to replace them free of charge at any Telenor or official partner shop where a variety of 4G-enabled devices is also available after 1 December
25.
Logo
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A logo is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations, and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition. There are purely graphic emblems, symbols, icons and logos, in the days of hot metal typesetting, a logotype was one word cast as a single piece of type. By extension, the term was used for a uniquely set. At the level of communication and in common usage, a companys logo is today often synonymous with its trademark or brand. The arts were expanding in purpose—from expression and decoration of an artistic, storytelling nature, to a differentiation of brands, consultancies and trades-groups in the commercial arts were growing and organizing, by 1890, the US had 700 lithographic printing firms employing more than 8,000 people. Artistic credit tended to be assigned to the company, as opposed to the individual artists who usually performed less important jobs. Playful children’s books, authoritative newspapers, and conversational periodicals developed their own visual and editorial styles for unique, as printing costs decreased, literacy rates increased, and visual styles changed, the Victorian decorative arts led to an expansion of typographic styles and methods of representing businesses. A renewal of interest in craftsmanship and quality also provided the artists and companies with a greater interest in credit, leading to the creation of unique logos and marks. By the 1950s, Modernism had shed its roots as an artistic movement in Europe to become an international, commercialized movement with adherents in the United States. Modernist-inspired logos proved successful in the era of mass visual communication ushered in by television, improvements in printing technology, the current era of logo design began in the 1870s with the first abstract logo, the Bass red triangle. As of 2014, many corporations, products, brands, services, agencies, as a result, only a few of the thousands of ideograms in circulation are recognizable without a name. Ideograms and symbols may be effective than written names, especially for logos translated into many alphabets in increasingly globalized markets. For instance, a written in Arabic script might have little resonance in most European markets. By contrast, ideograms keep the general nature of a product in both markets. In non-profit areas, the Red Cross exemplifies a well-known emblem that does not need an accompanying name, the red cross and red crescent are among the best-recognized symbols in the world. National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and their Federation as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross include these symbols in their logos, branding can aim to facilitate cross-language marketing. Consumers and potential consumers can identify the Coca-Cola name written in different alphabets because of the standard color, the text was written in Spencerian Script, which was a popular writing style when the Coca Cola Logo was being designed. Since a logo is the visual entity signifying an organization, logo design is an important area of graphic design, a logo is the central element of a complex identification system that must be functionally extended to all communications of an organization
26.
I-mode
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NTT DoCoMos i-mode is a mobile internet service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocol, i-mode encompasses a variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail. I-mode users have access to services such as e-mail, sports results, weather forecast, games, financial services. Content is provided by specialized services, typically from the mobile carrier, like WAP, i-mode delivers only those services that are specifically converted for the service, or are converted through gateways. This has placed both systems at a disadvantage against handsets that use real browser software, and generally use a flat pricing structure for data, i-mode phones have a special i-mode button for the user to access the start menu. There are more than 12,000 official sites and around 100,000 or more unofficial i-mode sites, NTT DoCoMo supervises the content and operations of all official i-mode sites, most of which are commercial. These official sites are accessed through DoCoMos i-mode menu but in many cases official sites can also be accessed from mobile phones by typing the URL or through the use of QR code, an i-mode user pays for both sent and received data. There are services to avoid unsolicited e-mails, the basic monthly charge is typically on the order of JPY ¥200 - ¥300 for i-mode not including the data transfer charges, with additional charges on a monthly subscription basis for premium services. A variety of discount plans exist, for example family discount, i-mode was launched in Japan on 22 February 1999. The content planning and service design team was led by Mari Matsunaga, top executive Keiichi Enoki oversaw the technical and overall development. A few months after DoCoMo launched i-mode in February 1999, DoCoMos competitors launched very similar mobile data services, KDDI launched EZweb, Vodafone later acquired J-Phone including J-Sky, renaming the service Vodafone live. Although initially this was different from Vodafone live, in addition, Vodafone KK was acquired by SoftBank, an operator of Yahoo. Japan in October,2006 and changed the name to SoftBank Mobile, as of June 2006, the mobile data services I-Mode, EZweb, and J-Sky, had over 80 million subscribers in Japan. Since 2003, i-mode center is called CiRCUS, which consists of 400 NEC NX7000 HP-UX servers, the operation support system is called CARNiVAL, which is hosted in the Sanno Park Tower. I-mode usage in Japan peaked around 2008, as of 2016, it is still available, but has largely been eclipsed by the internet features in 3G smartphones. Seeing the tremendous success of i-mode in Japan, many operators in Europe, Takeshi Natsuno was behind the expansion of i-mode to 17 countries worldwide. The operators who decided to launch i-mode had to rely on Japanese vendors who had no experience in international markets. As i-mode showed success in markets, some vendors started customizing some of their handsets to support i-mode, however
27.
Bulgarian Supercup
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In case the champion of Bulgaria has also won the cup, the Bulgarian Cup finalist competes with the champion in the match for the trophy. The Supercup match is held during the weekend before the start of a new season. Since 2004 the Supercup game has been an annual event, the most successful club in the event is CSKA Sofia who have won four Supercups. Litex Lovech is the club that has participated in most seasons of the Supercup - six, the first match for the Bulgarian Supercup was held in 1989. The match was proposed by Kiril Zaharinov, sports editor at the Bulgarian News Agency, CSKA won the match 1-0 thanks to a goal by Hristo Stoichkov. The first Supercup trophy was made in Italy and was 80 cm tall, today it is kept in the CSKA Sofia museum. After the political changes of 1989 in Eastern Europe the Bulgarian Supercup match was suspended, the match was held at Naftex Stadium in Burgas and Lokomotiv won 1-0 after a last-minute goal by Ivan Paskov. In 2011 the winner of the cup CSKA Sofia became the single most successful team in the event, also, as of 2011 Litex Lovech has participated six times in the Supercup match - most of all other participants. From 2004 onwards a new trophy is made for every event as it was decided by the organisers that each Supercup winner should retain the trophy in perpetuity. However, three designs have used for the trophy as of 2014 - one for the Supercups of 2004-2006, another for the trophies of 2007-2010. The current trophy was designed in Italy in 2007 and is 100 cm tall, Bulgaria Cups Overview - Super Cup, RSSSF. com
28.
Kiril Kotev
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Kiril Kotev is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a defender for Lokomotiv Plovdiv. In his youth years, Kotev started to play football at Vihar Gorublyane, at the age of 16 he moved to Velbazhd Kyustendil. In 2002 Kotev signed with Lokomotiv Plovdiv, with became a Champion of Bulgaria. In same year he made his debut for Bulgaria national football team, in January 2005, CSKA Sofia signed Kotev to a four-year deal for €100,000. Lokomotiv Plovdiv A Group, 2003–04 Bulgarian Supercup,2004 CSKA Sofia A Group, 2007–08 Bulgarian Cup, 2005–06 Bulgarian Supercup,2006,2008 Kiril Kotev at National-Football-Teams. com
29.
PFC Beroe Stara Zagora
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The club was founded in 1916 under the name Vereya. The clubs colours are green and white, since then the home ground of Beroe has been the homonymous Beroe Stadium in Stara Zagora with a seating capacity of 12,128. Beroe were the 1986 champions of Bulgaria and they won the Bulgarian Cup twice in 2010 and 2013. The clubs most noted and successful player is Petko Petkov,2 times A Group Top Scorer,1974 and 1976, Beroe can trace its roots back to 4 May 1924, when it was founded as Beroya, after the merger of two other clubs – Borislav and Rekord. It has also often been the platform for attempts to unite all the clubs in Stara Zagora and that club was Beroe, at first bearing the names of Udarnik and Botev, before finally restoring its old name in 1959. 1968 marked the beginning of Beroes golden age, during the summer transfer period, the forward Petko Petkov joined the club. In the next 12 years he scored 144 goals for the club in A Group, Beroe became all-powerful, winning the Balkans Cup in 1968 and 1969. In season 1971–72 in the league was very successful for the team, which finished 3rd. The clubs first participation in UEFA Cup was also promising, with Beroe eliminating the Austrian Austria Wien and the Hungarian Honvéd respectively and reaching the third round. In season 1973–74 Beroe reach the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup, after eliminating the Luxembourg Fola Esch and the Basques of Athletic Bilbao, they were stopped in DDR by 1. Beroe have had success in Europe, such as the 1–0 win over Juventus in a Cup Winners Cup first-leg in 1979. Moreover, Beroe is one of the two Bulgarian football clubs that has a record of the matches played in European club competitions. In 1982 and 1984 Beroe won the Balkans Cup for the third, in 1986, the team led by the coach Evgeni Yanchovski won the Bulgarian title, the first in the clubs history. Beroe finished the season with 43 points, Beroe played in the 1986–87 UEFA European Champions Cup where they were eliminated in the first round to Dynamo Kyiv of the Soviet Union after 1–1 at Beroe Stadium and 0–2 loss in Kiev. The 1990s would see a decline as Beroe were relegated to B Group in season 1994–95. The advent of democracy in Bulgaria ushered a new period of chaos and economical hardship for the country, the first two seasons back in top division saw Beroe fight relegation, with safety being achieved by second half runs. In 2001–02 season the team again relegated, in the autumn of 2007 the actual majority shareholder of Professional Football Club Beroe JSCo Nikolay Banev gave up the financial support of the team. In spite of that, the team demonstrated good football in most of the games, on the 10th of January,200823 players and 3 coaches terminated their contracts with the club after a planned sale of the shares had failed
30.
PFC Lokomotiv Sofia
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FC Lokomotiv Sofia was a Bulgarian football club from the capital city of Sofia. Having been denied a license for the European tournaments and A Group due to debts after the 2014–15 A Group season. It was founded on September 2,1929 by a group of workers under the name Railway Sports Club. The clubs home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium in Sofia, which has a capacity of 22,000 spectators, Lokomotiv has won the Bulgarian championship four times and the Bulgarian Cup on four occasions. Lokomotiv was founded on 2 September 1929 as Railway Sports Club by a group of railway workers, rSCs first competitive game was an 2–1 victory against Zora Sofia on 3 October 1929. In the 1939–40 season, RSC won the Bulgarian title for first time in the teams history, the team was made by, Stoyo Nedyalkov, Sl. Videnov, K. Kostov, D. Marinov, St. Angelov, in 1945, the club had already been renamed Lokomotiv Sofia and won the title in the first post-war championship. During season 1963–64 after 30 games, Lokomotiv won their third title after they defeated main rivals to the title Levski Sofia and Slavia Sofia, in 1969 the club was united with Slavia Sofia for a brief period to 1971 and is associated with the Bulgarian railway workers. In 1978, led by Atanas Mihaylov and Boycho Velichkov Lokomotiv won their fourth title, in Europe the club won European championship of the railwaymen two times in 1961 and 1963, and Balkans Cup in 1973. In 1980 Lokomotiv reached a final in the UEFA Cup where they faced VfB Stuttgart, eliminating before that Ferencváros, AS Monaco. Against Stuttgart the team lost with 0–1 in Sofia and with 1–3 in Germany, the new era for Lokomotiv Sofia came in 1994 with the new president Nikolay Gigov. The football clubs status was turned professional, for merely one year, from a team struggling not to lose its place in the professional league, Lokomotiv won the silver medals in the Championship and the State Cup. The clubs home ground is Lokomotiv Stadium with 25,000 places, the team came fourth in the 2005–06 season in A PFG and qualified for the UEFA Cup 2006-07 first qualifying round, where they face FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov from the Republic of Macedonia. Lokomotiv beat the Macedonian side 2–0 in the first match in Sofia on 13 July 2006 and finished 1–1 as a guest in Macedonia and continued to the next round of the tournament. Next, they faced the team of Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv and their next opponent in the first round of the tournament was the team of Feyenoord Rotterdam. The first game in Sofia ended with a 2–2 draw, after Lokomotiv went ahead 2–0 early in the first half, the second game finished 0–0 and Lokomotiv Sofia were out of the UEFA tournament. Domestically, Lokomotiv had a run of 10 consecutive wins. Eventually, Lokomotiv finished third with equal points with second-placed CSKA Sofia, the 2007–08 season started promisingly for the team
31.
Bulgarian Football Union
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The Bulgarian Football Union is a football association based in Bulgaria and a member of UEFA. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, a legal entity that it claims descent from was founded in 1923 as the football department of the Bulgarian National Sports Federation, which existed until the Soviet invasion of 1944. On 27 June 1985, the organization was renamed to the Bulgarian Football Union, official website Bulgaria at FIFA site Bulgaria at UEFA site
32.
PFC Litex Lovech II
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PFC Litex Lovech II or Litex Lovech 2 was a Bulgarian football team based in Lovech. Founded in 2015, it was the team of PFC Litex Lovech, and completed one season in B Group. At the beginning of 2015 BFUnion discussed the idea of teams from A Group having a team in B Group or lower. Ludogorets Razgrad, Litex Lovech, Levski Sofia, CSKA Sofia, Cherno More Varna, at the beginning of June 2015, BFU announced that only Litex and Ludogorets had applied to have their 2nd teams in B Group. Later Litex II and Ludogorets II were added in B Group for the 2015–16 season
33.
PFC Chavdar Etropole
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PFC Chavdar is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Etropole, that competes in the Third League. The club was established in 1922 with the name Balkan, in 1945 the club was renamed Peyo Krinchev. Between 1957 and 1985 the club was named DFS Etropole, since 1985 the name is Chavdar. The main kit-colours of the team are red and white, in his history the club participated in either the second or the third Bulgarian division. Currently the team is playing in the West B PFG, in 2007/2008 season Chavdar finishes 3rd in the Bulgarian South-West V AFG, and wins promotion for the 2008/2009 season. There Chavdar was eliminated by the Kaliakra Kavarna after suffering a 2,0 loss, on 31 March 2010, Chavdar reached the semi-finals of the Bulgarian Cup for the first time in their history - the team from Etropole eliminated higher echelon Slavia Sofia after a penalty shootout. They lost in the round against Beroe by a score of 0,1. The team was dissolved in 2013, but restored again in the year 2014, starting from A Regional Group, the 4th league in Bulgarian football. Third place in the Western B group, 2007/08 Semifinalist in the National Cup tournament, this time its official name is the Cup of Bulgaria -2009 /10 Official website
34.
PFC Slavia Sofia
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PFC Slavia Sofia is a Bulgarian football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the Parva Liga. Slavias home ground is the Slavia Stadium with a capacity of 25,556, the teams colours are white and black. Established on April 10,1913, Slavia is currently the oldest sports club in the capital of Bulgaria, domestically, the club has won the Bulgarian Championship seven times and the Bulgarian Cup seven times. It has also come second in the ten times and reached the cup final three more times. Among the teams international successes are a Cup Winners Cup semi-final in 1967, the new incorporated club has named Slavia. Dimitar Blagoev – Palio, a 21-year-old student, was elected as the first president of the club, as members of the first club administrative council were elected Emanuil Geshev, Ferdinand Mihaylov, Tsvyatko Velichkov, Georgi Grigorov and Todor Kalkandzhiev. The first sport dresses of the club were white shirts and black shorts, since 1924 the team plays with white shirts and white shorts and up to present days it is popular as the White pride. On August 11,1913, Slavia plays its first match versus the local team Savata, after the First world war, Slavia began to become more successful. On June 5,1928, the team won its first champion title, the title was won by Slavia five more times until 1946, these were achieved in 1930,1936, 1938–39,1941 and 1943. Slavia won the Bulgarian Cup for first time in 1952, by winning the 1963 Bulgarian Cup Final, Slavia qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, the clubs first appearance in European competition. They were drawn against Hungarian club MTK Budapest in the first round, Slavia were knocked out of the competition 2–1 on aggregate. The team consisted of players such as goalkeeper Simeon Simeonov, Ivan Davidov, Aleksandar Shalamanov, Dimitar Largov, Dimitar Kostov. In 1969 Slavia was merged with Lokomotiv Sofia under the name ZhSK Slavia, two years later the two clubs split again after splitting was supported by 100,000 fans. In the 1980–81 season, led by Chavdar Tsvetkov and Andrey Zhelyazkov, in 1986, Slavia won Balkans Cup. In the final they beat Greek side Panionios 5–3 on aggregate, in 1988 Slavia won Balkans Cup for second time in his history. In 1994 Stoyan Kotsev, the former Slavia midfielder, was appointed as new manager, after finishing fourth in 1995, they went on to win the A PFG title in 1995–96. Slavia finished with 5 points more than the second, Levski Sofia and this marked Slavias first Bulgarian title since 1943. In the 2010–11 season, Slavia reached the Bulgarian Cup Final, beating Ludogorets Razgrad, Etar 1924, Chernomorets Burgas, however, they lost the final 1–0 to CSKA Sofia
35.
PFC Ludogorets Razgrad
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Subsequently, the club made a significant international impact in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League, where they reached the round of 16 in their second only European run. Ludogorets are also the second Bulgarian team after Levski Sofia to reach the stage of the Champions League. During that same campaign they became the first Bulgarian team to score points in the modern Champions League group stages after a 1-0 win over FC Basel in Sofia. The clubs name stems from the Bulgarian name of the region in which Razgrad is located – the Ludogorie region of north-eastern Bulgaria. Ludogorets are nicknamed The Eagles, and in 2014 they were presented with an eagle by Europa League opponents Lazio. The clubs home colours are green and white, Ludogorets home ground is the Ludogorets Arena in Razgrad, a stadium with a capacity of 8,808 seats and electric floodlights with plans to expand to 12,500 seats in the near future. The club was founded in 2001 as Ludogorie Football Club, after playing for several years in the lower divisions of Bulgarian football, Ludogoretss successful campaign started in the 2009-10 season, when the team achieved promotion to the Bulgarian B Group. In September 2010, the club was purchased by Bulgarian entrepreneur Kiril Domuschiev, the takeover was followed by a flurry of bids for high-profile players. Prior to the start of season 2011–12, Ludogorets completed the transfers of Emil Gargorov, Alexandre Barthe, Stanislav Genchev, Svetoslav Dyakov, Uroš Golubović, Ľubomír Guldan, ivan Stoyanov signed during the first month of the season. Ludogorets were unbeaten in the first nine games of the season before losing 2–1 to Litex Lovech, in the last game before the winter break, Ludogorets drew 2–2 with CSKA Sofia, ending the autumn half of the season in first place. But, with three losses in a row in the middle of the spring half-season, Ludogorets lost their lead in the standings to CSKA Sofia up until the end of the season. On the last day of season 2011–12 they won the game with CSKA Sofia 1–0, with a goal scored by former Levski striker Miroslav Ivanov. But for the Bulgarian Cup the team was eliminated in the Round of 32 by CSKA Sofia with a score of 2–2 from the two legs and CSKA continuing into the next round on away goals. In the spring half-season Ludogorets occupied the first place with just three matches to go before the end of the season, nevertheless, they were defeated 1–0 by Levski Sofia, and Levski took the lead of A Group. On the final day of the season Ludogorets had to beat the already relegated team of Montana, in the 2013 Supercup, they lost 5–3 on penalties to Beroe Stara Zagora after a 1–1 draw in regular time. In 2014 the team won their third championship title since promotion. They finished nine points ahead of runners-up CSKA Sofia, the team also secured a second domestic double, beating Botev Plovdiv 1–0 in the 2014 Bulgarian Cup Final. Ludogorets then lost to FC Basel in the play-offs, but earned the right to play in the Europa League, Ludogorets played in Group B of the 2013–14 Europa League
Stoycho Mladenov
Itzhak Shum
Ljupko Petrović
Laurențiu Reghecampf
Wilfried Niflore
Wilmar Jordán