PFC Lokomotiv Sofia
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| PFC Lokomotiv Sofia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | PFC Lokomotiv Sofia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The irons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 28 October 1929 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stadium Lokomotiv | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 25 000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Nikolay Gigov |
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| Manager | Stefan Grozdanov |
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| League | TBI A Football Group | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006-07 | A Grupa, 3 place | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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PFC Lokomotiv Sofia is a Bulgarian football club from the capital city of Sofia, founded on 28 October 1929 as ZHSK (ЖСК).
The club was united with Slavia Sofia for a brief period between 1969 and 1971 and is associated with the Bulgarian railway workers.
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[edit] Address
- Stadium "Lokomotiv",st."Rozhen" 23
- Sofia 1220 Bulgaria
- phone: +359 (2)9360356
- fax: +359 (2)9360341
- e-mail: lokomotiv1929@abv.bg
[edit] History
The story begins somewhere in 1929. A group of railway workers from the railway factory in Sofia, charmed by the magic of football decide to organize their passion into a football club – and so the Railway Sports Club (RSC) came into being. The date is the 15th of May 1929. The first victory comes soon – on the 4th of June in the first official game versus BG Sofia (Botev-Gladstone), RSC grabs the victory with 2:1.The club is officially registered in the beginning of September.The following ten years are the time in which the young organization strengthens, the team develops both professionally and organizationally, despite the fact that the players are considered complete amateurs. “Locomotiv” takes the express route to the top of the rather chaotic Bulgarian football league. The top is reached in 1940, when a fantastic RSC leads the league. The names say enough: Stoyo Nedyalkov (captain), Sl.Videnov, K. Kostov, D. Marinov, St. Angelov, As. Milushev, Krum Milev, L. Hranov… The outbreak of World War II stops the triumphant march to the title of this superb team. With peace comes a new name for RSC – “Locomotiv” and in the first post-war championship the club wins the title. The year is 1945. The next years in Locomotiv’s history are decided (for better or worse) by the new political and economical conditions in the country. In all sports and especially football, state-favored teams begin to dispute the championship title between each other and it takes “Locomotiv” an enormous amount of will, love and daring to nobly stand its ground in the Bulgarian football elite, without being one of the state’s pets. The hard-earned championship titles (1964 and 1978), the winning of the republican cup (1948, 1953, 1982 and 1995), the successes in the UEFA tournaments and countless other victories are examples for both the human and sports spirit, that marks the ones loyal to “Locomotiv”. There are countless names of players, who defended both “Locomotiv” and the national team’s glory – Simo Kostov, Stoyan Ormandzhiev, Lazar Hristov, Petar Argirov, Kotze Blagoev, Georgi Berkov, Ivan Deianov, Vassil Metodiev, Ivan Dimitrov, Todor Velev, Apostol Tchatchevsky, Dimitar Penev, Ivan Kotzev, Nikola Kotkov, Spiro Debarski, Boko Dimitrov, Georgi Bonev, Yordan Stoikov, Ventzi Arsov, Angel Kolev, Traiko Sokolov, Radi Zdravkov, Boycho Velichkov, Atanas Mihailov, Ivailo Georgiev, Georgi Hristakiev, Anton Velkov, Dimitar Vassev….
The new era for “Locomotiv” Sofia came in 1994, when with the coming of democracy in Bulgaria; Nikolay Gigov took over the club.
A young and successful businessman with a strong character and democratic ruling principles, Gigov showed true and positive love for the football game. The football club’s status is turned professional. For merely one year (1994-1995), from a team struggling to not to lose its place in the professional league, “Locomotiv” won the silver medals in the Championship and the State Cup. Nowadays PFC “Locomotiv” is in the professional soccer elite of Bulgaria, participating in the UEFA tournaments. The club owns a stadium with 25000 places, a junior training center (among the most productive ones in the country), and an enthusiastic and well-organized fan-club. Naturally, the most valued possession of the club is the sincere affection of its fans.
Lokomotiv 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 Gorce 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, which they beat twice: 2-0 on 10 August 2006 and 4-0 on 24 August 2006.Their next opponent in the first round of the tournament is 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. In the Bulgarian championship, Lokomotiv are currently second with only 3 points behind the leaders Levski Sofia.
[edit] Honours
- Champion of Bulgaria - 4 times – 1940, 1945, 1964 and 1978
- Vice-champion of Bulgaria - 6 times – 1941, 1946, 1947, 1965, 1985 and 1995
- Winner of the cup of Bulgaria - 4 times – 1948, 1953, 1982 (KSA) and 1995
- Cup final - 2 times – 1975 and 1977
- UEFA tournament – quarter final 1980
- European champion of the railwaymen – 1961 and 1963
- Balkan club champion – 1973
[edit] Children-juvenile school
Except the representative man team PFC “Lokomotiv Sofia” has children-juvenile school, which consists of 11 football teams of about 300 children at age between 8 and 18 years, children and juvenile. The children at this school are entrusted to qualified football coaches. The majority of them are products of the child-juvenile school and their football career has passed exactly in the representative man team of the club.Of all 11 teams, 6 teams at age between 8 and 18 years take part in the Sofia tournaments and the republican tournaments of Bulgaria. In these tournaments the teams finish at awarded places at their age. The juvenile team (born 1984-1985) won the title of state champion of 2003.The players at age between 8 and 11 years are preparatory groups and after 3-4 years of teaching start their participation in the preliminary tournaments and correspondingly in the city and national tournaments, organized be the Football federation and the Republic of Bulgaria. At almost all age groups there are a lot of talented boys. The child-juvenile school of PFC “Lokomotiv Sofia” Stock exchange is one of the best creators of football talents as for the club and the national team of Bulgaria.
[edit] Current squad
As of January 2007
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[edit] 2006 Formation
# 3
[edit] Notable players
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[edit] UEFA ranking
Current club ranking
- 170
La Louviere - 171
Xanthi FC - 172
LOKOMOTIV SOFIA - 173
Rapid Wien - 174
FC Zurich - Full List
Current National League ranking
- 14
Turkish League - 15 Greece League
- 16 Bulgarian League
- 17 Swiss League
- 18
Norway League - Full List
[edit] External links
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| Belasitsa Petrich | Beroe | Botev Plovdiv | Cherno More Varna | Chernomorets Burgas Sofia | CSKA Sofia | Levski Sofia | Litex Lovech | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | Lokomotiv Sofia | Marek Dupnitsa | Rilski Sportist | Rodopa Smolyan | Slavia Sofia | Spartak Varna | Vihren Sandanski edit | |
