Most popular Bulgarian football clubs

Most popular Bulgarian football clubs – Slavia

published on 2/17/12 1:55 PM

Photo: www.pfcslavia.com

According to historical data, Slavia is the oldest still existing football club in Bulgaria. It was established in 1913 and the colors of the team are black and white. The club is dubbed White Avalanche or just the Whites. Even to this day, Slavia remains one of the most popular football clubs in Bulgaria and its fans are proud with its long history and great victories.

The club was established with the merging of the sports clubs of Botev 1909 and the Razvitie Gymnastic Association 1910. The first protocol book of Slavia reads: “Under the chairmanship of Mr. Dimitar Blagoev and with the goal to create a sports club, we decided to establish a club called Slavia, based in Sofia, which is to help the physical education of its members and their desire for physical and moral development during their free time.” The document was signed on April 10th, 1913, which put the beginning of a Bulgarian club that gave football renowned players such as Alexander Shalamanov, Simeon Simeonov, Bozhidar Grigorov and others. The name Slavia was chosen not only as a symbol of Slavonic culture, but also because the creators of the club took as a model the football club from Prague bearing the same name.

Slavia (Sofia) is a team with a number of successes. The club has 8 Bulgarian Championship titles and 12 times it was winner of the Bulgaria Cup. Slavia also became the first Bulgarian team to qualify for semi-finals in European club tournaments. This happened in 1967 at the Cup Winners’ Cup when the whites lost 1:0 in both matches against the team of Glasgow Rangers. In 1981 Slavia reached the quarter finals of the same tournament losing to the Dutch team of Feyenoord. Slavia has participated 7 times at the Cup Winners’ Cup and 10 times in the UEFA tournaments, succeeded by the Europa League. The long history of the club is marked with a number of victories and valuable trophies.

Curious facts connect the name of Slavia with the King’s Cup in Bulgaria. The cup was the predecessor of today’s Cup of Bulgaria. It was given to the Bulgarian Sports Federation in 1924 by the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III. The cup was given to the champion of the country until 1943. For the last time the name of the Bulgarian football champion was engraved in the silver cup in 1943, when Slavia won the tournament after 2 victories against Levski Sofia at the final. The cup stopped being given to the Bulgarian champion after socialist regime was established in 1944 in the country. This way the King’s Cup remained with Slavia forever. In order not to be destroyed by the communist regime, different players and managers of Slavia hid the cup during the years. It also survived the bombings on Sofia in 1943-1944. Lost and found again, the King’s Cup still kept by the team of Slavia Sofia.

Slavia is one of the football clubs in Bulgaria, which has a number of true fans and it remains one of the most popular and respected teams in the country. The 100th anniversary of the white team is coming soon and its fans expect new glorious moments.

По публикацията работи: Alexander Markov

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