Botev Plovdiv

Lore & Background

The club was founded on 11 March 1912 as Hristo Botyov - Futbolno druzhestvo by 22 students from Saint Augustine's French College and First Boys High School. The name was chosen in honor of Hristo Botev, as proposed by Tenyo Rusev. The first management board included Stoyan Puhtev (chairman), Nenko Penelov (vice-chairman), and Petar Delev (secretary and cashier). The constituent assembly was held on Sunday, March 11, 1912, and received juridical registration on March 12; fans celebrate the later date as a birthday. In 1920, some members split to found Rekord, but Botev won the first unofficial urban championship. On 30 August 1925, Botev lost 2–6 to Fenerbahçe in its first international match. The team won the Plovdiv Cup in 1926 and claimed the local Plovdiv championship six times before the national championship was created. Botev won its first national title in 1929, defeating Levski Sofia 1–0 with a goal by Nikola Shterev, becoming the first club from Plovdiv to win the Bulgarian Championship.

Reader's Guide

Botev Plovdiv holds a foundational place in Bulgarian football as the oldest active club, with a history spanning over a century. Its significance is marked by two national league titles (1929 and 1967), four Bulgarian Cups, one Bulgarian Supercup, and one Balkans Cup. The club’s best European performance was reaching the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup. Notable achievements include the 1985 Cup Winners’ Cup campaign, where Botev defeated Bayern Munich 2–0 at home, and a 1–0 home victory over Barcelona in 1981. The club’s golden age featured Dinko Dermendzhiev, who holds records for most appearances (447) and most goals (194). Georgi Slavkov won the European Golden Shoe in 1981 with 31 goals. The club underwent several name changes for political reasons, including Trakia from 1968 to 1989, before restoring the name Botev. After financial collapse in 2010, the club was relegated to the third level but was rebuilt. Botev remains one of Bulgaria’s traditionally best-supported clubs.

Did You Know?

• Botev Plovdiv is the oldest active football club in Bulgaria, founded on 11 March 1912.
• The club’s constituent assembly was held on March 11, 1912, but fans celebrate March 12 as the birthday.
• In 1985, Botev defeated Bayern Munich 2–0 at home in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

A Student Club That Became a National Institution

The club traces its origins to a single Sunday in March 1912, when twenty-two young men from Saint Augustine's French College and the First Boys High School gathered in Plovdiv to establish a football association. Their host, Tenyo Rusev, suggested the name in tribute to the poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev, a figure whose legacy would anchor the club's identity for over a century. Stoyan Puhtev took the chairman's seat, with Nenko Penelov and Petar Delev filling the vice-chairman and secretary-cashier roles. The assembly convened on the eleventh, but official juridical registration came the following Monday, a detail that still shapes how supporters mark the club's anniversary. Despite a factional split in 1920 that spawned a rival side called Rekord, the young club pressed on, claiming the first unofficial urban championship and, by the mid-1920s, regularly dominating local competition. Their first international outing in 1925 ended in a 2–6 defeat to Fenerbahçe, but the trajectory was already set: a provincial team carving out a national footprint.

The Golden Age and a European High Watermark

The late 1950s and 1960s marked the dawn of Botev's most celebrated era. Dinko Dermendzhiev, whose debut in 1961 would eventually yield a club record 447 appearances and 194 goals, became the engine behind a side that captured its first Bulgarian Cup in 1962 with a 3–0 dismantling of Dunav Rousse in Sofia. The following season, Botev stunned the football world by reaching the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup, knocking out Steaua București and Shamrock Rovers before falling 1–5 on aggregate to Atlético Madrid. Domestically, they finished runners-up, just three points behind Spartak Plovdiv. The 1967 league title, secured under coach Vasil Spasov with stars like Viden Apostolov and Rayko Stoynov, cemented the club's status. A few years later, the 1981 season delivered another Bulgarian Cup and a second-place Balkans Cup finish against Velež Mostar, while forward Georgi Slavkov collected the European Golden Shoe with 31 goals, the club's most prestigious individual honour.

Political Rebranding and the Forced Merger

Throughout the communist era, the club's identity was repeatedly reshaped by political decree rather than sporting merit. The name Botev was stripped in 1947 and replaced with DNV, then DNA in 1952, a brief stint as SKNA in 1957, before the original name was restored and later changed again to Trakia in 1968, a label that persisted until 1989. The most consequential intervention came in 1967, days after the team had clinched their second league title. Political authorities ordered a merger of Botev with local rivals Spartak and Akademik, creating a single entity called Trakia. The stated rationale was to assemble the city's finest players into one squad capable of challenging Sofia-based clubs. In practice, only two players from Spartak joined the combined roster. The new club retained the Hristo Botev Stadium, the existing squad, colours, and fanbase, but the episode underscored how football in Bulgaria during that period served as an instrument of state policy rather than a purely sporting enterprise.

The Stadium, the Records, and a Living Heritage

The physical heart of the club is the Hristo Botev Stadium, whose construction began on 21 July 1959 and was completed within two years. The venue was inaugurated with a 3–0 friendly victory over Steaua București in front of twenty thousand spectators, a fitting declaration of intent. Over the decades, the stadium has hosted some of the club's most defining moments, from the 1962 Cup final to the 1967 Champions Cup tie against Rapid București. The club's statistical legacy is anchored by Dermendzhiev, whose 447 appearances and 194 goals remain unbroken records, followed by Viden Apostolov's 429 matches and Petar Zehtinski's 351. On the scoring front, Kostadin Kostadinov's 106 goals and Atanas Pashev's 100 trail behind Dermendzhiev's mark. Founded in 1912, Botev Plovdiv stands as Bulgaria's oldest continuously active football club, a distinction that, combined with two league titles, four domestic cups, a Supercup, and a Balkans Cup, places it among the nation's most historically significant institutions.