PFC Beroe Stara Zagora


Beroe is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name Vereya. The club's 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 also won the Bulgarian Cup twice in 2010 and 2013. In terms of international achievements, Beroe hold the record for Balkans Cups titles, having won the tournament four times. The club's most noted and successful player is Petko Petkov, 2 times A Group Top Scorer: 1974 and 1976.

History

Football was played in Stara Zagora as early as 1916, however with no organized championship in Bulgaria until the late 1920s, numerous clubs enjoyed regional success in those early years for the game in both the city and Bulgaria itself. 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.
The club withstood the almost constant chaos and strife of the times, often caused by numerous shifts in the political regimes of Bulgaria, and despite many mergers and name changes throughout the first four decades of its history, it is constantly among the top 3 clubs in the city. It has also often been the platform for attempts to unite all the clubs in Stara Zagora, which foreshadowed its role and meaning for the city in the years to come.
The establishment of an organized league to determine the champion of Bulgaria in the late 40s coincided with the consolidation of football in Stara Zagora, the city finally seeing a one single strong club emerge to represent it at the highest level of Bulgarian football. That club was Beroe, at first bearing the names of Udarnik and Botev, before finally restoring its old name in 1959.

Successful years 1968–1980

1968 marked the beginning of Beroe's 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 domestic league was very successful for the team, which finished 3rd, and qualified for the UEFA Cup. The club's 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. FC Magdeburg.
Beroe have had some success in Europe, such as the 1–0 win over Juventus in a Cup Winners' Cup first-leg in 1979 and a 3–0 win over Athletic Bilbao in 1973. Moreover, Beroe is one of the two Bulgarian football clubs that has a positive record of the matches played in European club competitions.

Champions 1980–1995

In 1982 and 1984 Beroe won the Balkans Cup for the third and fourth times.
In 1986, the team led by the coach Evgeni Yanchovski won the Bulgarian title, the first in the club's 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 gradual decline as Beroe were relegated to B Group in season 1994–95, finishing in last place with twelve points.

Downfall of the mid 90s, ups and downs again 1995–2008

The advent of democracy in Bulgaria ushered a new period of chaos and economical hardship for the country, and that didn't pass by Beroe. Nevertheless, despite several seasons of crisis the club again withstood the test of time, and despite needing a helpful merger with another team – Olimpik – remained a key player on the Bulgarian football scene.
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, 2008 23 players and 3 coaches terminated their contracts with the club after a planned sale of the shares had failed.
Beroe got out of trouble on the 3rd of February 2008, when the Beroe veterans’ club and the national fanclub, assisted by lawyer Damian Georgiev initiated, through related firms, insolvency proceedings in respect of the club in the Regional Court of Stara Zagora. The appointed administrator Elka Petrova transferred all the assets and liabilities of the club to a newly established joint-stock company Professional Football Club Beroe Stara Zagora JSCo.
The new entity succeeded Professional Football Club Beroe JSCo as regard of the license, the membership in the Bulgarian Football Union and the running of the football team itself.
In the summer of 2009 due to the world economic crisis most of the shareholders left the club due to financial problems. The club's main sponsor Brikel JSCo transferred its shares to Beroe veterans’ club and the national fanclub, who appointed a new Board of Directors. It consists of Damyan Georgiev – Chairman, Genyo Petrov – Executive Director and Tsvetelin Zhoevski.

Winning the Cup 2009–10 and 2012–13

In the 2007–08 season Beroe lost their place in A Group, due to a controversial match between Belasitsa Petrich and Marek Dupnitsa in the last round of the season. In the very next season, however, Beroe won first place in B Group and returned to the top flight. At that time Ilian Iliev had already been manager of the club for the last 2 years. In the year to follow, Beroe achieved its best season in over 20 years, beating all of the main competitors for the Bulgarian Cup. Beroe eliminated CSKA Sofia in the quarter-finals, which paved the way for them to obtain the trophy, winning against second-division Chernomorets Pomorie 1–0 in the final at Lovech Stadium. The winning goal was scored dramatically in the very last seconds of the added time by Beroe's former youth player Doncho Atanasov, who also went on to become top goalscorer of the tournament with 4 goals. Beroe became one of the only two Bulgarian teams that have won the cup without succeeding any goals. This success led to Ilian Iliev being awarded with the Coach of the Season award, as well as Ivo Ivanov being proclaimed best defender in A Group for 2009. Besides him other players that played a main role throughout the season were Iskren Pisarov, Georgi Andonov, Zdravko Iliev, Slavi Zhekov, Dian Genchev. One of the players with most matches in A Group for all times Kostadin Vidolov ended up his career mid-season with Beroe and went on to become a coach for Beroe's second team.
Beroe started 2010–11 season with the debut of the team in the UEFA Europa League. Beroe entered the competition in the third qualifying round and faced the Austrian side Rapid Wien. The game in Bulgaria ended in a 1–1 draw. Rapid Wien won the rematch with 3–0 putting an end to the international campaign of the Bulgarian team.
Beroe started 2012–13 season in Bulgarian Cup eliminating Akademik Svishtov in the second round.
In the quarter-finals Beroe eliminated Lokomotiv with aggregate result of 8–1, and then Pirin in the quarter-finals and Slavia Sofia in the semi-finals. In the final match at Lovech Stadium in Lovech against Levski Sofia, the result after 90 minutes was 3–3. After Beroe had taken the lead with 3–1 in the 80th minute, Levski Sofia with 10 men restored the tie, after Hristo Yovov received a second yellow card in the end of the first half. At the penalty shoot-out Levski Sofia scored just 1 from 4 penalties and Beroe, 3 of 5 which meant that Beroe had won the cup for the second time in the club's history.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Beroes colours are green and white.
PeriodKit manufacturerShirt Sponsor
1924–82NoneNone
1982–83 PumaNone
1983–86NoneNone
1986–91 AdidasNone
1991–92 NikeCEBI
1992–95 UnknownCEBI
1995–04 UnknownNone
2004–06 UnknownAKB Fores
2006–07 JakoAKB Fores
2007–08 UhlsportAKB Fores
2008–09 Tomy SportStara Zagora
2009–10 GUPAStara Zagora
2010–11 GUPABulsatcom
2011–13 UhlsportBulsatcom
2013–15 JomaNone
2015– UhlsportREFAN

Honours

Domestic

First League:
Bulgarian Cup:
Bulgarian Supercup:
Second League:
European Cup/Champions League
UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
Cup Winners' Cup
Balkans Cup
Topscorers

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TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/07/1952 till:01/07/2020
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1953
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id:bl2 value:rgb
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id:rn value:rgb
PlotData=
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from:01/07/1952 till:01/07/1953 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1952 till:01/07/1953 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1953 till:01/07/1954 shift: text:14
from:01/07/1953 till:01/07/1954 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1954 till:01/07/1955 shift: text:6
from:01/07/1955 till:01/07/1956 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1956 till:01/07/1957 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1954 till:01/07/1957 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1957 till:01/07/1958 shift: text:10
from:01/07/1958 till:01/07/1959 shift: text:11
from:01/07/1957 till:01/07/1959 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1960 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1959 till:01/07/1960 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1961 shift: text:10
from:01/07/1961 till:01/07/1962 shift: text:9
from:01/07/1962 till:01/07/1963 shift: text:12
from:01/07/1963 till:01/07/1964 shift: text:14
from:01/07/1964 till:01/07/1965 shift: text:5
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from:01/07/1966 till:01/07/1967 shift: text:10
from:01/07/1967 till:01/07/1968 shift: text:10
from:01/07/1968 till:01/07/1969 shift: text:12
from:01/07/1969 till:01/07/1970 shift: text:16
from:01/07/1960 till:01/07/1970 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1971 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1970 till:01/07/1971 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1971 till:01/07/1972 shift: text:3
from:01/07/1972 till:01/07/1973 shift: text:13
from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 shift: text:15
from:01/07/1971 till:01/07/1974 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1976 shift: text:10
from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1977 shift: text:9
from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1978 shift: text:6
from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979 shift: text:7
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from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1981 shift: text:10
from:01/07/1981 till:01/07/1982 shift: text:15
from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1982 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984 shift: text:4
from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985 shift: text:12
from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1986 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1986 till:01/07/1987 shift: text:13
from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988 shift: text:6
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from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991 shift: text:9
from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992 shift: text:7
from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993 shift: text:10
from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994 shift: text:7
from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995 shift: text:16
from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1995 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 shift: text:18
from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997 shift: text:
from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998 shift: text:17
from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999 shift: text:1
from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1999 color:red shift: text: "V Group
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000 shift: text:13
from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001 shift: text:12
from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002 shift: text:14
from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2002 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003 shift: text:7
from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004 shift: text:1
from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2004 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005 shift: text:10
from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006 shift: text:10
from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007 shift: text:11
from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008 shift: text:14
from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2008 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift: text:1
from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009 color:white shift: text: "B Group"
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010 shift: text:10
from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011 shift: text:7
from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012 shift: text:10
from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift: text:7
from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift: text:8
from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift: text:2
from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift: text:3
from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2016 color:green shift: text: "A Group"
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift: text:9
from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift: text:4
from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift: text:4
from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift: text:
from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2020 color:green shift: text: "First League"

Players

Current squad



For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2020.

Out on loan

Foreign players

Up to five non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the A PFG however only three can be used during a match day. Those non-EU nationals with European ancestry can claim citizenship from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry he can claim Bulgarian citizenship after playing in Bulgaria for 5 years.

International players

European record

Matches

1 ex officio the team doesn't come or leave the field.
;Notes
Competition
UEFA Champions League / European Cup1201113– 2
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup6228683023+ 7
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup / Cup Winners' Cup2105142011+ 9
Balkans Cup73421495442+ 12
Total166834122210579+ 26

UEFA & IFFHS rankings

Club coefficients

This is the current 2016–17 UEFA coefficient:
RankTeamCoefficient
270 Hibernian4.785
271 Dundee United4.785
272 Aalesunds4.665
273 Kukësi4.633
274 Olimpija Ljubljana4.625
275 Beroe Stara Zagora4.625
276 Botev Plovdiv4.625
277 Ermis Aradippou4.610
278 Valletta4.550
279 Khazar Lankaran4.550
280 Čukarički4.480

These are the IFFHS club's points as of 7 January 2016:
RankTeamPointsdie
142 Belenenses108,00
142 Slovan Bratislava108,00
142 CS Sfaxien108,00
146 Panathinaikos107,00
146 Malmö FF107,00
148 Beroe Stara Zagora106,50
148 Orlando Pirates106,50
150 Brøndby106,00
150 Cerro Porteño106,00
152 Johor Darul Ta'zim105,50
153 Deportes Tolima104,00

Beroe Stadium is situated in the northwestern part of Stara Zagora near the biggest park of the city – Ayazmoto, which is the biggest sport facility of the team. The team has also three training grounds, the Beroe stadium base includes also tennis facilities and covered training hall. Built in 1959, the stadium is currently being renovated and has around 13,000 seating places, most of which are covered. The stadium has its own gymnastics, acrobatics and boxing hall. There is also a table-tennis facility. The stadium's overall capacity is about 15,000. The Beroe stadium has the fastest athletics lane and was often used for such competitions. The biggest attendance was in 1986 when the team won the championship title and more than 40,000 spectators were celebrating together with the players.

Supporters and rivalries

The club has very strong support in the country. Their group is called Zara Boys.
Beroe's main rival is Botev Plovdiv. The match between these two teams is called Thracian Derby. They also have a strong rivalry with the two most popular teams in the country – Levski Sofia and CSKA Sofia. Other teams that are in bad relations with Beroe are Lokomotiv Plovdiv and especially Neftochimic Burgas.
The only team with which fans Zara Boys have a strong friendship is Etar Veliko Tarnovo.

Statistics and Records

holds Beroe's overall appearance record – he played 341 matches over the course of 14 seasons from 1960 to 1974. This is also the record for League appearances. Beroe's all-time leading scorer is Petko Petkov, who scored 144 goals while at the club from 1968 to 1980. Beroe's biggest victory is 8–0 in A Group against Minyor Pernik in 1973–74 and Chernomorets Burgas Sofia in 2006–07. Beroe's 7–0 defeat of Austria Wien in 1972 was its largest Europe win. Beroe's heaviest defeat, 2–10, came against CSKA Sofia in 1991–92.

Most league appearances for the club

Managers

Board of Directors

First Team

Youth Academy

Press service

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