Litex Lovech

Litex Lovech
Basic data
Surname	PFC Litex Lovech
Seat	Lovech
founding	1921
president	Trifon Popov
Website	pfclitex.com
First soccer team
Head coach	Ljupko Petrovic
Venue	Gradski Stadium
Places	7,050
league	Vtora league
2018/19	5th place
home Away

The PFK (Profesionalen futbolen klub) Litex Lovetsch ( Bulgarian ПФК Литекс Ловеч ) is a professional football club from Lovech , Bulgaria .

History of the club

The club has its roots in the FK Chissarja club , which was officially launched in 1921 and played its first game in 1923. This was followed by mergers with FK Kirkow , FK Pobeda and SK Levski until 1935 and a restart under the name DFS Christo Karpatschew in 1957.

1979 marked a milestone in the club's history with the renaming to DFS Osam Lovetsch . Osam established himself from then on in the second Bulgarian league and often only narrowly missed promotion to the top division.

In 1991, the club took the name of the new sponsor Lex and called itself from then on Lex Lovetsch. The form curve continued to show clearly upwards and culminated in 1994 in promotion to the first Bulgarian league, which was secured by the second division championship. In the first year Lex caused a sensation, beat clubs like CSKA Sofia , Slavia Sofia and Lokomotive Plovdiv and finished the season with an impressive eleventh place. In the following year, the good result could not be confirmed, which resulted in relegation.

Nevertheless, the setback turned into a positive turning point when Grischa Gantschew , a businessman in the oil industry, bought the association and renamed it Litex. A major restructuring took place in which the majority of the players had to leave the club to make way for a new team. Both new talents and players who were formerly active in the big Bulgarian clubs and were sorted out there were hired. Without much difficulty and with a gap of ten points Litex won the second division championship and rose. In addition, they developed a reputation as "Phenomenon Litex", as they both in the Bulgarian Cup, in which they reached the quarter-finals, and in the Bulgarian League Cup, where they reached the final (where they then lost to Neftochimik Burgas on penalties) and beat almost all top clubs in friendly matches.

Already in the first season 1997/98 they sensationally won the championship as a climber, which no other club had succeeded before, and distanced the second-placed club Levski Sofia by five points. In addition, the striker Dimcho Belyakov - with 21 hits the top scorer cannon - and the midfielder Stojtscho Stoilow won the title of best player of the season.

Although the club both in qualifying for the UEFA Champions League clearly against Spartak Moscow in the second preliminary round (after the Bulgarians the Swedish club in the first qualifying round Halmstad had thrown out), and then in the first round of the UEFA Cup against Grazer AK retired , Litex was able to defend the title in Bulgaria and in 1999 won the second championship.

The Litex Cup victory in 2009.

In the next two seasons, the level in the league could not be maintained and the club oriented itself in the upper midfield, whereas the trophy collection was expanded to include the Bulgarian Cup in 2001 when Welbaschd Kjustendil was beaten 1-0 in extra time. The club then recovered in the championship and finished with second and then third place.

This was followed in 2004 by winning the second Bulgarian Cup, with the upper hand in the penalty shoot-out against CSKA Sofia. Cup-winning team coach Lyupko Petrović is now back in charge of the sport after Israeli coach Itzhak Shum , a double winner with Panathinaikos Athens , was sacked after a home defeat by CSKA Sofia in May 2005.

In the 2007/08 season Litex managed to qualify for the first round of the UEFA Cup. There the club was subject to Hamburger SV .

There was a scandal on matchday 20 of the 2015/2016 season in the away game at Levski Sofia . Referee Georgie Jordanow whistled a penalty in the 44th minute of the game for violating Litex. The Colombian Rafael Perez, who grabbed the Spaniard Miguel Bedoya by the neck, also received the red card for this action. Litex was already playing with ten players at this point, after the American Bjorn Johnsen was also given the red card for assaulting Miguel Bedoya. Bedoya went down after two nudges in quick succession. The team from Lovech left the field in protest against the referee, at the instructions of the manager Stojtscho Stojlow and the club president Trifon Popov, before the penalty kick was taken. They accused the referee of evaluating similar scenes differently. So he punished a push from Lewski's Wesselin Minev against the Colombian striker Danilo Asprilla only with a yellow card. The game was canceled when the score was 0: 1 and then rated 3: 0 for Levski. Asprilla scored the opening goal for Litex in the 20th minute of the game. Litex was excluded from the first division due to the termination of the Bulgarian Football Association (BFS). In the 2016/17 season, the club is allowed to play in the Bulgarian second division.

A-Grupa placements since 1997/98

Others

• Litex holds the record for the biggest win against the Bulgarian top team CSKA Sofia, which was defeated 8-0 in 1998.
• Litex was the first Bulgarian team to win a European competition against a German representative in Germany when the second division 1. FC Union Berlin was defeated in the second round in 2001 .

player

Svetoslaw Todorow (1997-2001, 2009-2012) Radostin Kishishev (1998–2000, 2009–2010) Georgi Milanow (2000–2009) youth, (2009–2013) player, Milivoje Novakovič (2005-2006)

Džemal Berberović (2005–2008, 2013–) Stanislaw Manolew (2005-2009) Ivelin Popov (2006-2010) Jürgen Gjasula (2013-2014)

Trainer

• Mihai Stoichiță (2000)
• Itzhak Shum (2004-2005)
• Stanimir Stoilow (2008-2009)
• Lyuboslaw Penew (2010-2011)
• Christo Stoitschkow (2012-2013)

Sporting successes

• Bulgarian champion (4): 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011
• Bulgarian Cup Winner (4): 2001, 2004, 2008, 2009

European Cup balance sheet

season	competition	round	opponent	total	To	Back
1998/99	UEFA Champions League	1st qualifying round	Halmstads BK	3: 2	2: 0 (H)	1: 2 (A)
		2nd qualifying round	Spartak Moscow	02:11	0: 5 (H)	2: 6 (A)
1998/99	Uefa cup	1 round	Graz AK	1: 3	1: 1 (H)	0: 2 (A)
1999/2000	UEFA Champions League	1st qualifying round	Glentoran FC	5-0	3: 0 (H)	2: 0 (A)
		2nd qualifying round	Widzew Łódź	5: 5 (2: 3  in good condition )	4: 1 (H)	1: 4 a.d. (A)
2001/02	Uefa cup	qualification	Longford Town	3: 1	1: 1 (A)	2: 0 (H)
		1 round	AŠK Inter Slovnaft Bratislava	3: 1	0: 1 (A)	3: 0 (H)
		2nd round	1. FC Union Berlin	2-0	2: 0 (A)	0: 0 (H)
		3rd round	AEK Athens	3: 4	2: 3 (A)	1: 1 (H)
2002/03	Uefa cup	qualification	Atlantas Klaipeda	8: 1	5: 0 (H)	3: 1 (A)
		1 round	Panathinaikos Athens	1: 3	0: 1 (H)	1: 2 a.d. (A)
2003/04	Uefa cup	qualification	Zimbru Chișinău	0: 2	0: 0 (H)	0: 2 (A)
2004/05	Uefa cup	2nd qualifying round	FK Željezničar Sarajevo	9: 1	2: 1 (A)	7: 0 (H)
		1 round	Graz AK	1: 5	0: 5 (A)	1: 0 (H)
2005/06	Uefa cup	2nd qualifying round	HNK Rijeka	( a ) 2: 2(a)	1: 0 (H)	1: 2 (A)
		1 round	KRC Genk	3: 2	2: 2 (H)	1: 0 (A)
		Group stage	Grasshopper Club Zurich	2: 1	2: 1 (H)
			Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	2-0	2: 0 (A)
			AZ Alkmaar	0: 2	0: 2 (H)
			Middlesbrough FC	0: 2	0: 2 (A)
		Round of 16	Racing Strasbourg	0: 2	0: 2 (H)	0: 0 (A)
2006/07	Uefa cup	1st qualifying round	FC Koper	6-0	1: 0 (A)	5: 0 (H)
		2nd qualifying round	Omonia Nicosia	2: 1	0: 0 (A)	2: 1 (H)
		1 round	Maccabi Haifa	2: 4	1: 1 (A)	1: 3 (H)
2007/08	Uefa cup	1st qualifying round	Sliema Wanderers	7-0	3: 0 (A)	4: 0 (H)
		2nd qualifying round	KS Besa Kavajë	6-0	3: 0 (A)	3: 0 (H)
		1 round	Hamburger SV	1: 4	0: 1 (H)	1: 3 (A)
2008/09	Uefa cup	2nd qualifying round	Hapoel Ironi Kirjat Schmona	2: 1	0: 0 (H)	2: 1 (A)
		1 round	Aston Villa	2: 4	1: 3 (H)	1: 1 (A)
2009/10	UEFA Europa League	Play-offs	BATE Baryssau	1: 4	1: 0 (A)	0: 4 a.d. (H)
2010/11	UEFA Champions League	2nd qualifying round	FK Rudar Pljevlja	5-0	1: 0 (H)	4: 0 (A)
		3rd qualifying round	MŠK Žilina	2: 4	1: 1 (H)	1: 3 (A)
2010/11	UEFA Europa League	Play-offs	Debreceni VSC	1: 4	0: 2 (A)	1: 2 (H)
2011/12	UEFA Champions League	2nd qualifying round	FK Mogren	1: 4	0: 2 (A)	1: 2 (H)
		3rd qualifying round	Wisła Krakow	2: 5	1: 2 (H)	1: 3 (A)
2011/12	UEFA Europa League	Play-offs	Dynamo Kiev	1: 3	1: 2 (H)	0: 1 (A)
2014/15	UEFA Europa League	1st qualifying round	FC Veris Chișinău	3-0	0: 0 (A)	3: 0 (H)
		2nd qualifying round	Diósgyőri VTK	2: 3	0: 2 (H)	2: 1 (A)
2015/16	UEFA Europa League	1st qualifying round	FK Jelgava	(a)3: 3 ( a )	1: 1 (A)	2: 2 (H)

Legend: (H) - home game, (A) - away game, (N) - neutral place, (a) - away goal rule , (i. E.) - on penalties , (n. V.) - after extra time

Overall record: 74 games, 31 wins, 15 draws, 28 defeats, 108: 91 goals (goal difference +17)

Web links

• official homepage

Individual evidence