PFC Ludogorets Razgrad

Ludogorets Razgrad

Full name	Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 Razgrad
Nickname(s)	Orlite (The Eagles)
Founded	1945 (1945)[1]
Ground	Ludogorets Arena
Ground Capacity	8,808
Owner	Kiril Domuschiev
Chairman	Aleksandar Aleksandrov
Head coach	Georgi Dermendzhiev
League	Bulgarian First League
2015–16	A Group, 1st
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Professional Football Club Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgarian: Професионален футболен клуб Лудогорец Разград), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad, or simply as Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian association football club based in Razgrad, that competes in the Parva Liga.

In their first season in A Group, Ludogorets became only the third Bulgarian team, after CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia, to achieve a treble by winning the league, the Bulgarian Cup and the Bulgarian Supercup. Subsequently, the club also made a significant international impact in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League, where it reached the round of 16 in their debut campaign. Ludogorets are the second Bulgarian team (after Levski Sofia) to reach the group stage of the Champions League, a feat which they achieved in the following 2014–15 season. During that same season they became the first Bulgarian team to score points in the modern Champions League group stages when they defeated FC Basel 1–0 in Sofia.

The club's name comes from the name of the region in which Razgrad is located – the Ludogorie region (meaning "region of wild forests") of north-eastern Bulgaria. The club is nicknamed "The Eagles", and in 2014 it was presented with a live eagle by Europa League opponents Lazio;^[2] the mascot was named Fortuna.^[3]

The club's home colours are green and white. Ludogorets' home ground is the Ludogorets Arena in Razgrad, a stadium with a capacity of 8,808 seats and electric floodlights with plans to expand to 12,500 seats in the near future.^[4]

History

Foundation and beginning

Ludogorets was reestablished in 2001 as Ludogorie Football Club. It adopted its current name from one of the first football clubs in the town, Razgrad 2000, which was founded in 1945 and subsequently dissolved in 2006 after lack of funding, thus considering themselves as a successor to the traditions of association football played in Razgrad.

After playing for several years in the lower divisions of Bulgarian football, Ludogorets's successful campaign started in the 2009-10 season, when the team achieved promotion to the Bulgarian B Group. Shortly after, the club was acquired by the Bulgarian businessman Kiril Domuschiev and Ivaylo Petev, a former Litex Lovech player, was designated as head coach of the newly promoted second division outfit.

Domuschiev era (2010–present)

In September 2010, the club was purchased by the businessman Kiril Domuschiev, with the clear intention to bring Ludogorets to the A Group. The takeover was followed by a flurry of bids for high-profile players. In May 2011, with Ivaylo Petev at the helm as head coach, the team completed this feat in Domuschiev's first season of ownership by winning promotion to A Group for the first time in the club's history.^[5]

Prior to the start of season 2011–12, Ludogorets completed the transfers of Emil Gargorov, Alexandre Barthe, Stanislav Genchev, Svetoslav Dyakov, Uroš Golubović, Ľubomír Guldan and Marcelinho. Ivan Stoyanov signed during the first month of the season. Ludogorets were unbeaten in the first nine games of the season before losing 2–1 to Litex Lovech. In the last game before the winter break, Ludogorets drew 2–2 with CSKA Sofia, ending the autumn half of the season in first place. But, with three losses in a row in the middle of the spring half-season (to Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Slavia Sofia and Cherno More Varna respectively), Ludogorets lost their lead in the standings to CSKA Sofia up until the end of the season. On the last day of season 2011–12 they won the game with CSKA Sofia 1–0, with a goal scored by former Levski striker Miroslav Ivanov. The game was effectively a champions title match since Ludogorets were two points behind the team from Sofia, and the victory made them champions of Bulgaria in their first season in the top division, just one point ahead of CSKA.^[6] In May 2012, Ludogorets completed the domestic double when they won their first Bulgarian Cup title, after a 2–1 victory against Lokomotiv Plovdiv at Lazur Stadium in Burgas,^[7] and in August 2012, they won the Bulgarian Supercup, beating Lokomotiv 3–1, and becoming the first team to win a treble in its first season in A Group and one of the few in the history of international football to do so.

Ludogorets started the 2012–13 season with eight wins in a row and nine matches without a loss, and finished the half-season in first place, as in the previous season, with just one loss and seven goals conceded out of 15 matches. But for the Bulgarian Cup the team was eliminated in the Round of 32 by CSKA Sofia with an aggregate score of 2–2 from the two legs and CSKA continuing into the next round on away goals. In the spring half-season Ludogorets occupied the first place with just three matches to go before the end of the season. Nevertheless, they were defeated 1–0 by Levski Sofia, and Levski took the lead of A Group. On the final day of the season Ludogorets had to beat the already relegated team of Montana, in hopes that Slavia Sofia would prevent Levski from winning their match. In the last minutes of the Levski-Slavia match, Levski conceived an own goal which subsequently led to a 1–1 draw, allowing Ludogorets to win their second championship title in dramatic fashion again. In the 2013 Supercup, they lost 5–3 on penalties to Beroe Stara Zagora after a 1–1 draw in regular time.

In 2014 the team won their third consecutive championship title since promotion, two rounds before the end of the regular season.^[8] They finished nine points ahead of runners-up CSKA Sofia. The team also secured a second domestic double, beating Botev Plovdiv 1–0 in the 2014 Bulgarian Cup Final.^[9]

Ludogorets continued to dominate at domestic level in the following seasons, winning their fourth and fifth titles in 2015 and 2016 consecutively, finishing 8 points ahead of Beroe and 14 points ahead of Levski Sofia.

In Europe

After winning the 2011–12 Bulgarian title, Ludogorets entered in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League for the 2012–13 season, but were eliminated 3–4 on aggregate and with a last minute goal by Dinamo Zagreb.

As 2012–13 Bulgarian champions, Ludogorets played in the 2013–14 Champions League where they came through the qualifiers, beating subsequently Slovan Bratislava and Partizan Belgrade. Ludogorets then lost to FC Basel in the play-offs, but earned the right to play in the Europa League.

Ludogorets played in Group B of the 2013–14 Europa League. They were unbeaten in the group stage finishing first in the group with five wins in six games, including both home and away victories over the prominent PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb.^[10] Their only dropped points were a 1–1 home draw with Chornomorets Odesa. In the knockout phase, Ludogorets beat the Italian cup holders, Lazio, 1–0 away and drew 3–3 at home, for a 4–3 aggregate win,^[11] but then lost 0–3 at home, and 0–4 on aggregate to Valencia in the round of 16.^[12]

In the 2014–15 Champions League, Ludogorets again won both their qualifiers, against F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg and Partizan Belgrade.^[13][14] In the play-off they defeated Steaua București in dramatic fashion to reach the group stage for the first time.^[15] Goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was dismissed for a second yellow card in the last minute of extra time in the second leg, when Ludogorets had used all their substitutes. In the penalty shoot-out, centre-back Cosmin Moți, having converted the first penalty, went in goal and made two saves to put Ludogorets through 6–5 on penalties.^[16]

Ludogorets made their debut in the 2014–15 Champions League group phase on 16 September 2014, grabbing a 1–1 equalizer away against Liverpool in the 90th minute scored by Dani Abalo, but in an eventual 1–2 loss,^[17] as the newly signed goalkeeper Milan Borjan gave away a penalty with a foul on Javi Manquillo, which Steven Gerrard later converted successfully to give Liverpool the victory.^[18] Ludogorets made their home debut in the 2014–15 Champions League group phase on 1 October 2014, scoring a stunning goal in the 6th minute through Ludogorets' attacking midfielder Marcelinho against the current Champions League champion Real Madrid, but in an eventual 1–2 loss.^[19] Interestingly, in this game Cristiano Ronaldo took two penalties, with first saved by the Ludogorets' goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov and second converted into goal for a 1–1 equalizer.^[20] On 22 October 2014, Yordan Minev scored his first goal for Ludogorets, scoring a crucial last-minute winning goal in a 1–0 home win over Basel in the group stage of the Champions League.^[21] On 26 November 2014, Dani Abalo scored in the 3rd minute and Georgi Terziev scored his first goal in the 88th minute, grabbing a 2–2 equalizer against Liverpool, in an eventual 2–2 draw.^[22]

Ludogorets won their 4th consecutive A Group title, but were left by several main squad players. Also, they replaced the manager Georgi Dermendziev with Bruno Ribeiro. The late changes however led to the surprising elimination of Ludogorets in the second qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League by Moldovan champions Milsami Orhei.

With Georgi Dermendziev coming back as a coach, in the 2016–17 Champions League Ludogorets won the qualifiers against Mladost Podgorica and Red Star Belgrade, and the play-off against Viktoria Plzeň, respectively, thus becoming the first Bulgarian team to qualify twice for the group stage of the tournament.

Crest, shirt and mascot

Ludogorets's main colours are forest green and the away kit is white. A black alternative kit is also used in some of the domestic matches. Ludogorets's current crest was designed by the supporters and was chosen after a poll initiated by the club among the fans.

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt partner
2006–2010	Tomy Sport	None
2010–2012	adidas	Huvepharma
2012–2014		Navibulgar / Huvepharma
2014–2016	Macron	eCasino.bg
2016–		bet365 / VIVACOM / Spetema

Since 2014, the mascot of the team has been a female eagle called Fortuna, which was originally a gift from Lazio.^[23]

Honours

Domestic

Bulgarian A Group:

• Winners (5): 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16

Bulgarian B Group:

• Winners (1): 2010–11

Bulgarian Cup:

• Winners (2): 2011–12, 2013–14

Bulgarian Supercup:

• Winners (2): 2012, 2014
• Runners-up (2): 2013, 2015

European

UEFA Europa League

• Round of 16 : 2013–14

UEFA Champions League

• Group stage (2): 2014–15, 2016–17

European record

Competition	S	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Champions League	5	33	9	10	14	45	50
UEFA Europa League	1	10	6	2	2	15	9
Total	5	43	15	12	16	60	59

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2012–13	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Dinamo Zagreb	1–1	2–3	3–4
2013–14	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Slovan Bratislava	3–0	1–2	4–2
		3Q	Partizan	2–1	1–0	3–1
		PO	Basel	2–4	0–2	2–6
	UEFA Europa League	Group B	PSV Eindhoven	2–0	2–0	1st
			Dinamo Zagreb	3–0	2–1
			Chornomorets Odesa	1–1	1–0
		Round of 32	Lazio	3–3	1–0	4–3
		Round of 16	Valencia	0–3	0–1	0–4
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	2Q	F91 Dudelange	4–0	1–1	5–1
		3Q	Partizan	0–0	2–2	2–2 (a)
		PO	Steaua București	1–0	0–1	1–1 (6–5 p.)
		Group B	Real Madrid	1–2	0–4	4th
			Basel	1–0	0–4
			Liverpool	2–2	1–2
2015–16	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Milsami Orhei	0–1	1–2	1–3
2016–17	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Mladost Podgorica	2–0	3–0	5–0
		3Q	Red Star Belgrade	2–2	4–2	6–4 (a.e.t.)
		PO	Viktoria Plzeň	2–0	2–2	4–2
		Group A	Paris Saint-Germain	1–3	–
			Arsenal	2–3	0–6
			Basel	0–0	1–1

Notes

• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round

UEFA ranking

As of 30 November 2016^[24]

Rank	Team	Points
57	Levante	32.256
58	Leicester City	32.249
59	Ludogorets Razgrad	32.075
60	PAOK	31.800
61	Betis	31.256

Players

First-team squad

As of 14 June 2016 ^[25]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Milan Borjan 4 DF Cicinho 5 DF José Palomino 6 DF Natanael 8 MF Lucas Sasha 10 MF Gustavo Campanharo 11 FW Juninho Quixadá 12 MF Anicet Abel 17 FW Tsvetelin Chunchukov 18 MF Svetoslav Dyakov (Captain) 21 GK Vladislav Stoyanov (Vice-captain) 22 FW Jonathan Cafu

No. Position Player 25 DF Yordan Minev 27 DF Cosmin Moți 28 FW Claudiu Keșerü 29 GK Daniel Naumov 32 DF Ihor Plastun 55 DF Georgi Terziev 77 DF Vitinha 84 MF Marcelinho (Vice-captain) 88 MF Wanderson 92 MF Jody Lukoki 93 MF Virgil Misidjan

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2016.

For reserve team players, see Ludogorets Razgrad II.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 19 MF Aleksandar Vasilev (at Beroe Stara Zagora until 30 June 2017) 33 GK Georgi Argilashki (at Pirin Blagoevgrad until 30 June 2017)

No. Position Player 37 DF Ventsislav Kerchev (at Lokomotiv GO until 30 June 2017) 71 FW Yanaki Smirnov (at Lokomotiv GO until 30 June 2017)

Current reserve players with first-team appearances

Ludogorets Razgrad's reserve team, plays in the Bulgarian Second League. The following Ludogorets II players have made first-team appearances for the club.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 13 MF Veselin Lyubomirov 14 MF Slavcho Shokolarov 24 DF Preslav Petrov 34 MF Oleg Dimitrov

No. Position Player 38 MF Kristiyan Kitov 45 MF Ivaylo Klimentov 80 FW Denislav Aleksandrov 98 MF Svetoslav Kovachev

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.

EU Nationals Virgil Misidjan Vitinha Claudiu Keșerü Cosmin Moți

EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) Gustavo Campanharo Juninho Quixadá Marcelinho Wanderson Natanael Jonathan Cafu Lucas Sasha Milan Borjan Anicet Abel Jody Lukoki

Non-EU Nationals José Palomino Cicinho Ihor Plastun

Recent seasons

League positions

Season	Group	Position	M	W	D	L	G	D	P	Bulgarian Cup	Bulgarian Super Cup	UEFA Champions League	UEFA Europa League	Notes
2009–10	North-East V Group	2	34	26	2	6	79	28	80	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Promoted
2010–11	East B Group	1	24	12	8	4	38	16	44	Round of 32	Did not participate	Did not participate	Did not participate	Promoted
2011–12	A Group	1	30	22	4	4	73	16	70	Winner	Winner	Did not participate	Did not participate	Achieved treble
2012–13	A Group	1	30	22	6	2	58	13	72	Round of 32	Finalist	First round	Did not participate	2nd consecutive title
2013–14	A Group	1	38	25	9	4	74	20	84	Winner	Winner	Play-off round	Round of 16	Achieved treble
2014–15	A Group	1	32	18	9	5	63	24	63	Semi-final	Finalist	Group Stage	Did not participate	4th consecutive title
2015–16	A Group	1	32	21	7	4	55	21	70	Round of 16	Not held	Second qualifying round	Did not participate	5th consecutive title
2016–17	First League	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Group Stage	TBD

Records and notable stats

• Biggest home win in A group: Ludogorets 6–0 Slavia Sofia (11 September 2011)
• Biggest away win in A group: Minyor Pernik 0-7 Ludogorets (18 April 2012)
• Biggest home loss in A group: Ludogorets 0–2 Cherno More Varna (29 March 2012), Ludogorets 2–4 Litex Lovech (20 October 2013)
• Biggest away loss in A group: Cherno More – Ludogorets 3–1 (31 August 2013), Litex 4–2 Ludogorets (23 May 2015)
• Most consecutive wins in A group (single season): 12 (2015-16, 2016-17)
• Most consecutive losses in A group (single season): 3 (2011-12)
• Biggest European home win: Ludogorets 4–0 F91 Dudelange (16 July 2014, UEFA Champions league qualifying round first leg)
• Biggest European away win: Mladost Podgorica 0–3 Ludogorets (16 July 2016, UEFA Champions league Second qualifying round second leg)
• Biggest European home defeat: Ludogorets 0–3 Valencia (13 March 2014, UEFA Europa League Round of 16)
• Biggest European away defeat: Arsenal 6–0 Ludogorets (19 October 2016, UEFA Champions League group stage)
• Most league appearances: Marcelinho (142)
• Most league goals: Marcelinho (45)
• Most European competition appearances: Marcelinho (40)
• Most European competition goals: Roman Bezjak (8)
• Most capped foreign player: Milan Borjan, 32 caps, Canada
• Most capped Bulgarian player: Svetoslav Dyakov – 35 caps
• Youngest debutant: Denislav Aleksandrov – 17 years 2 months 5 days
• Ludogorets is the second team in the world, together with Levadia Tallinn from Estonia, that after promoting from the second to the first level of the football league pyramid of its country, wins a treble, capturing all of the local trophies – the league, the national cup and the supercup.
• Ludogorets is the first team in Bulgaria, that won two promotions in a row and then succeeded in achieving a treble.
• Ludogorets became the first Bulgarian team to begin their group stage participation in European tournaments with 3 consecutive wins, when in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage they recorded consecutive wins against PSV Eindhoven (2–0), Dinamo Zagreb (3–0) and Chornomorets Odesa (1–0), without conceding a goal in any of the games.
• After the end of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage, Ludogorets became the first Bulgarian team to record 9 wins in European competitions in a single season, as well as the first Bulgarian team to record 5 away wins in European competitions in a single season.
• After the end of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage, Ludogorets became the first Bulgarian team to record points in that competition when they defeated Basel 1–0 at home. This was also the first home win for a Bulgarian team in the UEFA Champions League, and was followed by a 2–2 home draw with Liverpool. Thus, as of the 2016–17 season Ludogorets holds the record for most points scored in the group stage by a Bulgarian team with 4.
• Ludogorets became the first Bulgarian team to qualify twice for the Champions League group stage, acheving the feat during the 2016-17 season of the tournament.

Goalscoring and appearance records

As of 30 November 2016

Most appearances for the club in First League Rank Name Career Appearances 1 Marcelinho 2011– 144 2 Svetoslav Dyakov 2011– 139 3 Yordan Minev 2011– 115 4 Juninho Quixadá 2011– 110 5 Cosmin Moți 2012– 109 6 Vladislav Stoyanov 2013– 97 7 Mihail Aleksandrov 2010–2016 96 8 Virgil Misidjan 2013– 85 9 Júnior Caiçara 2012–2015 83 10 Alexandre Barthe 2011–2015 73

Most goals for the club in First League Rank Name Career Goals 1 Marcelinho 2011– 46 2 Juninho Quixadá 2011– 30 3 Claudiu Keșerü 2015– 26 4 Ivan Stoyanov 2011–2013 25 5 Wanderson 2014– 24 6 Virgil Misidjan 2013– 22 7 Roman Bezjak 2012–2015 20 8 Emil Gargorov 2011–2013 19 9 Mihail Aleksandrov 2010–2016 15 9 Cosmin Moți 2012– 15

• Players in bold are still playing for Ludogorets.

As of 23 November 2016

Most appearances for the club in European competitions Rank Name Career Appearances 1 Svetoslav Dyakov 2011– 40 1 Marcelinho 2011– 40 1 Cosmin Moți 2012– 40 4 Vladislav Stoyanov 2013– 38 5 Yordan Minev 2011– 35 6 Virgil Misidjan 2013– 32 7 Júnior Caiçara 2012–2015 28 8 Mihail Aleksandrov 2010–2016 27 8 Fábio Espinho 2013–2015 27 10 Roman Bezjak 2011–2015 25

Most goals for the club in European competitions Rank Name Career Goals 1 Roman Bezjak 2012–2015 8 2 Marcelinho 2011– 7 3 Dani Abalo 2013–2015 6 3 Wanderson 2014– 6 5 Jonathan Cafu 2015– 4 5 Virgil Misidjan 2013– 4 7 Claudiu Keșerü 2015– 3 7 Jody Lukoki 2015– 3 7 Juninho Quixadá 2011– 3 7 Hristo Zlatinski 2013–2015 3

• Players in bold are still playing for Ludogorets.
• Players with 3 or more goals for Ludogorets in Europe are listed.
• Includes appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League .

All-time European performance

As of 23 November 2016

  Positive Record   Neutral Record   Negative Record

Opponents	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GD
Croatia	4	2	1	1	8:5
Czech Republic	2	1	1	0	4:2
England	4	0	1	3	5:13
France	1	0	0	1	1:3
Italy	2	1	1	0	4:3
Luxembourg	2	1	1	0	5:1
Moldova	2	0	0	2	1:3
Montenegro	2	2	0	0	5:0
Netherlands	2	2	0	0	4:0
Romania	2	1	0	1	1:1
Serbia	6	3	3	0	11:7
Slovakia	2	1	0	1	4:2
Spain	4	0	0	4	1:10
Switzerland	6	1	2	3	4:11
Ukraine	2	1	1	0	2:1
Total	43	15	12	16	60:59

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, or held any club record. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Ludogorets.

Supporters

The ultras of Ludogorets Razgrad are mainly organized under the group of "Green Front". A female supporters club was also established bearing the name of "Green Ladies". Ludogorets has national fan clubs in Razgrad and Sofia, while other smaller fan clubs are also organised in cities and towns such as Popovo, Varna, Sandanski and Ruse.

Personnel

Board of directors

Position	Name	Nationality
Owner	Kiril Domuschiev
President	Alexander Alexandrov
Chairman of the Board of Directors	Temenuga Gazdova
Managing Director	Angel Petrichev
Director Youth Academy	Yakov Paparkov
Public Relations	Vladislav Trifonov

Current technical body

Position	Name	Nationality
Sports Director	Metodi Tomanov
Head Coach	Georgi Dermendzhiev
Assistant Coach	Petko Petkov
Ludogorets II Coach	Galin Ivanov
U19 Coach	Petar Penchev
Goalkeeper coach	Milan Stojković
Fitness Coach	Sergio Matri
Fitness Coach	Javier Castillo
Kinesiotherapist	Toni Todorov
Kinesiotherapist	Dimitar Stoyanov
Physiotherapist	Marco Alves
Masseur	Iulian Mircea
Doctor	Radu Paligora
Doctor	Ivaylo Yakimov
Administrator	Plamen Yordanov
Translation	Stela Simeonova
Housekeeper	Ali Ali

Managers

Dates	Name	Honours
2001–10	Unknown
2010–13	Ivaylo Petev	99992 A Group titles 1 B Group 1 Bulgarian Cup 1 Bulgarian Supercup
2013–14	Stoycho Stoev	99991 A Group title 1 Bulgarian Cup
2014–15	Georgi Dermendzhiev	99991 A Group title 1 Bulgarian Supercup
2015	Bruno Ribeiro
2015	Eduard Eranosyan
2015–	Georgi Dermendzhiev	99991 A Group title

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PFC Ludogorets Razgrad.

• Official Club Website
• Ludogorets – UEFA.com