Pirin

Full name	PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad
Nickname(s)	The Eagles
Founded	1922 /2008 after union/
Ground	Hristo Botev Stadium, Blagoevgrad (Capacity: 11,000)
Chairman	Nikolay Galchev
Manager	Stefan Grozdanov
League	TBI A Football Group
2008-09	12th
Home colours Away colours

PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad (Bulgarian: ПФК Пирин Благоевград) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 2008, after the union of the two clubs from Blagoevgrad - PFC Pirin 1922 and PFC Pirin 1931. The new club is the historical successor of the original and traditional club records of the former PFC Pirin 1922, which was founded in 1922. The club's home ground is the Hristo Botev Stadium in Blagoevgrad with a seating capacity of 11,000, which is planned to be expanded until the winter break of the 2009/10 season by making completely new all-seater east stand.

[edit] History

[edit] PFC Pirin 1922

The club was founded in 1922. Pirin 1922 has played more than 20 seasons in the top flight and has played two times in the European football competitions - one participation in the UEFA Cup and one participation in the Cup Winners' Cup. The club's first participation in the UEFA tournaments was not promising. In 1985, Pirin faced the then reigning Swedish champion Hammarby IF. The first game in Blagoevgrad, ended with a 1-3 loss. The second game in Sweden was also a defeat - 0-4 and Pirin were out of the European competitions. Pirin's best season in the Bulgarian top division was in the 1984-85 season - 5th place. The club was also two times runner-up of the Cup of Bulgaria. Also, Pirin's youth academy is attributed as being one of the best developers of young and unknown players in Bulgaria. Among the club's famous players are Dimitar Berbatov, Spas Delev, Stanislav Manolev, Petar Mihtarski, Ivaylo Andonov, Ivan Cvetkov, Vladislav Zlatinov and Petar Zlatinov.

Berbatov started his football career in Pirin.

On August 18, 2006, after failing to arrange some debts and signals of corruption, Pirin 1922 was thrown out of the A PFG, the team's results for the season were annulled, and the club was demoted to play in the Bulgarian South-West V AFG. However, after two years, Pirin 1922 won the South-West V AFG and the club returned for the upcoming season of the West B PFG.

[edit] PFC Pirin 1931

The other club from Blagoevgrad, Pirin 1931 was founded in 1931 as Granit Stara Kresna, but in the following years the team's name was changed to Makedonska Slava ("Macedonian Glory") to imply a connection with the old Makedonska Slava, then playing in the nearby town of Simitli. Until the 1999-00 season, the team participated in the amateur Bulgarian divisions, regularly promoting and relegating. However, the club surprisingly played a season in the West B PFG as Makedonska Slava in the 2000/01 season, but, as expected, quickly returned to amateur football.

Several years later, under the hand of the new owner Nikolay Galchev, the football club became known as Pirin 1931 in the 2004/05 season and returned again to top flight football for the 2005/06 season in the West B PFG. Again after few wins and successes, the club's name was decided to be renamed to PFC Pirin 1931 Blagoevgrad. The following 2007/08 season, Pirin Blagoevgrad won the West B PFG and the club joined the A PFG for the first time in the club's long history.

[edit] The Union

In December, 2008, PFC Pirin 1922 (which played in the West B PFG) merged with PFC Pirin 1931 Blagoevgrad (which played in A PFG). The new club was named PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad and is officially the rightful holder of the club records of the former Pirin, which was founded in 1922. Then Nikolay Galchev appointed for manager the legend of the club Petar Mihtarski. A few months later, the successes came nearby and Pirin qualified for the final of the Bulgarian Cup (the team defeated CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia). However, the final of the cup was lost by the eagles with 0-3 from Litex Lovech.

[edit] Colours

Currently, the team's home kit is green and the away kit is white. Various combinations of green and white have been used throughout the club's history.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Domestic

Bulgarian A PFG:

• 5th place (1): 1985

Bulgarian Cup:

• Runner-up (3): 1992, 1994, 2009

[edit] European

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1985/86	UEFA Cup	1		Hammarby IF	1-3	0-4	1-7
1994/95	Cup Winners' Cup	QR		FC Schaan	3-0	1-0	4-0
		1		Panathinaikos FC	0-2	1-6	1-8

[edit] Current squad

As of November 2009

No. Position Player 5 DF Stefan Stanchev (on loan from Levski Sofia) 6 DF Georgi Georgiev 7 FW Zoran Zlatkovski 8 MF Blagoy Nakov 9 FW Ivan Tsachev (on loan from Levski Sofia) 10 MF Todor Palankov 11 MF Radoslav Anev 12 GK Blagoy Makendzhiev 13 MF Miroslav Todorov 14 DF Georgi Samokishev 16 MF Kostadin Katsimerski

No. Position Player 17 FW Daniel Mladenov 18 MF Boris Galchev 19 FW Kaloyan Stoyanov 20 MF Dragi Kotsev 22 GK Veselin Ganev 23 DF Dian Moldovanov 25 DF Miroslav Rizov 26 DF Yulian Popev 27 DF Radoslav Mitrevski 28 MF Daniel Peev 29 FW Boris Kondev

For recent transfers, see List of Bulgarian football transfers summer 2009.

[edit] Famous players

[edit] External links

• Official website