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Sportist
Full name	FC Sportist Svoge
Nickname(s)	The chocolates
Founded	1924; 101 years ago
Ground	Chavdar Tsvetkov, ; Svoge
Capacity	3,500
Chairman	Petar Veselinov
Head coach	Georgi Chilikov
League	Second League
2023–24	Second League, 14th
Website	https://sportist-svoge.net/
Home colours	Away colours

FC Sportist (Bulgarian: ФК Спортист) is a Bulgarian football club based in Svoge, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football, following promotion from the Third League.

The club was founded in 1924 and their home ground is the Stadion Chavdar Tsvetkov, which has a seating capacity of 3,500 spectators. The club's biggest success is promotion to the Bulgarian top division in 2009, although they were relegated at the end of the 2009-10 season. The club plays home games in blue and white kits.

History

Early years

Sportist Svoge was formed in 1924, as a sports club characterized by a blue and white check jersey. In 1949, after reorganization, the club was renamed to DSNM Svoge. In the years between 1952 and 1954, the sports club competes with the name of Minyor Svoge, and in the period between 1954 and 1957 carries the simple name FC Svoge. The club finally became known as Sportist Svoge in 1957, the name, which is known to date.

Road to the Elite

Until 2007, Sportist participated in either the third or the fourth amateurs divisions, but in 2006-07 the team were promoted for the first time to second division. In their first season in professional football, the club finished in 6th place. In 2008 manager Aleksandar Aleksandrov laid the foundations of a good team. The 2008–09 season in the domestic league was successful for the team, which finished 2nd, and managed to participate in the play-off for promotion in the Bulgarian A PFG. On June 17, 2009, Sportist surprisingly won the play-off against Naftex Burgas with a result of 6:4 in the penalty shoot-out and qualified for the A PFG for the first time in the club's history.

A Group Season

On August 10, 2009, in the first match of the club in the top division of Bulgarian football, Sportist finished with a 1:1 draw against Slavia Sofia.^[1] The first goal for the club in the A PFG scored Georgi Semerdzhiev. The first win came in the 5th round against Lokomotiv Plovdiv,^[2] with 2:1 at the Stadion Chavdar Cvetkov. Sportist won just five games in their first A PFG campaign. From the five wins, four came from home games. The team managed to beat Botev Plovdiv, Cherno More Varna, Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and Sliven. Away results were even less impressive. Sportist only managed to beat Minyor Pernik and draw with Botev Plovdiv. These results earned the team 19 points, which was 13 points below the safety line. Sportist was thus relegated at the end of the season to the 2010–11 B Group.

Return to lower leagues

The following two seasons were successful for the club, as they managed to earn second place twice in a row, qualifying for the promotion playoffs, but Sportist were unlucky on both occasions, losing to Chernomorets Pomorie and Botev Plovdiv respectively. For the 2012–13 B Group season, Sportist Svoge did not obtain a license due to financial reasons and was excluded from the second league. The team was relegated to the fourth tier of Bulgarian football, but managed to promote to the third tier the following season, 2013–14. After 2 seasons in the third division, Sportist was again relegated to the fourth tier. The team remained there until 2018 when they won promotion to the third league once more for the 2018–19 season. Svoge finished in 15th place following its return to the third division.

For the 2019–20 season, Sportist finished in third place in the third tier, but earned promotion to the second level, following the disqualification of Pomorie from the second tier.

In 2023, Sportist finished in fifth place in the Second League and qualified for the promotion playoffs for entering First League. Sportist played against Beroe Stara Zagora in Veliko Tarnovo but lost the game 1–0, thus remaining in the Second League.

League positions

Honours

Bulgarian A PFG:

15th place in the "A" group: 2009/10

Bulgarian Cup:

1/8 finalist 1950 and 2007/08

Current squad

As of 29 October, 2024 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	CPV	Dylan Silva
4	DF	BUL	Georgi Pashov
6	MF	BUL	Alpay Ramadan
7	MF	CPV	Paulo Soares
8	MF	BUL	Yancho Andreev
9	FW	FRA	Sullivan Lakhamy
11	MF	BUL	Kaloyan Stefanov
14	MF	BUL	Emil Kyosov
15	DF	FRA	Thadée Kaleba
16	DF	BUL	Kristiyan Hristov


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	FW	BUL	Martin Krastev
19	DF	BUL	Kristiyan Beshev
20	DF	BUL	Georgi Madzharov
21	DF	BUL	Aleksandar Bastunov
22	DF	BUL	Georgi Ivanov
23	MF	BUL	Aleksandar Veselinski (on loan from Cherno More)
33	GK	BUL	Damyan Damyanov
73	DF	BUL	Aleksandar Krastanov
87	MF	BUL	Blagovest Danchev
99	FW	RSA	Jaisen Clifford (on loan from Etar)

For recent transfers, see Transfers winter 2023–24 and Transfers summer 2024.

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, held any club record, or had more than 100 league appearances. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.

Bulgaria

North America

Nathan Holder

Africa

Dylan Silva
Paulo Soares

Managerial history

This is a list of the last six Sportist Svoge managers:

Name	From	To	Honours
Ivan Atanasov	June 2007	5 January 2008	–
Atanas Dzhambazki	5 January 2008	4 November 2008	–
Aleksandar Aleksandrov	5 November 2008	31 August 2009	–
Ivan Atanasov	31 August 2009	24 December 2009	–
Stoycho Stoev	24 December 2009	19 April 2010	–
Ivan Atanasov	19 April 2010	present	–

As of 19 April 2010

Stadium

The club's home ground is the Chavdar Tsvetkov Stadium. It was opened in 1967.

Until 2007, the stadium was called Iskar. The same year, the stadium underwent serious renovation and its capacity was increased to 1,600 spectators and was renamed after the legendary striker of the club - Chavdar Tsvetkov. The stadium also has a parking lot with 120 parking spaces, including 10 for disabled people.

In 2009, the stadium's capacity was expanded to 3,500 spectators. The record attendance at the stadium is 3,250 spectators and was achieved at the game between Sportist and Levski Sofia on October 25, 2009.