Full name | Football Club Lyubimets |
---|---|
Founded | 1921 /restored 2007/ |
Ground | Gradski Stadium, Lyubimets |
Capacity | 4,000 |
Chairman | Atanas Stalev |
Manager | Toshko Yordanov |
League | Third League |
2015–16 | A RFG, 4th /Promoted/ |
FC Lyubimets (Bulgarian: ФК Любимец) is a Bulgarian football club based in Lyubimets. The club competed in the A PFG for the first time in the 2013–14 season.
The club's home ground is the local Municipal Stadium in Lyubimets, which has an overall capacity of 4,000 seats.
The first club was founded as Football Club Maritsa in 1921. In 1947 the club changed its name to Football Club Strela. In the 1960s the club finally was named Football Club Lyubimets. They participated just in third and fourth divisions of Bulgarian football and was dissolved by the end of 1993–94 season.
In 2007, thirteen years later, the club was restored as Football Club Lyubimets 2007. In his first season, the club were promoted for first time to second division. In the first season in professional football, the club finished in 7th place.
On 9 January 2013, club's former player Veselin Velikov was announced as the new manager. Four months later he led Lyubimets to promotion to the A PFG for first time in the club's history, finishing in 2nd place in the B PFG.
The first season in the professional top-flight began with a 1-0 win over defending champions Ludogorets Razgrad. Lyubimets went on to win 9 points from their first four games, including wins against Lokomotiv Sofia and Europa League participants Botev Plovdiv (2-1 away in Plovdiv).
As of 1 November 2016[update] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.