OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad

Futbolen klub Pirin (Bulgarian: Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the Second League, the second division of Bulgarian football.

Pirin

Full name	Футболен клуб „Пирин“ АД Futbolen klub Pirin (Pirin Football Club)
Nickname(s)	Orletata (The Eaglets)
Short name	Pirin
Founded	1922
Ground	Stadion Hristo Botev
Capacity	7,500
Owner	Emirates Wealth EAD (75%) OFK Pirin EOOD (25%)[1]
Chairman	Paul Belogour
Head coach	Warren Feeney
League	Second League
2019–20	Second League, 11th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Hristo Botev Stadium

The club was founded in 2008, after a merger between two clubs from Blagoevgrad, Pirin 1922 and PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad. By an official court decision later that year, the club was announced as a historical successor of the club records of the former FC Pirin, founded in 1922. In 2011, following the bankruptcy of the entity, which represented the football club, Pirin's football department was merged once again with Perun Kresna, to eventually become OFC Pirin.

Pirin Blagoevgrad's name is adopted from Pirin, a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria. The club's home ground is the Stadion Hristo Botev in Blagoevgrad with a capacity of 7,500 spectators. Pirin's nickname is Orletata (The Eaglets) and their kit colours are green and white.

To date, the club has four domestic cup finals and most notably, enjoys high praise for its development of football players, as several noted Bulgarian footballers were produced by Pirin's youth academy. Among them are the 1994 FIFA World Cup bronze medallists Petar Mihtarski and Ivaylo Andonov, as well as former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov, who won two Premier League titles and was the 2010-11 Premier League top goalscorer.

History

FC Pirin

One of FC Pirin Blagoevgrad's predecessors, FC Pirin, was founded in 1922. FC Pirin has played more than 20 seasons in the top flight and has competed twice in the European football competitions with one participation in the UEFA Cup and one participation in the Cup Winners' Cup respectively. 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, where they finished at 5th place at the end of the season. The club was also three times runner-up of the Bulgarian Cup. 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, Petar Mihtarski, Ivaylo Andonov, Ivan Tsvetkov, Vladislav Zlatinov and Petar Zlatinov.

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

Unification

In December 2008, Pirin, which competed in the Western B PFG, was merged with PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad, (former FC Makedonska Slava), which played in the A PFG after a significant pressure from the supporters in the town. The new club was named FC Pirin Blagoevgrad and was soon proclaimed as a holder of the club records of the former FC Pirin, which competed for more than 20 seasons in the top flight.[2] FC Pirin's West B PFG place was taken by FC Bansko. Then, Nikolay Galchev appointed Petar Mihtarski as a manager of the club. A few months later, under Naci Şensoy's management, the successes followed-up and Pirin qualified for the final of the Bulgarian Cup, eliminating subsequently on their way CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia. In the final match played at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in Sofia, Pirin were eliminated after a 3–0 defeat against Litex Lovech.

OFK Pirin

In the foremath of the 2011–12 season, Pirin Blagoevgrad failed to receive a professional license for the A Group. However, due to their financial struggles they were also rejected to participate in the South-West V AFG. Later that year, they acquired the license of Perun Kresna. The team finished 2011-12 season as Perun, but for 2012-13 the team was renamed to Obshtinski futbolen klub Pirin (Bulgarian: Общиснки футболен клуб „Пирин“), meaning Pirin Minicipal Football Club, as the club was owned by Blagoevgrad Municipality.

In 2015, the club achieved promotion to the A Group after a four-year absence from top-flight football.

The team was relegated from the A Group after the 2017-18 season.

On 11 June 2019, OFK Pirin secured a one-year sponsorship agreement and advertising partnership with the investment company Emirates Wealth EAD.[3] In July, Blagoevgrad Municipality approved a business plan by the company discussing the future development of the club, in particular the partnership between the two sides, phases in acquiring participatory management, investment schemes, club finances and aims.[4] The plan saw Emirates Wealth EAD become a majority owner, as it acquired 75% of the OFK Pirin's shares, with 25% remaining in Blagoevgrad Municipality's ownership.[5] Part of obtaining participatory management saw the creation of a new association, a joint-stock company named Futbolen klub Pirin AD (Bulgarian: Футболен клуб „Пирин“ АД), meaning Pirin Football Club, where OFK Pirin, owned by the municipality, was merged into.[1]

Colours and badge

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.

Honours

Domestic

Bulgarian Cup:

• Runner-up (4): 1981, 1992, 1994, 2009

European

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

Players

Current squad

As of 29 December 2020

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  BUL Aleksandar Bastunov 5 DF  BUL Nikolay Bodurov 6 DF  BUL Yuliyan Popev 8 DF  BUL Orlin Starokin 9 FW  BUL Vladislav Zlatinov 10 FW  BUL Andon Gushterov 11 MF  BUL Stanislav Manolev 13 DF  BUL Arhan Isuf 14 DF  BUL Stilyan Nikolov 15 MF  FRA John-Christophe Ayina 16 DF  BUL Petar Kepov 17 MF  BUL Spas Georgiev

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  BUL Preslav Yordanov 22 DF  BUL Dimitar Mitev 26 MF  BUL Ivan Tasev 27 MF  BUL Asen Libyahovski 28 MF  BUL Mariyan Vangelov 31 MF  BUL Krasimir Stanoev 38 DF  BUL Aleksandar Dyulgerov 44 MF  IRL Conor Henderson 71 MF  BUL Anton Karachanakov 73 MF  BUL Ventsislav Bengyuzov 87 GK  BUL Dimitar Sheytanov 99 GK  BUL Petar Petrov

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2020 and Transfers winter 2020–21.

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  BUL Ivaylo Mihaylov (at Septemvri Simitli until 30 June 2021)

Foreign players

Only one non-EU nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Bulgarian Second Professional League. 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 George Oakley Conor Henderson John-Christophe Ayina

EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) Francesco Ruberto

Non-EU Nationals None

Past seasons

League positions

Last Seasons

Season	League	Place	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Bulgarian Cup
2012–13	V Group (III)	3	19	5	6	69	26	62	not qualified
2013–14	V Group	1	25	4	1	87	6	79	not qualified
2014–15	B Group (II)	2	17	10	3	52	15	61	First round
2015–16	A Group (I)	8	5	11	16	27	45	26	First round
2016–17	First League (I)	10	12	7	13	41	44	43	Quarterfinals
2017–18	First League	14	7	9	16	29	42	30	First round
2018–19	Second League (II)	13	9	4	17	29	49	31	First round
2019–20	Second League	11	6	7	7	24	29	25	Preliminary round
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

Managers

Dates	Name	Honours
2011–2014	Kostadin Gerganchev	1 V AFG title
2014–2015	Yordan Samokovliyski	promotion to A Group
2015	Ivo Trenchev (interim)
2015	Nedelcho Matushev
2015–2016	Naci Şensoy
2016−2017	Stefan Genov
2017−2018	Milen Radukanov
2018–2019	Petar Zlatinov
2019–2019	Ivan Stoychev
2019	Ivo Trenchev
2019–	Warren Feeney

References

1. ""Емирейтс Уелт" придобива собствеността в "Пирин" след одобрението на общината" (in Bulgarian). Dnevnik.bg. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
2. "История". pirinfc.com. Archived from the original on 16 September 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
3. "ОФК Пирин ЕООД Благоевград влиза в рекламно партньорство с Емирейтс". fcpirin.com (in Bulgarian). 11 June 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
4. "Планът за развитие на ФК Пирин Благоевград". fcpirin.com (in Bulgarian). 1 August 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
5. "От днес ОФК „Пирин" – Благоевград официално е с нов собственик" (in Bulgarian). Radio Blagoevgrad. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2021.

External links

• Official website (in Bulgarian)
• Pirin - news and results