FC Spartak Plovdiv

Football club infobox
clubname = Spartak Plovdiv


fullname = FC Spartak Plovdiv
nickname = Gladiatorite (The Gladiators)
founded = 15 November 1947
ground = Stadion Todor Diev
capacity = 3,500
director = Ljudmil Bozhilov
manager = Nikolay Kirov - Belia
league = B Football Group
season = 2005-06
position = B Grupa, 6th
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pattern_la2=_red_stripes|pattern_b2=_whitestripes|pattern_ra2=_red_stripes
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FC Spartak Plovdiv (ФК Спартак Пловдив) is a Bulgarian football club from the city of Plovdiv. Founded in 1947, they have once been champions of Bulgaria (in 1963), coming second the previous year, and Bulgarian Cup winners (in 1958). The team was merged with Botev Plovdiv and SSK Akademik to form AFD Trakia in 1967, but became once again independent on 2 December 1982.

Spartak Plovdiv play their home games at their 3,000-seat Todor Diev Stadium in Kichuk Parizh district of Plovdiv. The stadium is named for the club's all-time greatest player. Currently Spartak is in the second division of Bulgarian football, the B PFG.

The child-juvenile school of FC Spartak is one of the best and prolific creators of young talents in Bulgarian football.

History

Evolved from three earlier Plovdiv clubs - Levski, Septemvri and Udarnik. Spartak is a reference to the Roman slave hero Spartacus. This reference also explains the club's nickname - Gladiatorite (The Gladiators).

The club participated in the European Cup competition for the first time in 1963-64 vs KF Partizani Tirana (0:1, 3:1) and vs PSV (0:1, 0:0). Second continental participation was in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1966-67 vs SL Benfica (1:1, 0:3).

In 1964 Spartak reached the Balkans Cup final, losing to FC Rapid Bucureşti after two legs - 1:1 at home and 0:2 away.

In 1967 Spartak was merged with SSK Akademik and Botev Plovdiv into a new club - AFD Trakia. An independent Spartak did not re-emerge until 1982. Merged in 1998 with Komatevo Sokol`94 and were renamed Spartak-S`94. This remained club's official name till the 2001-02 season.

Honours

* Champions of Bulgaria: 1963
* National Cup winners: 1958
* Vice-champions: 1962
* National Cup finalists: 1955, 1959
* Balkans Cup runners-up: 1964

Notable players

* Todor Diev (1934-1995)
* Dimitar Dimov
* Ivan Manolov
* Mihail Dushev
* Hristo Dishkov
* Tobiah Momin
* Georgi Barbov
* Dimitar Hubinov
* Ljubomir Burnarski

Current squad 2007/08

Squad 2006/07

"As of January 2007"

Address

6, Macedonia Blvd, Kichuk Parizh, 4004 Plovdiv.

External links

* [http://www.spartakpd.info/ Official club website]
* [http://clubs.bul-foot.org/html/b/eastern/Spartak(Plovdiv).htm Bulgarian clubs - Spartak (Plovdiv)]
* [http://sport.plovdiv24.com/cat3-21/spartak.html Spartak Pd news and statistics]