OFC Sliven 2000

OFC Sliven 2000 (ОФК Сливен 2000) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Sliven, currently playing in the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, the first division of Bulgarian football. The club's home ground is the Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium in Sliven with a capacity of 15,000. OFC Sliven's team colours are orange and blue.

Address

town Sliven
st."Georgi Danchev" N 2
phone +359 (44)667832
fax 667832

History

OFC Sliven 2000 was found on February 29, 2000 after the bankrupt of FC Sliven, but as it is the real representative club of the same-name town, it keeps the tradition started back in 1914 with the first local football club Sportist. Through the years the leading club in Sliven had different names - Asenovetz, DNA, General Zaimov, Mlada Gvardia etc. After World War II Sliven took part in B PFG for ten years before seeing its first promotion to A PFG in season 1963/1964. Up to now, the club has played 22 seasons at the highest level of Bulgarian football (continuously in 1974 - 1993). In 1983-84, FC Sliven won the 3rd place in Group A and thus qualified for the UEFA Cup in 1984-85, where they faced FK Željezničar Sarajevo, winning the first leg 1-0 at home, but suffering a 1-5 defeat in the second leg. FC Sliven had its biggest success in 1990, winning the Bulgarian Cup against CSKA Sofia (2-0). The goals were scored by Valeri Valkov and Yordan Lechkov. In the Cup Winners Cup 1990-91 Sliven were drawn against Juventus Torino, losing both matches by scores of 0-2 and 1-6. Over the next few years, the club went into a deep crisis, relegated to the regional football groups and bankrupted. Sliven was reborn in 2000 with establishing the Municipal Football Club (OFC) Sliven 2000, led by Yordan Lechkov. In 2005 the club finally earned a promotion back to the second level of Bulgarian football. In May 2008 Sliven promoted to the top flight winning the Eastern group of Bulgaria's second division.

Honours

Holder of Bulgarian Cup - 1 time (1990)
3rd place (bronze medals) in A PFG - 1 time (1983/1984)

In A PFG

As of 1 Aug 2008

Seasons	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA
22	660	226	144	290	825	975

In B PFG

As of 1 Aug 2008

Seasons	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA
22	628	279	150	199	900	698

Recent Seasons

Season		Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Notes
2005-2006	B PFG	12	26	9	4	13	22	30	31	1/16
2006-2007	B PFG	12	26	4	11	11	32	52	23	1/8
2007-2008	B PFG	1	26	19	3	4	63	23	60	1/8	Promoted

European cup history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1984/85	UEFA Cup	1	FK Zeljeznicar	1-0	1-5	2-5
1990/91	Cup Winners'Cup	1	Juventus F.C.	0-2	1-6	1-8

Colours and nicknames

For the majority of their history FC Sliven have worn red and white colours. When the club was first founded in 1918, red was chosen to represent the blood of bulgarian Voivodes and white was chosen to represent the freedom. After the bankrupt of FC Sliven in 2000 the club changed its name to OFC Sliven 2000, its badge and its colours to a orange shirts with blue shorts. One of the nicknames of OFC Sliven 2000 is Voivodite which means "Slavic title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force". It was chosen because the town Sliven is famous for its Bulgarian Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turks in the 19th century and is known as the "City of the 100 Voivodes", a Voivode being a leader of Haiduts.

Stadium

The stadium Hadzhi Dimitar in Sliven (15,000 seats) was built in the 50's, first big reconstructions were run in the period 1984 - 1989. Currently Hadzhi Dimitar is a part of big multifunctional sports compound, still under development - at completion featuring hotel, restaurant, 2 training grass pitches, tennis courts, swimming pool. The athletic track of Hadzhi Dimitar is meeting all requirements of IAAF for hosting international competitions. The stadium complex has the only training pitch with artificial flooring in Bulgaria. The size of the official pitch is 105m x 68m. Record attendance is 30,000 people.