Championship

“Slavia”’s achievements in the Premier League (“A” group) for the period 1948-2016

“Slavia” is the doyen of Bulgarian football.The “whites” have taken part in various championships: Sofia and Bulgaria championships during the periods 1920-1937 and 1940-1948, The National football division during the period 1937-1940, as well as in the succeeding it Premier League (“A” group). Since its establishment in the autumn of 1948, the Premier League (“A” group) has been the country’s elite football division. The “whites” have been a part of it since the early days of its establishment. The team of “Slavia” has never dropped out of the elite. In the season of 1950 “Slavia” became vice-champion but unfortunately owing to a reorganization is sent to the lower group in the next Championship. This is the only time the team was absent from the list of Bulgaria’s best and it was not due to sports’ results but to the absurdities of organization.

“Slavia”’s first match in the Premier League (“A” group) was on 10^thOctober, 1948 in Vidin. That was also the first “whites” victory when they scored 1:0 against the team of “Bdin”. The man who scored the historic first goal for “Slavia” is George Stoychev (the Potato).   

“Slavia”’s achievements in Bulgaria’s matches are as it follows:

The country’s champion: - 8 times – in 1926, 1928, 1930, 1936, 1939, 1941, 1943 and 1996.

The country’s vice-champion: - 9 times – in 1932, 1934, 1950, 1954, 1955, 1959, 1967, 1980 and 1990.

Winner of bronze medal: - 13 times – in 1940, 1942, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1982, 1986, 1991р 1997 and 2020.

“Slavia”’s ranking in the Premier League (“A” group) for the period of 1948-2020 is as follows:

Season        M      W       D       L       GD    P  Place in the ranking

1948-1949   18      9        3        6        29-20 21      ІV

1950            18      11      5        2        31-12 27      ІІ

1952            22      8        5        9        29-22 21      VІІІ

1953            28      9        12      7        42-33 30      V

1954            26      17      4        5        67-24 38      ІІ

1955            26      14      3        9        34-20 31      ІІ

1956            22      8        7        7        37-31 23      ІV

1957            22      7        6        9        38-39 20      VІ

1958            11      5        1        5        23-17 11      V

1958-1959             22      10      7        5        29-17 27      ІІ

1959-1960             22      7        9        6        30-28 23      ІV

1960-1961             26      8        7        11      33-37 23      ХІ

1961-1962             26      10      7        9        45-40 27      V

1962-1963             30      9        9        12      36-38 27      Х

1963-1964             30      13      9        8        46-36 35      ІІІ

1964-1965             30      11      13      6        45-33 35      ІІІ

1965-1966             30      16      7        7        38-25 39      ІІІ

1966-1967             30      13      11      6        33-27 37      ІІ

1967-1968             30      13      8        9        49-41 34      V

1968-1969             30      15      7        8        54-33 37      V

1969-1970             30      15      8        7        41-31 38      ІІІ

1970-1971             30      12      7        11      53-41 31      VІ

1971-1972             34      15      9        10      50-43 39      ІV

1972-1973             33      16      11      6        55-33 43      ІІІ

1973-1974             30      10      8        12      36-33 28      VІІІ

1974-1975             30      15      6        9        56-35 36      ІІІ

1975-1976             30      11      10      9        43-41 32      V

1976-1977             30      14      9        7        52-36 37      ІV

1977-1978             30      12      6        12      54-35 30      V

1978-1979             30      16      4        10      52-33 36      ІV

1979-1980             30      21      3        6        66-27 45      ІІ

1980-1981             30      10      9        11      35-44 29      VІІ

1981-1982             30      15      5        10      35-33 35      ІІІ

1982-1983             30      11      6        13      35-37 28      ХІІ

1983-1984             30      10      5        15      40-38 25      ХІV

1984-1985             30      14      2        14      49-48 29      VІІ

1985-1986             30      16      5        9        63-33 37      ІІІ

1986-1987             30      15      5        10      59-46 35      V

1987-1988             30      14      10      6        48-30 38      ІV

1988-1989             30      8        10      12      32-36 26      ХІ

1989-1990             30      13      10      7        37-29 36      ІІ

1990-1991             30      14      9        7        48-29 37      ІІІ

1991-1992             30      8        10      12      33-31 26      1Х

1992-1993             30      8        5        17      39-56 21      ХІV

1993-1994             28      9        9        10      30-37 27      ІХ

1994-1995             30      16      5        9        63-35 37      ІV

1995-1996             30      20      7        3        51-14 47      І

1996-1997             30      17      6        7        61-23 40      ІІІ

1997-1998             30      15      9        6        51-30 39      V

1998-1999             30      11      8        11      47-36 30      VІІ

1999-2000             30      13      6        11      38-40 32      VІ

2000-2001             26      10      5        11      35-35 25      VІ

2001-2002             36      14      8        14      42-48 34      V

2002-2003             26      16      3        7        57-30 35      ІV

2003-2004             30     18      3        9        57-30 57      V

2004-2005             30     13      9        8        43-33 48      V

2005-2006                      28      12      3        13      33-34 39      VІІ

2006-2007                      30      14      7        9        47-35 49      V

2007-2008                      30      13      8        9        38-28 47      VІІ

2008-2009                      30      11      4        15      41-38 37      VІІІ

2009-2010                      30      14      8        8        34-28 50      VІ

2010-2011                      30      9        5        16      34-38 32      ХІ

2011-2012                 30          15         6         9       42-36 51       VIII

2012-2013                 30          12       6      12         40-35  42    VIII

2013-2014                 38          16      7       15         57-46   55    IX

2014-2015                 32          12       7       13        40-38  43      IX

2015-2016                 32          14       7       11        36-29  49     IV

2016-2017                 32          11        4       17        37-55  37    XI

2017-2018                 32           11     10       11        44-44    43    IX 

2018-2019                 32           10       9       13         37-42   39   VIII

2019-2020                 31          16       7         8         42-32    55   III

Total:           71       2049        888    488     673    3056-2410  2606  

*M = Matches, W = Wins, D = Draws, L = Losses, GD = Goal Difference, P = Points

The club’s records in the “A” (Premier) RFL (Regional Football League):

• Most victories in one season – 21 in 1979/1980
• Least losses in one season – 2 in 1950
• Most goals scored in one season – 67 in 1954
• Least goals conceded in one season – 12 in 1950
• Greatest victories at home:

Against “Lokomotiv” (Plovdiv) – 9:0 – season 1985/1986

Against “Chernomorec Bourgas” (Sofia) – 8:0 – season 2006/2007

Against “Beroe” (Stara Zagora) – 8:1 – season 1954

Against “Sliven” – 8:1 – season 1977/1978

• Greatest away victories:

Against “Rakovski” (Rouse) – 7:0 – season 1996/1997

Against “Spartak” (Varna) – 6:1 – season 1954

• Most goals scored in one season individually:

Peter Alexandrov scores 33 goals in the season 1986/1987

• Foreigner with most matches: Velimir Ivanovich has played in 101 events
• Foreigner with most goals scored: Velimir Ivanovich scored 30 times
• The longest period without a loss: 265 days from 24.XI.1995 to16.VIII.1996– 17 matches in succession
• In the club’s honor list for “A” (Premier) RFL (Regional Football League):

“Slavia” is the winner of the following team awards:

• Most effective attack of the year in Bulgaria in the seasons 1958; 1975, and 1980
• Best defense of the year in Bulgaria in the seasons 1950; 1966; 1973; 1980; 1990, and 1996
• “Slavia” is the winner of Team Sportsmanship Cup (established in 1956) in the seasons of 1965 and 1968.
• “Slavia” has won the Capital’s Winner Cup of the town’s council of BFU (Bulgarian Football Union) in 1969, 1973, 1979, and1980. This Cup was established in the ‘60s.

Members of “Slavia” who have won individual awards:

• The Leading Goal-scorer Cup of the Premier (“A”) RFL (Regional Football League) have held:

Dimitar Isakov – in 1952 with 10 goals

Dobromir Tashkov – in 1954 with 25 goals

Dobromir Tashkov – in 1958 with 9 goals

Alexander Vasilev – in 1959 with 13 goals

Todor Pramatarov – in 1997 with 26 goals

• The individual winners of The Sportsman Cup (established in 1965) of the year are:

Alexander Shalamanov – in 1967

Alexander Shalamanov – in 1973

Chavdar Tsvetkov – in 1979

• The winners of The Best Goal-keeper Cup (established in the sixties) in the championship are:

Simeon Simeonov – in 1966, 1968 and 1969

George Gugalov – in 1980

Zdravko Zdravkov – in 1996

Other individual awards won by members of “Slavia”:

• The Best Technical Performance Cup (since 1991, newspaper “Goal”): Vladko Shalamanov – in 1995 
• The Best Young Player Cup (since 1990, newspaper “Horizont” of BNR): Marian Hristov – 1995
• The Super Captain Cup  (from 1994 to 1998, “Super Sport” magazine):

Vladko Shalamanov – in 1995

Stephen Kolev – in 1996

• The Best Player Cup in the championship (bestowed by newspaper “Football” since 1989): Nasko Sirakov – in 1996
•  The Best Coach Cup (by newspaper “Football” since 1989):

Stoyan Kotsev – in 1996

• The Best National Player in the Premier (“A”) RFL (Regional Football League) Cup (since 1995, New Television (NTV)): Nasko Sirakov – 1996
• The Most Flourishing Young Footballer Cup (since 2002 of the Union of Professional Footballers): Chavdar Yankov – in 2004 and 2005
• The Best Attacker Cup (since 2002 of the Union of Professional Footballers): Todor Kolev – in 2007

National champion - 1928

National champion - 1936

Bronze medal 1975