FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia

PFC Lokomotiv Sofia in 2022

First League:

• Winners (4): 1939–40, 1945, 1963–64, 1977–78
• Runners-up (6): 1941, 1946, 1947, 1957, 1964–65, 1994–95
• Third place (10): 1948–49, 1952, 1954, 1959–60, 1967–68, 1978–79, 1995–96, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2014–15

Bulgarian Second League:

• Runners-up (2): 2017–18, 2020–21

Bulgarian Cup:

• Winners (4): 1948, 1953, 1981–82, 1994–95
• Runners-up (2): 1974–75, 1976–77

Balkans Cup:

• Winners: 1973

UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League

• Quarter-finals: 1980

European Railways Cup

• Winners (2): 1961, 1963

Lokomotiv was founded on 2 September 1929 as Railway Sports Club (RSC) by a group of railway workers. RSC's first competitive game was a 2–1 victory against Zora Sofia on 3 October 1929. In the 1939–40 season, RSC won the Bulgarian title for first time in the team's history. The team was made by: Stoyo Nedyalkov (captain), Sl. Videnov, K. Kostov, D. Marinov, St. Angelov, As. Milushev, Krum Milev, L. Hranov. In 1945, the club had already been renamed Lokomotiv Sofia and won the title in the first post-war championship.

During season 1963–64 after 30 games, Lokomotiv won their third title after they defeated main rivals to the title Levski Sofia and Slavia Sofia. This achievement enabled Lokomotiv to participate in the 1964-65 European Cup preliminary round for the first time ever. Lokomotiv were drawn against Swedish champions Malmö. In the first leg, played at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, Lokomotiv trashed their rivals with a score of 8-3, with Nikola Kotkov scoring five goals in that match. The Railroaders lost the second game in Sweden by 0-2, but still progressed to the first ground on aggregate. In the first round, Lokomotiv were drawn against Hungarian champions Gyóri ETO FC. In the first leg, played in Hungary, Lokomotiv Sofia lost by 5-3. The return leg in Sofia was crucial for Loko's progression to the next round. Lokomotiv won the game 4-3, but were eliminated on aggregate 8-7 by their Hungarian rivals, thus ending Lokomotiv's first European Cup adventure.

In 1969 the club was united with Slavia Sofia for a brief period to 1971 and is associated with the Bulgarian railway workers. In 1978, led by Atanas Mihaylov and Boycho Velichkov Lokomotiv won their fourth title. In Europe the club won European championship of the railwaymen two times in 1961 and 1963, and Balkans Cup in 1973.

In 1978, Lokomotiv were crowned champions for the fourth time, finishing one point above CSKA Sofia. This qualified the team for the European Cup for the second time in their history. In the first round, Lokomotiv faced Danish champions Odense. The first game in Denmark ended in a 2-2 tie, with Angel Kolev and Boycho Velichkov scoring important away goals. In the second game played on home soil, Lokomotiv managed to overcome a 0-1 deficit and won the game 2-1, thus progressing to the second round 4-3 on aggregate. In the second round, Lokomotiv were a drawn against a much tougher opponent, in the name of Köln from West Germany at the time. Seen as clear outsiders, Lokomotiv lost the first game in Sofia by 0-1, while they were brutally beaten 4-0 in the return leg in Köln, thus being eliminated from the European Cup.

In 1980 Lokomotiv reached a quarter final in the UEFA Cup where they faced VfB Stuttgart, eliminating before that Ferencváros, AS Monaco and Dynamo Kyiv. Against Stuttgart the team lost with 0–1 in Sofia and with 1–3 in Germany.

The new era for Lokomotiv Sofia came in 1994 with the new president Nikolay Gigov. The football club's status was turned professional. For merely one year (1994–95), from a team struggling not to lose its place in the professional league, Lokomotiv won the silver medals in the Championship and the State Cup. The club's home ground is Lokomotiv Stadium with 25,000 places, a junior training centre: Lokomotiv has an enthusiastic and well-organized fan-club. The team came fourth in the 2005–06 season in A PFG and qualified for the UEFA Cup 2006-07 first qualifying round, where they face FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov from the Republic of Macedonia. Lokomotiv beat the Macedonian side 2–0 in the first match in Sofia on 13 July 2006 and finished 1–1 as a guest in Macedonia and continued to the next round of the tournament. Next, they faced the team of Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, which they beat twice: 2–0 on 10 August 2006 and 4–0 on 24 August 2006. Their next opponent in the first round of the tournament was the team of Feyenoord Rotterdam. The first game in Sofia ended with a 2–2 draw, after Lokomotiv went ahead 2–0 early in the first half. The second game finished 0–0 and Lokomotiv Sofia were out of the UEFA tournament.

Domestically, Lokomotiv had an amazing run of 10 consecutive wins, before being stopped by CSKA Sofia in the direct clash for the second position. Eventually, Lokomotiv finished third with equal points with second-placed CSKA Sofia.

The 2007–08 season started promisingly for the team. In the UEFA Cup second qualifying round Lokomotiv eliminated Romanian side Oţelul Galaţi after a 3–1 win at home and a scoreless away draw. This marked 8 European games without a loss, which was a new national record for longest streak without a loss achieved by a Bulgarian team in all European competitions. The previous record of 7 games was held by Levski Sofia. In the next round, Lokomotiv faced the French Rennes and the loss 1–3 in the first leg in Sofia marked an end to the team's winning streak in Europe. The Bulgarian side showed a surprising rally in the second game in France, which they won 2–1 and were only a single goal short of making it to the extra time. For a second consecutive year, Lokomotiv were stopped short of entering the group stage of the UEFA Cup, despite being the first Bulgarian club in football history to snatch a victory on French soil. The team finished third during the 2014–15 season in the A PFG, but was denied a license for the European tournaments and A Group due to unpaid debts. Lokomotiv were relegated to Bulgaria's third division, the V Group.[2]

After being relegated to the third tier of Bulgarian football, Lokomotiv experienced serious financial problems and the club was disqualified from the Third League, after which it was liquidated. Shortly after, some of the legends of the team including Ivan Vasilev, Boycho Velichkov and Anton Velkov formed a new club in A OFG Sofia (city) - north (4th division). The new club, now called Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia, is considered the rightful successor of the previous team, and thus carries over the history and honors won from the original team. The youth academy was also moved to the new club. Some other former players went back to the club, as well as young players from the academy who were selected to the new first squad.[3]

On 29 July 2016, the team was officially approved for the new Bulgarian Second League, skipping one level of Bulgarian football together with Tsarsko Selo Sofia.[4] However, initially the team couldn’t get promoted to the First League until 2018-19 season due to the rule that a team can play in the highest level only after 3 seasons of existence. This was changed later, allowing Lokomotiv to promote as early as 2018, since the new team was considered to be the successor of the original Lokomotiv.

The 2017-18 season was very dramatical for Lokomotiv Sofia. They finished second in the Second League, which meant that they qualified for the promotion playoffs to enter First League. However, they were denied entry to the top tier by Vitosha Bistritsa, who beat them on penalties to stay in the league.[5] Next season wasn’t as successful, with Lokomotiv only managing a mid-table result. For the 2019-20 season, Lokomotiv finished fourth, only three points behind Montana, who qualified for the promotion playoffs.

The 2020-21 season began well for Lokomotiv, as they managed to remain in first place in the league for the majority of the season before the winter break. Lokomotiv eventually managed to finish in second place, thus securing promotion to the First League after six years.

As of 11 April 2022

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  BUL Damyan Damyanov 2 DF  BUL Stoycho Atanasov 3 DF  BUL Mario Petkov 4 DF  BUL Miki Orachev 5 DF  GRE Georgios Katsikas 6 DF  BUL Plamen Krachunov 7 MF  BUL Aleksandar Aleksandrov 8 MF  BUL Simeon Slavchev 9 FW  BUL Iliya Dimitrov 10 MF  BUL Valentin Nikolov 13 DF  POR Celso Raposo

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 DF  MOZ David Malembana 22 MF  BUL Vladimir Semerdzhiev 24 GK  BUL Aleksandar Lyubenov 25 MF  CRO Frane Čirjak 26 MF  BUL Krasimir Miloshev (captain) 44 MF  BUL Bozhidar Katsarov 45 FW  BUL Dimitar Mitkov 58 MF  BRA Octávio 77 MF  BUL Martin Stoilov 89 DF  BRA Matheus Duarte 93 FW  FRA Virgile Pinson

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2021.

Up to twenty foreign nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Bulgarian First League, however only five non-EU nationals can be used during a match day. 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.