FC Vereya

Vereya (Bulgarian: Верея) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Stara Zagora, which currently competes in the Southeast Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football.

FC Vereya
Full nameProfessional Football Club Vereya-Stara Zagora
Nickname(s)The Lions
FoundedJuly 15, 2001; 22 years ago (2001-07-15)
GroundTrace Arena, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Capacity3,500
Head coachKolyo Kolev
LeagueA RFG Stara Zagora
2022–23Southeast Third League, 20th (relegated)
WebsiteClub website

Vereya was founded in 2001. The team made a remarkable rise through the levels of the Bulgarian football system, and by 2016, the club reached the top level of Bulgarian football, the First League, for the first time. In 2019, after three seasons in the First League, they were expelled from it for reported match fixing.

History

Foundation and beginning

The club was founded in 2001 by a founding board led by Hristiyan Parvanov, Galin Mihaylov, Slavcho Tanev, Tonko Totev and Dimo Hristov. Until the 2005/06 season it was playing in Regional groups before the promotion to the V AFG under the name FC Vereya-Arsenal after a merger with Arsenal Kazanlak, but after the season 2006/07 Vereya-Arsenal became Arsenal Kazanlak and the 2nd team Vereya Bulsatkom moved to Stara Zagora again and was registered as FC Vereya. They won the A RFG 3 times in the next 5 seasons, getting the promotion during the 2011–12 season.

Trace Group ownership (2012–present)

In 2012, Bulgarian construction company Trace Group started investing in the club and a new stadium project Trace Arena was presented.On May 21, 2014, the club won the Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League after defeating Minyor Pernik 2–0 in the final.[1] During the same season Vereya finished 3rd in the V Group and secured promotion to the higher-ranked professional football league, the B Group.

In 2016, the club submitted an application for the newly restructured Bulgarian First League. On June 1, 2016, one of the new signings of the club for the upcoming season, the Brazilian Elias Alves da Silva, announced that he joined the club, as it would compete in the top league of Bulgaria, long before an official statement was given by the BFU officials on the number of the teams competing in the new league, thus sparking controversy.[2]

On June 7, 2016, Vereya, alongside five other B Group outfits, were approved by the Bulgarian Football Union and were promoted to compete in the upcoming 2016-17 Bulgarian First League. Vereya was one of the clubs with the necessary financial and infrastructural requirements for the new first tier.

In its first ever season in the top level (2016–17), Vereya managed to secure a 7th-place finish, thus remaining part of the elite for next season.

In its second season in the top level (2017–18), Vereya surprised many, by finishing in the top 6 in the regular season.

The third season in the elite was not that successful, however. It was marked by financial problems. On 7 May 2019, Vereya were disqualified from the league for match fixing. All results from played matches involving Vereya were retained with the Bulgarian Football Union awarding Septemvri Sofia two wins by 3–0 from their scheduled relegation play-off matches with Vereya and the loser from the relegation play-off match between Dunav Ruse and Vitosha Bistritsa (the latter) directly faced the second-placed team from the Second League (Montana).[3][4][5] Vereya was then disqualified from the Second League, due to financial issues, following which they were also disqualified from the third tier, which meant that the team will start the 2019–20 season from the fourth division of Bulgarian football, in this case the Stara Zagora regional league.

Statistics

Season to season

SeasonTierDivisionPlaceBulgarian Cup
2001–024A RFGN/ADid Not Play
2002–034A RFGN/ADNP
2003–044A RFGN/ADNP
2004–054A RFGN/ADNP
2005–064A RFG1st ↑DNP
2006–073V AFG7th ↓DNP
2007–084A RFG4thDNP
2008–094A RFG1stDNP
SeasonTierDivisionPlaceBulgarian Cup
2009–104A RFG2ndDNP
2010–114A RFG1stDNP
2011–124A RFG1st ↑Second round
2012–133V AFG5thDNP
2013–143V AFG3rd ↑DNP
2014–152B PFG11thFirst round
2015–162B PFG8th ↑First round
2016–171First League7thSemifinals
SeasonTierDivisionPlaceBulgarian Cup
2017–181First League6thFirst round
2018–191First League14th ↓Second round
2019–204A RFG3rd ↑DNP
2020–213Third League18th ↓DNP
2021–224A RFG4th ↑DNP
2022–233Third League20th ↓DNP
2023–244A RFGDNP
Bulgarian V AFGRegional Amateur Football Groups (Bulgaria)Bulgarian First LeagueBulgarian B Football GroupBulgarian V AFGRegional Amateur Football Groups (Bulgaria)Bulgarian V AFGRegional Amateur Football Groups (Bulgaria)

Shirt and sponsors

Vereya main colors are blue and white.

PeriodKit manufacturerShirt partner
2006–2012 UnknownBulsatcom / Trace Group
2012–2014 Tomy SportTrace Group
2014–2016 Nike
2016–2018 Erreà
2018–2019 UhlsportEfbet

Honours

Current squad

As of 1 August 2020

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

No.Pos. NationPlayer
14DF  BULGeorgi Koychev
16MF  BULSteliyan Kolev
17DF  BULStanimir Petrov
18MF  BULDenislav Zapryanov
20MF  BULKiril Atanasov
21FW  BULPetar Milkov
22GK  BULVentsislav Yankov
26DF  BULVladimir Zafirov (captain)
77DF  BULZhivko Monev
23DF  GREKonstantinos Laios

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, or held any club record. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Vereya or at some other point in their careers.

Managers

Zhivko Zhelev was appointed Vereya playing head coach in March 2015
DatesNameHonours
2001–11Unknown
2011–13 Kolyo Hristov
2013–14 Petar Kostadinov99991 Amateur Cup title
1 Promotion to B Group
2014 Krasimir Manolov
2014 Gospodin Mirchev
2014–15 Radostin Kishishev
2015–16 Zhivko Zhelev
Vladislav Yanush
2016–2017 Aleksandar Tomash
2017 Ilian Iliev
2018 Blagomir Mitrev
2018 Ivan Kolev
2018 Nebojša Miličić
2018 Lyudmil Kirov
2018–2019 Nebojša Miličić
2019 Oleksandr Sevidov
2019 Ivan Vutov
2020– Kolyo Kolev

References

External links