FC Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa

Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
Full nameFootball Club Lokomotiv - Gorna Oryahovitsa
Nickname(s)Loko, The Irons
Founded1932 (1932)
GroundStadion Lokomotiv,
Gorna Oryahovitsa
Capacity10,500
ChairmanIvo Dimitrov
Head coachNikolay Panayotov (caretaker)
LeagueSecond League
2023-24Northwest Third League, 1st (promoted)
Websitehttps://lokomotivgo.bg/

Lokomotiv (Bulgarian: Локомотив) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Gorna Oryahovitsa, which currently competes in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football.

Established in 1932 as a sports association of the railway workers in the town, the football department of Lokomotiv have been playing at their current home ground, the Lokomotiv Stadium, since 1956. The club's main colours are black and white. Lokomotiv GO's longest spell in the top division was between 1987 and 1995. Lokomotiv's highest league finish in the top division is 8th, and was achieved three times during their 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1993–94 A Group campaigns.

History

The club was established in 1932 as RSC - Railway Sports Club (Bulgarian: ЖСК - Железничарски спортен клуб) by the railway workers at the Gorna Oryahovitsa railway station, a major railway junction in northern Bulgaria. In 1944 RSC merged with SC Borislav and was later renamed to RSC Borislav. The team finally became known by their current name Lokomotiv in 1945. Lokomotiv's best performance in the Bulgarian Cup came in 1947, when they lost to eventual winners Levski Sofia in the semi-final, a feat, which they would achieve again in 1987, but again losing to cup holders Levski Sofia. In the 1962–63 season, they won the B Group title, earning promotion to the A Group for the first time in their history. In their maiden top-tier season, Lokomotiv endured a difficult 1963–64 campaign. The team eventually finished the season last and was relegated back to the B Group after a single season.

In the 1986–87 season, Lokomotiv ranked second in the B Group and won promotion to the A Group after a 23-year absence. This began the golden age for Lokomotiv as the team spent eight consecutive seasons in the top division before being relegated in 1995. During the 1990–91 A Group season, Lokomotiv's forward Ivaylo Yordanov finished as the leading goalscorer of the A Group with a total of 21 goals and was later transferred to Portuguese club Sporting C.P..

After 21 years of absence from the top flight, in the 2015–16 B Group, Lokomotiv finished third in the final league table and was one of the clubs approved and promoted to the newly restructured Bulgarian First League, following the adoption of new licensing criteria by the Bulgarian Football Union. The long-awaited return to the elite for Lokomotiv proved to be challenging, as the team spent the majority of the season competing in the relegation zone. Lokomotiv was eventually relegated after one season spent in the top flight.

After four seasons in the Second League, Lokomotiv were then relegated to the Third League at the end of the 2020/2021 season. After three seasons in the third level, Lokomotiv earned promotion back to the Second League in 2024.

Seasons

Season by season

Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup
1950 B PFG 6 DNQ
1951 V AFG ? DNQ
1952 V AFG 3 DNQ
1953 B PFG 7 DNQ
1954 B PFG 3 DNQ
1955 B PFG 2 DNQ
1956 B PFG 5 DNQ
1957 B PFG 10 DNQ
1958 B PFG 12 DNQ
1958–59 B PFG 5 DNQ
1959–60 B PFG 10 DNQ
1960–61 B PFG 5 DNQ
1961–62 B PFG 8 DNQ
1962–63 B PFG 1 DNQ
1963–64 A PFG 16 1/8 finals
1964–65 B PFG 4 DNQ
1965–66 B PFG 3 DNQ
1966–67 B PFG 4 Round of 16
1967–68 B PFG 11 DNQ
1968–69 B PFG 15 DNQ
1969–70 B PFG 11 DNQ
1970–71 B PFG 15 DNQ
1971–72 B PFG 11 DNQ
Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup
1972–73 B PFG 8 Round of 16
1973–74 B PFG 3 DNQ
1974–75 B PFG 12 DNQ
1975–76 B PFG 3 Round of 16
1976–77 B PFG 9 Round of 32
1977–78 B PFG 9 Round of 16
1978–79 B PFG 6 Round of 32
1979–80 B PFG 10 Round of 32
1980–81 B PFG 6 Groups
1981–82 B PFG 6 Second round
1982-83 B PFG 5 Third round
1983–84 B PFG 16 First round
1984–85 V AFG 1 First round
1985–86 B PFG 3 First round
1986–87 B PFG 1 Semi-finals
1987–88 A PFG 13 Second round
1988–89 A PFG 12 Third round
1989–90 A PFG 8 First round
1990–91 A PFG 8 Second round
1991–92 A PFG 11 First round
1992–93 A PFG 9 Quarter-finals
1993–94 A PFG 8 Quarter-finals
1994–95 A PFG 14 First round
Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup
1995–96 B PFG 13 First round
1996–97 B PFG 15 Semi-finals
1997–98 V AFG 14 DNQ
1998–99 V AFG 13 DNQ
1999–00 V AFG 12 DNQ
2000–01 V AFG 5 DNQ
2001–02 V AFG 6 DNQ
2002–03 V AFG 13 DNQ
2003–04 V AFG 1 DNQ
2004–05 B PFG 16 First round
2005–06 V AFG 9 DNQ
2006–07 V AFG 11 DNQ
2007–08 V AFG 7 DNQ
2008–09 V AFG 5 DNQ
2009–10 V AFG 7 DNQ
2010–11 V AFG 12 DNQ
2011–12 V AFG 9 First round
2012–13 V AFG 6 DNQ
2013–14 V AFG 2 DNQ
2014–15 B PFG 3 Quarter-finals
2015–16 B PFG 3 Quarter-finals
2016–17 First League 14 First round
2017–18 Second League 8 First round
Season Division Place Bulgarian Cup
2018–19 Second League 9 First round
2019–20 Second League 9 First round
2020–21 Second League 15 First round

League positions

Recent seasons

Season League Place W D L GF GA Pts Bulgarian Cup
2011–12 V AFG (III) 9 10 7 13 34 31 37 First round
2012–13 V AFG 6 9 4 9 40 26 31 DNQ
2013–14 V AFG 2 23 4 3 119 26 73 DNQ
2014–15 B PFG (II) 3 18 5 7 60 34 56 Quarterfinals
2015–16 B PFG 3 13 11 6 42 26 50 Quarterfinals
2016–17 First League (I) 14 7 9 16 32 51 30 First round
2017–18 Second League (II) 8 10 10 10 42 39 40 First round
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

Honours

Domestic

International

European tournaments history

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1992 Intertoto Cup Group 10 Lokomotiv Sofia 1–0 0–0 Group winners
Argeș Pitești 2–0 0–5
Gloria Bistrita 2–0 1–1

Current squad

As of 15 January 2025

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  BUL Ventsislav Dimitrov
3 MF  FIN Martin Kuittinen
5 DF  BUL Mihail Minkov
6 MF  BUL Nikola Kolev
7 MF  BUL Kaloyan Todorov
8 FW  BUL Zhulian Ivanov
10 MF  BUL Ivan Avramov
11 MF  BUL Galin Tashev
13 MF  BUL Tsvetoslav Petrov
16 MF  BUL Stefan Mitev
17 FW  BUL Georgi Kolev
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 MF  BUL Kristiyan Dechev
19 MF  BUL Panayot Paskov
20 MF  BUL Toni Mihaylov
21 MF  BUL Milen Savov
23 FW  BUL Daniel Cabanelas
26 DF  BUL Mariyan Ivanov
27 MF  BUL Yanislav Tsachev
33 GK  UKR Hennadiy Hanyev
71 DF  BUL Georgi Valchev
89 FW  MLI Zeidy Traore
92 FW  BUL Kristiyan Raychev (captain)

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2024.

Managers

Dates Name Honours
1952 Kostadin Bogdanov
1954 Angel Bozev
1957–1961 Kiril Chipev
1961–1963 Yordan Tomov 1 B PFG title
1964 Atanas Konarov
1964–1965 Penyu Petsev
1965 Apostol Sokolov
1966–1968 Hristo Hadzhiev
1968 Zhelyazko Panev
1969–1970 Angel Petrov
1970 Marin Marinov
1970–1971 Kiril Chipev
1971–1973 Petar Patev
1973–1975 Todor Velev
1975–1978 Ivan Varbanov
1978–1982 Petar Shatrov
1982–1984 Georgi Velinov
1984–1985 Ivan Varbanov 1 V AFG title
1985–1988 Dobromir Zhechev
1988–1989 Todor Velev
1989–1990 Kiril Rabchev
Dates Name Honours
1990–1991 Petar Kirilov
1991–1993 Nikola Velkov
1994 Georgi Velkov
1994 Tsenko Gavazov
1994 Nikola Velkov
1995 Georgi Velkov
1995 Plamen Nikolov
1995 Kiril Rabchev
1996–1997 Tsenko Gavazov
1997 Todor Todorov
1997–1998 Angel Minchev
2003–2005 Boyko Dimitrov 1 V AFG title
2006–2007 Valentin Ignatov
2007–2010 Dimitar Pechikamakov
2010–2011 Nasko Kostadinov
2011–2013 Dimitar Pechikamakov
2014 Tsenko Gavazov
2014–2016 Sasho Angelov
2016 Aleksandar Tomash
2016 Angel Chervenkov
2016–2017 Ivan Kolev
2017 Milcho Sirmov
2017 Aleksandar Dimitrov
2018 Todor Kiselichkov
2018 Marin Baychev
2019 Krasimir Mechev
2019–2020 Milcho Sirmov
2020– Georgi Ivanov

Notable stats

Most appearances for the club

# Name Apps
1 Dimitar Pechikamakov 458
2 Asan Abishev 421
3 Todoranov 362
4 Vasilev 351
5 Tsenko Gavazov 349

Most goals for the club

# Name Gls
1 Asan Abishev 94
2 Dimitar Pechikamakov 88
3 Vasilev 58
4 Tsenko Gavazov 56
5 Ushev 48

Most appearances in A group for the club

# Name Apps
1 Dimitar Pechikamakov 189
2 Levent Gavazov 177
3 Nasko Kostadinov 124
4 Valeri Ganev 122
5 Sasho Angelov 114

Most goals in A group for the club

# Name Gls
1 Valentin Ignatov 24
2 Ivaylo Yordanov 23
3 Dimitar Pechikamakov 20
4 Nasko Kostadinov 17
5 Valeri Ganev 15