Vereya () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Stara Zagora, which currently competes in the Southeast Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football.
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.Верея спечели купата на Аматьорската футболна лига (Gong.bg, (In Bulgarian)) 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.
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). 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
Seasons in First League: 3 Seasons in B Group (now Second League): 2 Seasons in V Group ( now Third League): 5 Seasons in A Regional Group: 13
SeasonTierDivisionPlaceBulgarian Cup2001–024A RFGN/ADid Not Play2002–034A RFGN/ADNP2003–044A RFGN/ADNP2004–054A RFGN/ADNP2005–064A RFG1st ↑DNP2006–073V AFG7th ↓DNP2007–084A RFG4thDNP2008–094A RFG1stDNPSeasonTierDivisionPlaceBulgarian Cup2009–104A RFG2ndDNP2010–114A RFG1stDNP2011–124A RFG1st ↑Second round2012–133V AFG5thDNP2013–143V AFG3rd ↑DNP2014–152B PFG11thFirst round2015–162B PFG8th ↑First round2016–171First League7thSemifinalsSeasonTierDivisionPlaceBulgarian Cup2017–181First League6thFirst round2018–191First League14th ↓Second round2019–204A RFG3rd ↑DNP2020–213Third League18th ↓DNP2021–224A RFG4th ↑DNP2022–233Third League20th ↓DNP2023–244A RFGDNP
Shirt and sponsors Vereya main colors are blue and white.
PeriodKit manufacturerShirt partner2006–2012 Unknown Bulsatcom / Trace Group2012–2014 Tomy Sport Trace Group2014–2016 Nike2016–2018 Erreà2018–2019 Uhlsport Efbet
Honours First League: 6th: 2017–18 Bulgarian Cup: Semifinals: 2016–17 Second League: 8th 2015–16 Third League: 3rd: 2013–14 A RFG Stara Zagora: Winners (4): 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12 Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League: Winners (1): 2013–14
Current squad As of 1 August 2020
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.
Zhivko Zhelev Ivan Stoyanov Kostadin Stoyanov Ivo Ivanov Ivan Bandalovski Valeri Domovchiyski Veselin Minev Ventsislav Hristov Daniel Naumov Petar Vitanov Birsent Karagaren
Europe Alexandru Pașcenco Andrejs Kovaļovs
Asia Hussein Abdulghani
Africa Yassine El Kharroubi Olivier Bonnes Christoffer Mafoumbi Ulysse Ndong Alexander N'Doumbou Samuel Inkoom Selim Ben Djemia
Managers
DatesNameHonours2001–11Unknown2011–13 Kolyo Hristov2013–14 Petar Kostadinov 99991 Amateur Cup title1 Promotion to B Group2014 Krasimir Manolov2014 Gospodin Mirchev2014–15 Radostin Kishishev2015–16 Zhivko Zhelev Vladislav Yanush2016–2017 Aleksandar Tomash 2017 Ilian Iliev2018 Blagomir Mitrev2018 Ivan Kolev 2018 Nebojša Miličić2018 Lyudmil Kirov2018–2019 Nebojša Miličić2019 Oleksandr Sevidov2019 Ivan Vutov2020– Kolyo Kolev
References
External links
Club page at bgclubs.eu Club page at Sportal.bg ()