FC Sevlievo () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Sevlievo, which currently competes in Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football league system. Their home ground is Stadion Rakovski, which currently has a capacity of 5000.
Founded as SC Rakovski in December 1922, the club was declared bankrupt in 2015 and re-founded as FC Sevlievo.
History 1922–1996: Rakovski The club was founded on 29 December 1922 as SC Rakovski by a group of football enthusiasts of the Association for Tourism in Rositsa. Upon its formation, Ivan Tsochev, Boris Popivanov, and Serafim Ganushev became the president, secretary, and steward respectively. Brothers Sokurov, who played on the team, chose to name it Rakovski in honor of the Bulgarian national hero Georgi Sava Rakovski. They played their first game against Viktoria F.C. from Veliko Tarnovo, ending in a 1:1 draw.
After the reorganization of some of the sports associations in Bulgaria, some voluntary sports organizations arose in Sevlievo. The most popular was DSO Red Flag (). In 1957, every voluntary sports organizations union in VSO Rakovski. Two years later Rakovski was admitted into the Bulgarian Third Division. In 1968 the club was promoted for the first time to B PFG, the second division of Bulgarian football.
In 1980, the club was renamed F.C. Rositsa.
1997–2015: Vidima-Rakovski
The team became known as PFC Vidima-Rakovski in 1997, after the union between F.C. Rakovski and F.C. Vidima, a little club of the Vidima Standart Ideal works. In the next 1998–99 season, the team won the Cup of Amateur Bulgarian league.
In the 2002–03 season, with Plamen Markov as head coach, Vidima won promotion to the A Group for the first time ever. Gerasim Zakov scored the club's first top league goal in a 3–3 draw against Lokomotiv Sofia. The 2003-04 campaign, remembered as the first A PFG season in the club's history, ended in a good 12th place. In the same season, Vidima-Rakovski had their best Bulgarian Cup run, beating Kameno and Belasitsa Petrich before losing to Lokomotiv Sofia in the quarter-finals. In the next campaign, Vidima won just nine games and was relegated back to the second level after two years among the best.
After the 2006-07 season, Vidima-Rakovski finished 2nd in B PFG, and managed to participate in the play-off for promotion to the A PFG. On June 2, 2007, Vidima won the play-off against PFC Naftex Burgas with a result of 1-0 and qualified for the first division for the second time in the club's history. However, Vidima largely struggled during the 2007-08 season, at the end not managing to avoid relegation once more.
In 2010, Vidima won a third promotion to the top division by winning the Western B PFG. They finished at 14th place in A PFG in the next season and secured their top division status after winning a relegation play-off against Sportist Svoge, which Vidima won after a penalty shoot-out.
In the 2011-12 season, the team finished 14th in the league, winning only 3 out of 30 matches. As a result, Vidima was relegated once more and competed in B PFG in the 2012–2013 season. The team began experiencing financial problems at the time and was relegated from the B Group in 2013.
2025–present: FC Sevlievo The club re-formed as FC Sevlievo on 4 June 2015, after Vidima Rakovski declared bankruptcy.Севлиево с нов клуб от есента, ще развива школа
Honours First League: 12th place (1): 2003–04 Bulgarian Cup: Quarter-finals: - 2003–04 Second League: Winners (1): 2009–10 2nd place (1): 2006–07 3rd place (1): 2002–03 Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League Winners (1): 1998/99
Players First-team squad
Managers DatesNameHonours2015–2016 Milen Vankov2016–2017 Martin Doychev2017 Milen Vankov2017–2020 Anatoli Tonov2021–2022 Ferario Spasov2022 Iliyan Trifonov2022–2023 Dimitar Todorov2023–2025 Sasho Angelov2025 Todor Kolev2025– Nikolay Panayotov
Seasons Past seasons + Results of league and cup competitions by seasonSeasonLeagueBulgarian CupOther competitionsTop goalscorerDivisionLevelPWDLFAGDPts Pos2015–16V Group330133144956-742 9thDNQ2016–17Third League32818466933+3658 3rdDNQ2017–18Third League33020466027+3364 2ndFirst round2018–19Third League33018575027+2359 3rdDNQ2019–20Third League3139223313+2029 2ndPreliminary round2020–21Third League33418795530+2561 4thRound of 322021–22Third League33223456422+4273 2ndPreliminary round Dobrin Petrov142022–23Third League330163116530+3551 6thRound of 32 Galin Stoyanov152023–24Third League32819456922+4761 3rdPreliminary round Dobrin Petrov132024–25Third League3 DNQ
Key
GS = Group stage QF = Quarter-finals SF = Semi-finals
ChampionsRunners-upPromotedRelegated
League positions
Shirt and sponsors PeriodKit manufacturerShirt partner2015–2017 ASICS none2017–2022 Krasiko Libra2022– ELITBET
Sevlievo Ladies
The football club also has a women's sports department named FC Sevlievo Ladies, currently playing in the top tier of Bulgarian Bulgarian Women's League football, Bulgarian Women's League.
First-team squad
Past seasons Season League Place W D L GF GA Pts2015–16Bulgarian women's football championship (I) 7 4 4 10 21 51 162016–17Bulgarian women's football championship – – – – – – – Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.
References
External links Official website bgclubs.eu Ladies bgclubs.eu Sellievo Ladies Facebook