PFC Montana
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| Full name | Professional football club Montana | ||
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| Founded | 1921 as SC Hristo Mihaylov |
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| Ground | Ogosta Stadium, Montana, Bulgaria |
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| Capacity | 8,000 | ||
| Chairman |  Rumen Panayotov |
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| Manager | Emil Velev |
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| League | A Group | ||
| 2014–15 | B Group, 1st /promoted/ | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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PFC Montana (Bulgarian: ПФК Монтана) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Montana, currently playing in the A Group, the first division of Bulgarian football.
The football club plays its home matches at the Ogosta Stadium, which has a capacity of 8,000 spectators. Montana's colours are blue, white and red. In recent years, the club was propelled back into professional football with the help of some experienced and talented footballers, including the ex-captain of English Aston Villa and Bulgarian international Stiliyan Petrov.
PFC Montana was founded in 1921 when the few amateur sports clubs and organizations in the city decided to merge into one club. The new club was named SC Hristo Mihaylov after the Bulgarian communist party activist Hristo Popmihaylov, who was born in the town. Montana has played a total of 7 seasons in the A Group and 39 seasons in the B Group.
Contents
Honours
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- 9th place (1): 1996
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- Champions (2): 2009, 2015
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- Semi-final (2): 1995, 2016
Bulgarian League Cup:
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- Runners-up: 1996
History
PFC Montana was founded on 1921 under the name SC Hristo Mihaylov, after a union of a few sports clubs from the city. From 1957 to 1990 the sports club wears the name of FC Septemvriyska Slava. Since 1990, the club uses the name PFC Montana.
Until 2009, Montana has played three seasons in the top flight, between 1994 and 1997. Montana joined the division in 1994, and the same year the club finished thirteenth out of sixteen clubs in its first season. The same season, Montana reached the semi-final of the Bulgarian Cup. Montana's best season in the A PFG was in the 1995-96 season - 9th place. In this campaign, the team led by Anatoli Tonov, Todor Pramatarov, Rumen Panayotov and Angel Chervenkov, the club reached the final of the currently folded Bulgarian League Cup tournament, but was knocked out by Neftochimic Burgas. In the 1996-97 season, Montana finished in the 15th place and was relegated to the second division. A part of the squad was then the talented seventeen-year-old Stiliyan Petrov, which was sold the same year to CSKA Sofia. Otherwise according to the fans, Boyan Gergov is Montana's most prominent figure, being the club's top goalscorer with a total of 157 goals in 364 matches. The following 1997-1998 season, after a financial collapse, Montana was relegated to the Bulgarian V AFG. However, after an 7-year stay in the V AFG, the club finished in the 2nd position in the North-West V AFG, and Montana returned in the West B PFG for the upcoming 2004-05 season.
In 2008, the chairman of PFC Montana appointed Ivan Marinov as a manager of the club. The following year, with the financial support of the mayor of the city Zlatko Zhivkov, the club finished the season in the West B PFG in the first place and therefore Montana gained promotion to the top flight for the upcoming season. The same year, Montana's striker Ventsislav Ivanov became the top goalscorer of the division with the impressive 19 goals.
Recent seasons
| Year | Division | Position |
| 2014–15 | B Group | 1st ↑ |
| 2013–14 | B Group | 4th |
| 2012–13 | A Group | 15th |
| 2011–12 | A Group | 11th |
| 2010–11 | A Group | 10th |
| 2009–10 | A Group | 11th |
| 2008–09 | B Group | 1st ↑ |
| 2007–08 | B Group | 7th |
| 2006–07 | B Group | 10th |
| 2005–06 | B Group | 11th |
| 2004–05 | North-Western V Group | 1st ↑ |
Stadium
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PFC Montana's home ground is the Ogosta Stadium in Montana. The stadium was built in 1965, but the ground underwent a total reconstruction after 41 years, in 2006. It has approximately 8,000 seats, spread in two opposite stands, with pitch dimensions of 105×68 metres. The record attendance at the stadium is 11,500 spectators and it was achieved at a game between CSKA Sofia and Montana. The stadium's name is derived from the river Ogosta, which passes nearby the town. Currently there aren't any new plans for renovating the stadium.
Current squad
As of 11 January 2016[update] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2015 and Transfers winter 2015–16.
Foreign players
Up to one non-EU national can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the B PFG. Those non-EU national 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.
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EU Nationals |
EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) |
Non-EU Nationals |
Former players
The following players, which are included were either playing for their respective national teams or left good impression among the fans.
Former managers
- Atanas Dzhambazki (2007)
- Rumen Stoyanov (July 2007–Sept 07)
Stevica Kuzmanovski (July 2009–Dec 09)- Atanas Dzhambazki (Jan 2010–June 11)
- Ivan Marinov
- Stefan Grozdanov (July 2011–Dec 11)
- Atanas Atanasov (Dec 2011–??)
- Atanas Dzhambazki (July 2012–??)
- Stoycho Stoev (Feb 2013–Apr 2013)
