24 Facts About CSKA Sofia

CSKA Sofia is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League.

Internationally, CSKA Sofia are the only Bulgarian club to have reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, which they have done twice, and they have reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup once.

On 9 November 1944, with the support of Mihail Mihaylov, an accountant at the Ministry of War and a patron of Shipka CSKA Sofia, a unifying agreement was signed, merging AS-23, Shipka, and Spartak to form Chavdar CSKA Sofia.

In May 1948, an agreement was reached between CDV and Septemvri CSKA Sofia for uniting the clubs under the name "Septemvri pri CDV".

The following season, CSKA Sofia had its worst performance in the Bulgarian championship to date, finishing 11th in the final table, only three points from relegation.

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In 1968, CSKA underwent another merger, joining with Septemvri Sofia and taking on the name of CSKA Septemvriysko Zname.

In 1987, the club was renamed CFKA Sredets, and the following three years were marked by a formidable performance, even as Septemvri CSKA Sofia ended their 20-year partnership with CFKA in 1988 and became an independent club again.

CSKA Sofia reached the second round of the UEFA Cup and won the Bulgarian Cup, but disappointed in the domestic league, finishing in fifth place in 1999.

FIFA decided they had the right to leave and that CSKA Sofia had to pay them and release the players to their former club, Vasco da Gama.

However, during the spring, CSKA Sofia lost the seven-point advantage and ultimately finished second, three points behind Levski.

CSKA Sofia was eliminated from the Bulgarian Cup in the Round of 16 by Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

The BFU then speculated this could result in CSKA Sofia not being able to take part in the domestic championship, effectively turning it into an amateur club.

Attempts to arrange a settlement with UEFA proved unsuccessful and CSKA lost its right to compete in the Champions League in favor of runners-up Levski Sofia.

The future of CSKA Sofia looked grim, its status as a professional club hanging in the balance.

Ultimately, CSKA Sofia managed to fulfill all licensing requirements set by the BFU and was allowed to compete in A Group.

The first match was against Fulham in Sofia, where CSKA took the lead thanks to a beautiful goal by newly signed from Chernomoretz Burgas Brazilian Michel Platini.

CSKA Sofia's place was taken by the relatively unknown Macedonian manager Gjore Jovanovski, who kept his job for just three months before being replaced by his assistant Milen Radukanov.

CSKA Sofia began the season by being surprisingly eliminated from international football by Slovenian side Mura 05.

On 21 March 2014, as part of the plan to reduce debt and make the club's finances more transparent, CSKA Sofia became the first club from Eastern Europe to be publicly traded by listing itself on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.

However, after the season resumed, CSKA Sofia lost three-straight matches without scoring a goal, prompting the resignation of head coach Stoycho Mladenov.

CSKA Sofia finished the season in fifth position, but due to the unfunded debts, the BFU refused to issue the club a license for A Group for the upcoming season, instead sending the club to the South-Western V group, the third tier of Bulgarian football.

The shift was made because the old legal firm, "PFC CSKA Sofia AD", was not issued a professional license, and later went bankrupted and ceased operations as of 9 September 2016.

CSKA Sofia has carried a plethora of names throughout its history.

CSKA Sofia is the favourite football club of the current head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Patriarch Neophyte.