1914–1969: Sports Club Levski (left) versus Levski (right),
1942 Bulgarian championship Sports Club Levski was founded in 1911 by a group of students from the
Second Male High School in
Sofia. The club's name was chosen in honour of the Bulgarian revolutionary
Vasil Levski, and the club was officially registered on 24 May 1914. In 1914, Levski lost its first official match against
FK 13 Sofia with the score of 2–0. Between 1914 and 1920, football wasn't a popular sport in Bulgaria, and no additional information about the club exists. In the summer of 1921, the Sofia Sports League was established, which united ten clubs from Sofia and marked the beginning of organized football competitions in the city. Levski won the first match in the championship in the 1921–22 season, held on 18 September 1921, against Atletik Sofia with the score of 3–1. The team finished first in the league in 1923 after a 3–2 win over bitter rivals
Slavia Sofia, and successfully defended the title in the following two seasons, in 1924 and 1925. The first
National Championship was held in
1924 with Levski representing Sofia. The team went on to win the title in 1933, 1937 and 1942, and established itself as the most popular football club in Bulgaria. In 1929, Levski became the first semi-professional football club in Bulgaria, after twelve players staged a boycott of the team in demand of financial remuneration and insurance benefits. The same year Levski met its first international opponents, losing to Gallipoli Istanbul 1–0 and winning against Kuban Istanbul 6–0. Between 1930 and 1932, Levski won the Ulpia Serdica Cup for three consecutive years and was permanently awarded the trophy as a result. After
World War II, Levski became one of the two top clubs in Bulgaria. After winning the championship in 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950 and 1953, Levski would not capture the domestic title again until the mid-1960s. In 1949, the authorities changed the club's name to Dinamo following the Soviet traditions, but after the
de-Stalinization of Bulgaria, it was reverted in 1957. The 1960s were marked with return to success both on the domestic and on the international stage. Levski's academy would become the most successful in national youth competitions for the years to come, and the results were first seen in the likes of
Georgi Asparuhov,
Georgi Sokolov,
Biser Mihaylov,
Kiril Ivkov,
Ivan Vutsov,
Stefan Aladzhov and
Aleksandar Kostov, assisted by experienced veterans like
Stefan Abadzhiev, Dimo Pechenikov and
Hristo Iliev, which resulted in winning the championship in 1965, 1968 and 1970, including the 7–2 triumph over new bitter rivals
CSKA Sofia in 1968. In the
1965–66 European Cup, Levski was eliminated in the first round by
Benfica with 5–4 on aggregate.
1969–1985: Levski-Spartak In January 1969, Levski was forcibly merged with
Spartak Sofia by the
Bulgarian Communist Party, and put under the auspice of the Ministry of Interior Affairs. The name of the club was once again changed, this time to Levski-Spartak. A new crop of youngsters in the likes of
Kiril Milanov,
Dobromir Zhechev,
Pavel Panov,
Stefan Pavlov,
Yordan Yordanov,
Stefan Staykov,
Tomas Lafchis,
Todor Barzov,
Voyn Voynov,
Georgi Tsvetkov,
Plamen Nikolov, and
Rusi Gochev not only found their place in the first team, but brought new league titles in 1974, 1977, 1979, 1984 and 1985. On the international stage, the team reached the quarter-finals of the
European Cup Winners' Cup in
1969–70 and
1976–77, and the quarter-finals of the
UEFA Cup in
1975–76. In the latter, Levski defeated
Barcelona 5–4 in the second leg, becoming one of the two European teams (joined by
Bayern Munich in 2020) to have scored five or more goals in one match against the Spanish giants in official UEFA competitions. Additionally, Levski became the only Bulgarian club to eliminate a
German champion after defeating
VfB Stuttgart in the first round of the
1984–85 European Cup. They also eliminated Stuttgart a year earlier in the first round of the
1983–84 UEFA Cup.
1985–1989: Vitosha Sofia The name of the team was changed to Vitosha by the authorities following the disruptions during and after the
Bulgarian Cup final in
1985. The game ran on high emotions fuelled by the streak of consecutive victories of Levski over CSKA in the two years prior to the game. During the game, which CSKA won 2–1, there were confrontations both on the field and on the stands. There, they faced the
title holders Barcelona,
Premier League champions
Chelsea, and
Bundesliga runners-up
Werder Bremen. They lost all six games and scored only one goal, in the second round against Chelsea. Levski earned a place in the
2008–09 UEFA Champions League after the Bulgarian league champions CSKA Sofia failed to obtain a UEFA license. Levski lost to
BATE Borisov of Belarus in the third qualifying round.
2009–2020: Downfall During the 2009–10 season, Levski's team started their European campaign with a 9–0 (on aggregate) win against
UE Sant Julià in the second qualifying round of the
2009–10 UEFA Champions League. In the next round, Levski Sofia faced
FK Baku, eliminating the team from Azerbaijan with 2–0 on aggregate. In the play-off round, Levski was eliminated by
Debrecen with 4–1 on aggregate. As one of the play-off losers, Levski qualified for the
2009–10 UEFA Europa League. In the group stage, Levski faced
Villarreal,
Lazio and
Red Bull Salzburg. Levski achieved only one win and five defeats. Levski won against Lazio in Italy, after
Hristo Yovov scored the winning goal in the match. Levski started the 2010–11 season with a match against
Dundalk, in a second qualifying round of the
2010–11 UEFA Europa League. Levski won the first match . In the return leg at
Oriel Park, Levski defeated Dundalk 2–0 with two first half goals from
Garra Dembélé. In the next round Levski played against
Kalmar FF. The first match ended 1–1 in Sweden. In the return leg in Sofia, Levski won 5–2. In between, The Blues defeated their archrival CSKA Sofia in the
Eternal derby with 1–0. Their next match in the Europa League saw them eliminate Swedish champions
AIK 2–1 on aggregate, with goals scored by
Daniel Mladenov and Garra Dembélé as Levski reached the Europa League group stage. Levski was drawn in
Group C, facing
Gent,
Lille and
Sporting CP. The first match was played against Gent at home, which Levski won 3–2 with the winning goal scored by
Serginho Greene. With this win, Levski recorded eight consecutive games without a defeat in European competitions. After that, Levski lost to Sporting CP with 5–0, followed by another defeat against Lille. In Sofia, Levski played well against Lille and was leading 2–1 until Ivo Ivanov scored an own goal to make it 2–2. In the last match of the Group C, Levski took a win against Sporting CP with 1–0, with the winning goal scored by Daniel Mladenov. In the following 2011–12 season, in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, Levski were eliminated by
Spartak Trnava of Slovakia, following a late game 2–1 win in Sofia, and a loss of the same scoreline in Trnava. The
penalty shoot-out costed Levski a place in the play-off round. This caused an upset with the fans and players, and the team barely clinched the fourth place at the winter break in the Bulgarian league. Albeit only three points from the leaders
Ludogoretz Razgrad, the acting manager Georgi Ivanov was sacked from the position, but remained at the club as a sporting director.
Nikolay Kostov was appointed the new manager of the club, giving the supporters a sense of optimism, which, however, faded after a cup knock-out in the hands of
Lokomotiv Plovdiv and a home defeat to
Minyor Pernik. Kostov handed in his resignation, leaving the managerial post once again vacant. Sporting director Georgi Ivanov once again stepped in to help the club, and accepted being the manager until the summer break, when a new one would be appointed. during a
derby match against
CSKA Sofia During the summer of 2012, former player
Ilian Iliev was appointed the new manager of the club. Under his management, Levski was knocked out from the Europa League by Bosnian side
FK Sarajevo. Iliev led the team to 13 league victories and to the semi-finals of the Bulgarian Cup after eliminating
Cherno More Varna and
Litex Lovech on the
away goals rule. Iliev however was sacked after a 1–1 away draw against
Pirin Gotse Delchev. Assistant manager
Nikolay Mitov took over the team until the end of the season. Under his management Levski won the derby clashes against Litex, CSKA and Ludogorets but failed to win the title after a 1–1 home draw against Slavia Sofia. Levski also reached their first Bulgarian Cup final since 2007, but lost on penalties against
Beroe Stara Zagora. Despite the missed opportunity of winning a trophy, Mitov's contract was renewed for the 2013–14 season. However, the team made another disappointing performance in Europa League, being eliminated by the Kazakh side
Irtysh Pavlodar. As a result, Nikolay Mitov resigned as manager. In July 2013,
Slaviša Jokanović was appointed as the new manager of the team. Despite losing only two matches in twelve games, Jokanović was released in October 2013.
Ivaylo Petev was announced as his successor but during his introduction a few Levski supporters interrupted it, stating that they would not accept his appointment. The next day, Petev refused to take charge of the team and
Antoni Zdravkov was named as the new manager. Under his reign the team suffered a heavy 3–0 loss against rivals CSKA, but managed to knock them out in the Bulgarian Cup in December 2013 after penalties. Due to the difficult financial situation, a few key players, such as
Antonio Vutov and
Garry Rodrigues, were sold to
Udinese and
Elche, respectively, during the winter break. This reflected on the team's performance and Levski finished fifth and got knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Bulgarian Cup by Botev Plovdiv. Antoni Zdravkov was sacked in March 2014, and Levski legend
Elin Topuzakov took charge as a caretaker until the end of the 2013–14 season. The club did not participate in European competitions for the first time since 1990–91. On 23 May 2014, the club supporters organized a
friendly game against Lazio, marking the 100th anniversary of the club. Club icons like Georgi Ivanov,
Dimitar Ivankov,
Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Hristo Yovov, Elin Topuzakov and many other former players and celebrities took participation by playing in the game, as well as donating money for the event's organization. The next day, Levski marked 100 years since its founding. The following years were arguably the darkest in the club's history. League-wise, Levski managed to finish higher than third place only once (runners-up in
2015–16), and achieved its lowest ever ranking (seventh place in
2014–15, followed by eighth in
2020–21). On the stage of the Bulgarian Cup, the club lost two more finals, in
2015 to Cherno More and in
2018 to Slavia Sofia. In European competitions, Levski faced some of its most unexpected eliminations – against Liechtenstein side
FC Vaduz and Cypriot
AEK Larnaca, the latter inflicting the largest ever European defeat on aggregate for Levski . These years were turbulent not only on the football pitch, but at the higher hierarchy of the club. In June 2015, the long-time president
Todor Batkov stepped down and the club was taken over by Ivo Tonev, Aleksandar Angelov and Nikolay Ivanov. From this point onwards, Levski began to experience financial problems. Tonev, Angelov and Ivanov's reign was short-lived and in August 2016, they transferred their shares to businessman Spas Rusev. Under his governance, Levski signed players like
Gabriel Obertan and
Jordi Gómez, as well as coach
Delio Rossi, in an attempt to return the club's glory. However, Rusev's financing was dubious, and there were complaints for delayed wages. In February 2017, Rusev admitted the club was "practically bankrupt". On 9 February 2019, Rusev stepped down as owner of Levski, leaving the club with more than 30 million
BGN in debt. Four days later, businessman and former owner of archrivals CSKA
Vasil Bozhkov took over the club. He attempted to stabilize Levski's financial situation by immediately covering the most urgent obligations and selling or releasing the players with the highest wages, investing around 25 million BGN in total throughout his tenure. In February 2020, Bozhkov stepped down as his main business, 7777.bg (National Lottery), had its license withdrawn by the Bulgarian government. The club being left with no financing whatsoever and in a full-scale financial crisis, sparkled an unprecedented support campaign amongst the fans, who engaged in various donation initiatives, raising 2.6 million BGN in the span of five months. In 2021, former owner Vasil Bozhkov admitted that he was forced to take over Levski under the threat of business closure by prime minister
Boyko Borisov. Bozhkov's confession was somewhat of a confirmation of the insinuation that the reason behind Levski's financial problems and occasional ownership changes was Borisov's idea of using the club as an instrument for political influence.
2020–present: Return of Sirakov and Stoilov In the summer of 2020, club legend Nasko Sirakov took charge of the majority of shares and the club made some financial cuts, forcing a big part of the players (mainly foreigners) to leave. Levski also changed its transfer policy, signing mainly Bulgarian and homegrown players with lower salaries, allowing the club to start paying off some of the debt accumulated throughout the years. Sirakov set a target for the club to clear most of the debt by 2023, mostly through sponsorship deals, outgoing transfers, television rights and the fans' financial support. On 1 September 2021, Sirakov announced the return of the club's most successful manager in the 21st century, also known as the "author" of the
Blue Tale, Stanimir Stoilov. At that time, Levski was in 10th place in the league standings with four defeats and two wins in the first six games. With his arrival, Stoilov released three players –
Simeon Slavchev,
Valeri Bojinov and
Hristofor Hubchev, and signed
José Córdoba from
Etar and
Dimitar Kostadinov from
Septemvri Sofia. Under his management, the team managed to improve promptly, earning 20 points by the end of the half-season with 5 wins, 5 draws, and 3 defeats. On 15 May 2022, Levski won the
Bulgarian Cup by defeating its biggest rivals CSKA 1–0 in the
final, thus ending the club's longest ever trophyless period (13 years). It was a record 26th cup for the Blues. By winning the cup, the team earned a place in the
UEFA Europa Conference League qualifications. In the second qualifying round, they faced
PAOK, who reached the quarter-finals of the same competition the previous season. Despite being considered underdogs, Levski managed to eliminate the Greek team 3–1 on aggregate. However, Levski crashed out of the tournament in the third qualifying round after an upsetting home defeat on penalties at the hands of Maltese side
Ħamrun Spartans. ==Club symbols==