Foundation and beginning Established in November 1945 after the merging of several rural football clubs from the
Ludogorie Region, Ludogorets Razgrad was initially participating in the Third football division of Bulgaria. They promoted to the Second division in 1961. In 1997 the club merged with FC Antibiotic Razgrad and was renamed to FC Antibiotic-Ludogorets. In 2005 the club was defunct. The rise of Ludogorets started in season 2009/10 when Aleksandar Aleksandrov, director of FC Razgrad 2000, inherited the history and traditional club records of the former Antibiotic-Ludogorets, returning the name to PFC Ludogorets 1945 Razgrad. The team managed to enter Second division when Ivaylo Petev was designated as a Head Coach.
Domuschiev era (2010–present) In September 2010 the club was purchased by Bulgarian pharmaceutical entrepreneur
Kiril Domuschiev, with the clear intention of bringing Ludogorets to the
top division. This happened in May 2011 with Ivaylo Petev as a Head Coach when the team was promoted to the
top division for the first time in the club's history.
First title In May 2012, Ludogorets completed the domestic double when they won their first
Bulgarian Cup title following a 2-1 victory against Lokomotiv Plovdiv at
Lazur Stadium in
Burgas, and in August 2012, they won the
Bulgarian Supercup, defeating
Lokomotiv 3-1, thus becoming the first team to win a
treble in its first season in
A Group and one of the few in the history of international football to do so.
Second title Ludogorets started the
2012–13 season with eight straight wins and nine matches without a loss, and finished the half-season in first place, as in the previous season, with just one loss and seven goals conceded out of 15 matches. However, in the
2012–13 Bulgarian Cup, the club was eliminated in the round of 32 by
CSKA Sofia 2:2 on aggregate, losing on away goals. In the spring half-season, Ludogorets occupied the first place with just three matches to play before the end of the season. Nevertheless, they were defeated 1:0 by
Levski Sofia and they took the lead of
A Group. On the final day of the season, Ludogorets had to beat the already relegated team of
Montana and hope that
Slavia Sofia would prevent
Levski from winning their match. In the last minutes of the Levski–Slavia match,
Levski scored an own goal which subsequently led to a 1:1 draw, allowing Ludogorets to win their
second championship title in dramatic fashion again. In the
2013 Supercup, they lost 5:3 on penalties to
Beroe Stara Zagora after a 1:1 draw in regular time.
Third title In season 2013/14 Ludogorets became a hegemon in the Bulgarian club football. The "Eagles" earned their third consecutive title two rounds before the end of the championship on 7 May 2014. On 15 May 2014 Ludogorets achieved a treble after winning the Cup of Bulgaria against Botev (Plovdiv) 1-0 and the Super Cup. Both matches were played at the "Lazur" stadium in Burgas.
Fourth title Ludogorets' fourth title came after a home win against Lokomotiv (Sofia) with 4:1 on 15 May 2015. A new tribune, named after their defender Cosmin "Moti", and the 70th anniversary of the "Eagles" were celebrated at that time.
Fifth title On 11 May 2016 Ludogorets became the Bulgarian Champion for the fifth time in a row.
Sixth title The 2016/2017 season was the most successful in the history of Ludogorets. They became champions of Bulgaria for the sixth consecutive time with 16 points advantage over the runner-up. For the second time in the Bulgarian's football history the team entered the Champions League groups with Georgi Dermendzhiev as a Head Coach. They ranked third in the groups by winning 2 points and continued their European tournament participation in Europa League.
Seventh title The 2017/2018 season was another successful one for Ludogorets. The team won their domestic league Champion's Title and performed well at both European Tournaments – Champions League and Europa League.
Eighth title Ludogorets earned their 2018/2019 season title after a 4–1 home win over PFC Cherno More in May 2019.
Ninth title Ludogorets' domination in Bulgaria continue. The champions won their record-breaking 9th consecutive title after a 2:1 win against Beroe in May 2020.
Tenth title Ludogorets won their 10th consecutive league title following a 3–1 victory against Beroe Stara Zagora in May 2021. Following the 10th title, the club added a star to its crest to represent the achievement in the Bulgarian league.
Eleventh title Ludogorets' domination continued. An eleventh consecutive domestic championship title, no one but them has such an achievement in Bulgarian league football history.
Twelfth title After a long hard season and a change in head coach in the middle of the season, with the return of former manager Ivaylo Petev back at helm, Ludogorets managed to achieve a domestic double (their 3rd similar feat since being promoted to the Bulgarian First League) by winning firstly the Bulgarian Cup by beating CSKA 1948 3:1 in the final, and eventually also winning the Bulgarian League once again for a record twelfth time by one point over CSKA Sofia by beating Cherno More Varna away from home 1:0 on the last day/match of the domestic championship season.
Thirteenth title Georgi Dermendzhiev returned as Head Coach of Ludogorets Razgrad after the sacking of Ivaylo Petev back in October 2023. At the end of the 2023-24 campaign, the club managed to once again retain their domestic championship title for a record thirteenth time in row by beating PFC CSKA Sofia 3–1 in Razgrad to make it mathematically impossible for anyone to catch them in the race.
Fourteenth title The club continued its domestic success by winning its 14th consecutive championship title under the reign of Igor Jovićević, who earlier in the season replaced interim manager Zahari Sirakov with the latter replacing club legend manager Georgi Dermendzhiev after the team was knocked out of the Champions League third qualifying round. This title was the first time in Ludogorets' and in overall Bulgarian football history that a team won the championship title both in the month of April and as early as with 5 games to spare. On the 22nd of May in front of over 37,000 spectators at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, Ludogorets Razgrad managed to beat CSKA Sofia 1-0 in the 2025 Bulgarian Cup Final, which in turn was their fourth Bulgarian Cup title triumph in their history and subsequently led to them achieving an overall fourth domestic treble in their history.
European After winning the
2011–12 Bulgarian title, Ludogorets entered the second qualifying round of the
UEFA Champions League for the
2012–13 season, but were eliminated 3:4 on aggregate with a last minute away goal by
Dinamo Zagreb. As Bulgarian champions in
2012–13 season, Ludogorets played in the
UEFA Champions League where they came through the qualifiers, eliminating subsequently
Slovan Bratislava and
Partizan en route. Ludogorets then lost to
Basel in the play-offs, but earned the right to play in the
UEFA Europa League. Ludogorets played in
Group B of the
2013–14 Europa League. They were unbeaten in the group stage finishing first in the group with five wins in six games, including both home and away victories over the prominent
PSV and
Dinamo Zagreb. Their only dropped points were a 1:1 home draw with
Chornomorets Odesa. In the knockout phase, Ludogorets beat the
Italian cup holders Lazio 1:0 away and drew 3:3 at home for a 4:3 aggregate win, but then lost 0:3 at home and 0:4 on aggregate to
Valencia in the round of 16. In the
2014–15 UEFA Champions League, Ludogorets again won both their qualifiers, against
F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg and Partizan. In the play-off, they defeated
Steaua București to reach the group stage for the first time. Goalkeeper
Vladislav Stoyanov was dismissed for a second yellow card in the last minute of extra time in the second leg, when Ludogorets had used all their substitutes. In the penalty shoot-out, centre-back
Cosmin Moți, having converted the first penalty, went in goal and made two saves to put Ludogorets through 6:5 on penalties. in a second leg play-off for the
2014–15 Champions League at the Vasil Levski National Stadium. Ludogorets made their debut in the
2014–15 Champions League group phase on 16 September 2014, grabbing a 1:1 equalizer away against
Liverpool in the
90th minute scored by
Dani Abalo, but in an eventual 1:2 loss, as the newly signed goalkeeper
Milan Borjan gave away a penalty with a foul on
Javier Manquillo, which
Steven Gerrard converted to give Liverpool the victory. In this match,
Cristiano Ronaldo took two penalties – the first was saved by goalkeeper
Vladislav Stoyanov, while the second was scored for a 1:1 equalizer. On 26 November 2014, Dani Abalo scored in the third minute and
Georgi Terziev scored his first goal in the
88th minute, grabbing a 2:2 equalizer against Liverpool, in an eventual 2:2 draw. Ludogorets won their
4th consecutive A Group title, but were left by several main squad players at the end of the season. Georgi Dermendziev was also replaced with Portuguese manager
Bruno Ribeiro. The late changes saw Ludogorets being eliminated in the second qualifying round of the
2015–16 UEFA Champions League by the underdog Moldovan champions
Milsami Orhei. With Georgi Dermendzhiev returning at the helm of the squad, during the
2016–17 Champions League, Ludogorets won the qualifiers against
Mladost Podgorica and
Red Star Belgrade respectively, followed by a success in the play-off against
Viktoria Plzeň. Eventually, they became the first Bulgarian team to qualify twice for the
group stage of the tournament. In the group stage, Ludogorets achieved two draws against Basel and one against
Paris Saint-Germain, which were enough to secure them the third place and a transfer to the
knockout phase of the
2016–17 UEFA Europa League. Ludogorets however shortly exited the competition after failing to overcome
Copenhagen with an initial 1:2 home loss and a 0:0 away draw. Ludogorets failed to qualify for the groups of the next two editions of the Champion League, but however in both cases managed to enter the groups of Europa League. In the
2017–18 season they finished second in the group behind
Braga, eliminating
İstanbul Başakşehir and
1899 Hoffenheim, before losing in both matches to
Milan in the round of 32. In 2019–20, they were eliminated by
Ferencváros in the first
Champions League qualifying round, but made their way to the group stage of the
Europa League, following successful matches against
Valur,
The New Saints and
Maribor in the qualifiers. Ludogorets were subsequently drawn again with Ferencváros, next to
CSKA Moscow and Spanish club
Espanyol. A 5–1 home win against
CSKA Moscow was followed-up by a 3–0 away win against Ferencváros. They lost twice to
Espanyol, 1–0 at home and 6–0 away, but finished second, following two 1–1 draws against both CSKA and Ferencváros, eventually securing a place in the knockout stage.
75th Anniversary Ludogorets earned their record-breaking 9th Bulgarian Premier League Title during their 75th Anniversary celebration on 8 July 2020 after their win 3:0 vs
Levski Sofia. Ludogorets wore their special green and yellow retro kit which was used in 1945 when the club was founded. The logo with the "Л" letter over a yellow background is how the original looked like. The same design was used for a couple of decades, according to the archives. A limited edition of the retro kits were available for the fans. They feature the names of all the important team players over the course of 75 years. ==Crest, shirt and mascot==