There are ancient crafts in Bulgaria and traditions are kept by few masters transferred from one generation to another. There are also generations of artists, doctors, lawyers, but one of the most popular traditions is the respect towards the football club of Levski. The hereditary Levski fans in Bulgaria are tens of thousands; some of them are fifth-generation of Levski fans. This explains why the club that celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2014 is known as the “team of the people.” This title is deserved as a recent UEFA poll showed that 31 percent of the football fans in Bulgaria are Levski fans. This places the Bulgarian team at the 7-8th position in Europe together with Juventus.

It all started in 1911 when a group of students from Sofia gathered to play football. They were initially called “The Sixth Club” as there were 5 other football clubs in Sofia at that time. These were Football Club, Club Football, Botev, Rakovski and Razvitie. Unfortunately, the plans for registration of the new club failed because of the start of the Balkan Wars. However on May 24th, 1914 the dream of the young people came true and a football club bearing the name of the Bulgaria Apostle of Freedom - Vasil Levski, was established.

Since its creation, Levski has won 73 titles, which is a record for Bulgaria – 26 Bulgarian Championship titles, 26 national cups, 3 Bulgarian Supercups, 11 titles from the Sofia Championship, 3 Cups of the Soviet Army, 4 Ulpia Serdica Cups. Initially the colors of the team were yellow-red shirts and black shorts. Later blue became the color of the club.

Levski won its first champion’s title in 1933 after a 3:1 victory against Shipchenski Sokol (Varna). The latest success of the blue team was five years ago when in 2009 Levski became champions of Bulgaria. Undoubtedly, the most successful period in the history of the team is the first decade of the 21st century when Levski won 6 champion’s titles and 5 Bulgaria Cups.

Despite the fact Levski is one of the most successful Bulgarian teams, it has a number of losses against teams with much more modest football reputation. Among them are little-known teams from Finland, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kazakhstan. Most memorable, however, remain the victories of Levski against Ajax, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Olympique de Marseille, Sporting, Lazio and Udinese.

Levski has managed to reach 3 times the quarter finals of the Cup Winners' Cup, once of the UEFA Cup and once of the Europa League. In 2007 Levski became the only Bulgarian team to reach the group stage of the Champions League. In the most popular tournament in the past  - the European Champions Cup Levski have reached the 1/8 finals three times.

During the year of its 100th anniversary Levski has showed weak performance. The team placed 5th in the football championship of the country and for the first time since 1990 it would not take part in the European club tournaments.

The main event that marks the 100th anniversary of the most popular football club in Bulgaria is the match between Levski and Lazio at the Vasil Levski National Stadium on May 23-rd. The anniversary will be marked also by a festive concert and publishing of a book about the 100th anniversary of the team. A movie about the club will be also shown to the fans; there will be children’s tournaments and others.

The sports section of the Bulgarian National Radio also made a unique contribution to marking the anniversary. The sports editorial office of the radio gave a special gift to the management of Levski - the first original photograph of the club. Original stamp reading “Sports Football Club Levski Sofia 1914” can be seen on the 100-year-old photo. The unique photograph used to be kept as a relic in the sports editorial office in the BNR.

English version: Alexander Markov