OFC Vihren Sandanski

OFC Vihren (Template:Langx) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Sandanski, currently playing in the Second League. Sandanski's home ground is the Sandanski Stadium in Sandanski with a capacity of 6,000. Vihren Sandanski's team colours are green and white.

Vihren was founded in 1925, changing its name several times during its early existence. Up until the early 2000s, Vihren played mostly in either the second or third tiers of Bulgarian football. Season 2004-05 is arguably the most important in the club's history, as the team managed to promote to the A PFG, or first tier of Bulgarian football, for the first time. Vihren managed to play four consecutive seasons in the elite, before suffering relegation after the 2008-09 season. Since then, the Gladiators have played mostly in the third regional tier.

Equipment

Currently the team's home kit is green and the away kit is white. Various combinations of green and white have been used through the years, but green remains the basic colour of the team.

History

The club was founded on 24 May 1925. It has carried the names Ustrem, Gotse Delchev, Yane Sandanski and Cherveno zname throughout its history.

For a very long period of its existence, Vihren was considered a minor club from southwest Bulgaria. It always stood in the shadows of the other more successful clubs from the region, such as Pirin Blagoevgrad, and Belasitsa Petrich, who regularly competed in the A Group.

In 1977, Vihren first promoted to the B Group, remaining there 13 consecutive seasons before falling back to the V Group. In 1993, Vihren returned to the B Group, but only for one season, after which relegation again followed.

In 2003, Vihren again returned to the second level. In the 2004–05 season, Vihren finished first and gained promotion to the A Group for the 2005–06 season, marking the team's debut in the top tier. Before their first year of playing in A PFG, Vihren's owner decided to bring players from other countries to bolster the team's chances of surviving in the top flight. His first signing was the ex-FC Porto player Jose Furtado. He was from the Portuguese side G.D. Tourizense for free. Brazilian player Serginio Dias, and Portuguese players Mauro Alexandre and Nuno Almeida were just a few other players who signed for Vihren after Furtado. The team coach was named Petar Zhekov. Vihren finished season 2005–06 on 9th place in A PFG with 30 points.

The next season, 2006-07, Vihren managed to gain 37 points, finishing in 9th place once again.

In season 2007–08, Vihren's owner, Konstantin Dinev decided to bring Portuguese coach Rui Dias. The club signed eight Portuguese and two Brazilian players. But three months later, Rui Dias was discharged for poor results. At the end of the season, the team finished in 10th place.

Season 2008–09 started excellent with a 1–0 win against Bulgarian vice-champion Levski Sofia. In the 4th round, the club defeated Lokomotov Sofia. In January 2008, Vihren signed notable Greek players Christos Maladenis and Dimitrios Zografakis. In the end of the season, however, the team finished in 14th place and were relegated to B Group, ending a four-year stint in the elite.

The following two seasons were spent in the second tier, but financial problems overwhelmed the club, forcing its folding in 2011 and withdrawal from the B Group. The next season, Vihren was refounded from the fourth level, the A RFG. The team then promoted to the V Group in 2013.

In 2025, Vihren promoted to the Second League for the first time since 2011.

League positions

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1600 height:60 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/2026 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1975

Colors =

 id:First_tier value:green legend:First_tier
 id:Second_tier value:white legend:Second_tier
 id:Third_tier value:red legend:Third_tier
 id:Fourth_tier value:yellow legend:Fourth_tier
 id:Fifth_tier value:blue legend:Fifth_tier
 id:Does_not_exist value:black legend:Does_not_exist

PlotData=

 bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center
 from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1975  shift:(0,-4) text:2
 from:01/07/1975 till:01/07/1976  shift:(0,-4) text:6
 from:01/07/1976 till:01/07/1977  shift:(0,-4) text:1
 from:01/07/1974 till:01/07/1977  color:red  shift:(0,14)  text: "V Group"
 from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1978  shift:(0,-4) text:16
 from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1979  shift:(0,-4) text:8
 from:01/07/1979 till:01/07/1980  shift:(0,-4) text:2
 from:01/07/1980 till:01/07/1981  shift:(0,-4) text:9
 from:01/07/1981 till:01/07/1982  shift:(0,-4) text:4
 from:01/07/1982 till:01/07/1983  shift:(0,-4) text:14
 from:01/07/1983 till:01/07/1984  shift:(0,-4) text:9
 from:01/07/1984 till:01/07/1985  shift:(0,-4) text:16
 from:01/07/1985 till:01/07/1986  shift:(0,-4) text:10
 from:01/07/1986 till:01/07/1987  shift:(0,-4) text:11
 from:01/07/1987 till:01/07/1988  shift:(0,-4) text:7
 from:01/07/1988 till:01/07/1989  shift:(0,-4) text:9
 from:01/07/1989 till:01/07/1990  shift:(0,-4) text:17
 from:01/07/1977 till:01/07/1990  color:white  shift:(0,14)  text: "B Group"
 from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1991  shift:(0,-4) text:2
 from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1992  shift:(0,-4) text:6
 from:01/07/1992 till:01/07/1993  shift:(0,-4) text:3
 from:01/07/1990 till:01/07/1993  color:red  shift:(0,14)  text: "V Group"
 from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994  shift:(0,-4) text:13
 from:01/07/1993 till:01/07/1994  color:white  shift:(0,14)  text: "B Group"
 from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/1995  shift:(0,-4) text:2
 from:01/07/1995 till:01/07/1996  shift:(0,-4) text:4
 from:01/07/1996 till:01/07/1997  shift:(0,-4) text:6
 from:01/07/1997 till:01/07/1998  shift:(0,-4) text:7
 from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/1999  shift:(0,-4) text:6
 from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2000  shift:(0,-4) text:2
 from:01/07/2000 till:01/07/2001  shift:(0,-4) text:4
 from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2002  shift:(0,-4) text:8
 from:01/07/2002 till:01/07/2003  shift:(0,-4) text:1
 from:01/07/1994 till:01/07/2003  color:red  shift:(0,14)  text: "V Group"
 from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2004  shift:(0,-4) text:9
 from:01/07/2004 till:01/07/2005  shift:(0,-4) text:1
 from:01/07/2003 till:01/07/2005  color:white shift:(0,14)  text: "B Group"
 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2006  shift:(0,-4) text:9
 from:01/07/2006 till:01/07/2007  shift:(0,-4) text:9
 from:01/07/2007 till:01/07/2008  shift:(0,-4) text:10
 from:01/07/2008 till:01/07/2009  shift:(0,-4) text:14
 from:01/07/2005 till:01/07/2009  color:green  shift:(0,14)  text: "A Group"
 from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2010  shift:(0,-4) text:4
 from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2011  shift:(0,-4) text:7
 from:01/07/2009 till:01/07/2011  color:white shift:(0,14)  text: "B Group"
 from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012  shift:(0,-4) text:
 from:01/07/2011 till:01/07/2012  color:black shift:(0,14)  text: Diss
 from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013  shift:(0,-4) text:1
 from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013  color:yellow shift:(0,14)  text: "Regional"
 from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014  shift:(0,-4) text:6
 from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015  shift:(0,-4) text:8
 from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016  shift:(0,-4) text:6
 from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2016  color:red  shift:(0,14)  text: "V Group"
 from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017  shift:(0,-4) text:15
 from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018  shift:(0,-4) text:3
 from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019  shift:(0,-4) text:3
 from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020  shift:(0,-4) text:4
 from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021  shift:(0,-4) text:4
 from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022  shift:(0,-4) text:17
 from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023  shift:(0,-4) text:2
 from:01/07/2023 till:01/07/2024  shift:(0,-4) text:4
 from:01/07/2024 till:01/07/2025  shift:(0,-4) text:1
 from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2025  color:red  shift:(0,14)  text: "Third League"
 from:01/07/2025 till:01/07/2026  shift:(0,-4) text:
 from:01/07/2025 till:01/07/2026  color:white  shift:(0,14)  text: "2nd"

</timeline>

Honours

Bulgarian A PFG:

• 9th place: 2005–06 and 2006–07

Bulgarian Cup:

• quarter finalist Cup of the Soviet Army: 1985/86

Current squad

As of 28 June 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
3	DF	Template:Fba/core	Valeri Georgiev (captain)
4	DF	Template:Fba/core	Daniel Ayomide
8	FW	Template:Fba/core	Kitan Vasilev
9	FW	Template:Fba/core	Metodi Kostov
10	MF	Template:Fba/core	Tomi Kostadinov
11	MF	Template:Fba/core	Daniel Pehlivanov
12	GK	Template:Fba/core	Kostadin Kotev
13	MF	Template:Fba/core	Veselin Lyubomirov
14	DF	Template:Fba/core	Rumen Sandev
16	MF	Template:Fba/core	Aleksandar Videnov
21	FW	Template:Fba/core	Mario Evtimov

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
22	DF	Template:Fba/core	Georgi Korichkov
71	MF	Template:Fba/core	Anton Karachanakov
73	MF	Template:Fba/core	Ventsislav Bengyuzov
—	GK	Template:Fba/core	Stanislav Nistorov
—	DF	Template:Fba/core	Ivan Arsov
—	DF	Template:Fba/core	Atanas Kilov
—	DF	Template:Fba/core	Aleksandar Bashliev
—	MF	Template:Fba/core	Kristiyan Velichkov
—	MF	Template:Fba/core	Leowanderson Ferreira
—	FW	Template:Fba/core	Yuri Pinheiro

Managerial history

This is a list of the last ten Vihren managers:

Name	Nat	From	To
Kostadin Todorov	Template:Flagicon	January 2000	January 2001
Vasil Metodiev	Template:Flagicon	January 2001	June 2002
Yordan Bozdanski	Template:Flagicon	December 2002	May 2004
Petar Zhekov	Template:Flagicon	June 2004	May 2005
Petar Zhekov	Template:Flagicon	June 2005	May 2006
Dionysis Beslikas	Template:Flagicon	June 2006	August 2006
Petar Zhekov	Template:Flagicon	August 2006	May 2007
Rui Dias	Template:Flagicon	June 2007	October 2007
Eduard Eranosyan	Template:Flagicon	October 2007	November 2007
Filip Filipov	Template:Flagicon	December 2007	March 2009

As of December 31, 2009.

Notable players

Template:Flagicon Vasil Metodiev Template:Flagicon Vladimir Karakachiev Template:Flagicon Todor Mechev Template:Flagicon Krasimir Bakalov Template:Flagicon Valentin Stankov Template:Flagicon Atanas Manushev Template:Flagicon Plamen Mitsanski Template:Flagicon Emil Mitsanski Template:Flagicon Hristo Zlatinov

Template:Flagicon Pando Kotov Template:Flagicon Kiril Katzarov Template:Flagicon Ivan Stoyanov Template:Flagicon Bozhko Pandaziev Template:Flagicon Iliya Tochev Template:Flagicon Krasto Penev Template:Flagicon Evgeni Mihaylov Template:Flagicon Georgi Bachev Template:Flagicon Kiril Andreev

Former foreign players

Template:Flagicon Brazil Serginio Dias Ademar Miran Mauro Alexandre Bruno Paes Manoel Da Silva Template:Flagicon Cape Verde Rodolfo Lima Jose Furtado Template:Flagicon Croatia Bruno Šiklić Vedren Muratović

Template:Flagicon France Florian Lucchini Template:Flagicon Spain Sergio Ocana Template:Flagicon Greece Christos Maladenis Dimitrios Zografakis Dimitris Karademitros Template:Flagicon Hungary Zoltán Fehér Tihamér Lukács Template:Flagicon Macedonia Slavcho Georgievski

Template:Flagicon Nigeria Shikoze Udoji Emejuru Okwudili Yusuf Bello Template:Flagicon Portugal Eduardo Simões Diogo Andrade Luis Dias Nuno Almeyda Tiago Costa Paulo Teixeira Pina Semedo Mauro Almeida

Template:Flagicon Serbia Saša Simonović Zoran Cvetković Template:Flagicon Uruguay Edgardo Simovic Template:Flagicon Argentina Gastón Pisani Template:Flagicon Venezuela Gabriel Cichero

External links

• OFC Vihren Sandanski at bgclubs.eu