FC Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa

Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa
Full name	Football Club Lokomotiv - Gorna Oryahovitsa
Nickname(s)	Loko, The Irons
Founded	1932; 93 years ago
Ground	Stadion Lokomotiv,; Gorna Oryahovitsa
Capacity	10,500
Chairman	Ivo Dimitrov
Head coach	Nikolay Panayotov (caretaker)
League	Second League
2023-24	Northwest Third League, 1st (promoted)
Website	https://lokomotivgo.bg/
Home colours	Away colours

Lokomotiv (Bulgarian: Локомотив) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Gorna Oryahovitsa, which currently competes in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football.

Established in 1932 as a sports association of the railway workers in the town, the football department of Lokomotiv have been playing at their current home ground, the Lokomotiv Stadium, since 1956. The club's main colours are black and white. Lokomotiv GO's longest spell in the top division was between 1987 and 1995. Lokomotiv's highest league finish in the top division is 8th, and was achieved three times during their 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1993–94 A Group campaigns.

History

The club was established in 1932 as RSC - Railway Sports Club (Bulgarian: ЖСК - Железничарски спортен клуб) by the railway workers at the Gorna Oryahovitsa railway station, a major railway junction in northern Bulgaria. In 1944 RSC merged with SC Borislav and was later renamed to RSC Borislav. The team finally became known by their current name Lokomotiv in 1945. Lokomotiv's best performance in the Bulgarian Cup came in 1947, when they lost to eventual winners Levski Sofia in the semi-final, a feat, which they would achieve again in 1987, but again losing to cup holders Levski Sofia. In the 1962–63 season, they won the B Group title, earning promotion to the A Group for the first time in their history. In their maiden top-tier season, Lokomotiv endured a difficult 1963–64 campaign. The team eventually finished the season last and was relegated back to the B Group after a single season.

In the 1986–87 season, Lokomotiv ranked second in the B Group and won promotion to the A Group after a 23-year absence. This began the golden age for Lokomotiv as the team spent eight consecutive seasons in the top division before being relegated in 1995. During the 1990–91 A Group season, Lokomotiv's forward Ivaylo Yordanov finished as the leading goalscorer of the A Group with a total of 21 goals and was later transferred to Portuguese club Sporting C.P..

After 21 years of absence from the top flight, in the 2015–16 B Group, Lokomotiv finished third in the final league table and was one of the clubs approved and promoted to the newly restructured Bulgarian First League, following the adoption of new licensing criteria by the Bulgarian Football Union. The long-awaited return to the elite for Lokomotiv proved to be challenging, as the team spent the majority of the season competing in the relegation zone. Lokomotiv was eventually relegated after one season spent in the top flight.

After four seasons in the Second League, Lokomotiv were then relegated to the Third League at the end of the 2020/2021 season. After three seasons in the third level, Lokomotiv earned promotion back to the Second League in 2024.

Seasons

Season by season

Season	Division	Place	Bulgarian Cup
1950	B PFG	6	DNQ
1951	V AFG	?	DNQ
1952	V AFG	3	DNQ
1953	B PFG	7	DNQ
1954	B PFG	3	DNQ
1955	B PFG	2	DNQ
1956	B PFG	5	DNQ
1957	B PFG	10	DNQ
1958	B PFG	12	DNQ
1958–59	B PFG	5	DNQ
1959–60	B PFG	10	DNQ
1960–61	B PFG	5	DNQ
1961–62	B PFG	8	DNQ
1962–63	B PFG	1	DNQ
1963–64	A PFG	16	1/8 finals
1964–65	B PFG	4	DNQ
1965–66	B PFG	3	DNQ
1966–67	B PFG	4	Round of 16
1967–68	B PFG	11	DNQ
1968–69	B PFG	15	DNQ
1969–70	B PFG	11	DNQ
1970–71	B PFG	15	DNQ
1971–72	B PFG	11	DNQ

Season	Division	Place	Bulgarian Cup
1972–73	B PFG	8	Round of 16
1973–74	B PFG	3	DNQ
1974–75	B PFG	12	DNQ
1975–76	B PFG	3	Round of 16
1976–77	B PFG	9	Round of 32
1977–78	B PFG	9	Round of 16
1978–79	B PFG	6	Round of 32
1979–80	B PFG	10	Round of 32
1980–81	B PFG	6	Groups
1981–82	B PFG	6	Second round
1982-83	B PFG	5	Third round
1983–84	B PFG	16	First round
1984–85	V AFG	1	First round
1985–86	B PFG	3	First round
1986–87	B PFG	1	Semi-finals
1987–88	A PFG	13	Second round
1988–89	A PFG	12	Third round
1989–90	A PFG	8	First round
1990–91	A PFG	8	Second round
1991–92	A PFG	11	First round
1992–93	A PFG	9	Quarter-finals
1993–94	A PFG	8	Quarter-finals
1994–95	A PFG	14	First round

Season	Division	Place	Bulgarian Cup
1995–96	B PFG	13	First round
1996–97	B PFG	15	Semi-finals
1997–98	V AFG	14	DNQ
1998–99	V AFG	13	DNQ
1999–00	V AFG	12	DNQ
2000–01	V AFG	5	DNQ
2001–02	V AFG	6	DNQ
2002–03	V AFG	13	DNQ
2003–04	V AFG	1	DNQ
2004–05	B PFG	16	First round
2005–06	V AFG	9	DNQ
2006–07	V AFG	11	DNQ
2007–08	V AFG	7	DNQ
2008–09	V AFG	5	DNQ
2009–10	V AFG	7	DNQ
2010–11	V AFG	12	DNQ
2011–12	V AFG	9	First round
2012–13	V AFG	6	DNQ
2013–14	V AFG	2	DNQ
2014–15	B PFG	3	Quarter-finals
2015–16	B PFG	3	Quarter-finals
2016–17	First League	14	First round
2017–18	Second League	8	First round

Season	Division	Place	Bulgarian Cup
2018–19	Second League	9	First round
2019–20	Second League	9	First round
2020–21	Second League	15	First round

League positions

Recent seasons

Season	League	Place	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Bulgarian Cup
2011–12	V AFG (III)	9	10	7	13	34	31	37	First round
2012–13	V AFG	6	9	4	9	40	26	31	DNQ
2013–14	V AFG	2	23	4	3	119	26	73	DNQ
2014–15	B PFG (II)	3	18	5	7	60	34	56	Quarterfinals
2015–16	B PFG	3	13	11	6	42	26	50	Quarterfinals
2016–17	First League (I)	14	7	9	16	32	51	30	First round
2017–18	Second League (II)	8	10	10	10	42	39	40	First round
Green marks a season followed by promotion, red a season followed by relegation.

Honours

Domestic

First League:
- 8th place (3): 1989–90, 1990–91, 1993–94
Bulgarian Cup:
- Semi-finals (2): 1947, 1987
Second League:
- Winners (1): 1962–63
Third League:
- Winners (3): 1984–85, 2004–05, 2023–24
Cup of Bulgarian Amateur Football League:
- Winners (1): 2023

International

Intertoto Cup:
- Group winner (1): 1992

European tournaments history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1992	Intertoto Cup	Group 10	Lokomotiv Sofia	1–0	0–0	Group winners
			Argeș Pitești	2–0	0–5
			Gloria Bistrita	2–0	1–1

Current squad

As of 15 December 2024

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
1	GK	BUL	Ventsislav Dimitrov
3	MF	FIN	Martin Kuittinen
5	DF	BUL	Mihail Minkov
6	MF	BUL	Nikola Kolev
7	MF	BUL	Stanislav Valchev
8	MF	BUL	Ivan Avramov
10	MF	BUL	Daniel Kanchev
11	MF	BUL	Galin Tashev
13	MF	BUL	Tsvetoslav Petrov
16	MF	BUL	Stefan Mitev
17	FW	BUL	Georgi Kolev


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	MF	BUL	Kristiyan Dechev
19	MF	BUL	Panayot Paskov
21	MF	BUL	Milen Savov
26	DF	BUL	Mariyan Ivanov
27	MF	BUL	Yanislav Tsachev
33	GK	UKR	Hennadiy Hanyev
66	MF	FRA	Junior Abé
69	MF	BUL	Antonio Laskov
71	DF	BUL	Georgi Valchev
92	FW	BUL	Kristiyan Raychev (captain)

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2024.

Managers

Dates	Name	Honours
1952	Kostadin Bogdanov
1954	Angel Bozev
1957–1961	Kiril Chipev
1961–1963	Yordan Tomov	1 B PFG title
1964	Atanas Konarov
1964–1965	Penyu Petsev
1965	Apostol Sokolov
1966–1968	Hristo Hadzhiev
1968	Zhelyazko Panev
1969–1970	Angel Petrov
1970	Marin Marinov
1970–1971	Kiril Chipev
1971–1973	Petar Patev
1973–1975	Todor Velev
1975–1978	Ivan Varbanov
1978–1982	Petar Shatrov
1982–1984	Georgi Velinov
1984–1985	Ivan Varbanov	1 V AFG title
1985–1988	Dobromir Zhechev
1988–1989	Todor Velev
1989–1990	Kiril Rabchev

Dates	Name	Honours
1990–1991	Petar Kirilov
1991–1993	Nikola Velkov
1994	Georgi Velkov
1994	Tsenko Gavazov
1994	Nikola Velkov
1995	Georgi Velkov
1995	Plamen Nikolov
1995	Kiril Rabchev
1996–1997	Tsenko Gavazov
1997	Todor Todorov
1997–1998	Angel Minchev
2003–2005	Boyko Dimitrov	1 V AFG title
2006–2007	Valentin Ignatov
2007–2010	Dimitar Pechikamakov
2010–2011	Nasko Kostadinov
2011–2013	Dimitar Pechikamakov
2014	Tsenko Gavazov
2014–2016	Sasho Angelov
2016	Aleksandar Tomash
2016	Angel Chervenkov
2016–2017	Ivan Kolev
2017	Milcho Sirmov
2017	Aleksandar Dimitrov
2018	Todor Kiselichkov
2018	Marin Baychev
2019	Krasimir Mechev
2019–2020	Milcho Sirmov
2020–	Georgi Ivanov