OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad

History

FC Pirin

One of FC Pirin Blagoevgrad's predecessors, FC Pirin, was founded in 1922. FC Pirin has played more than 20 seasons in the top flight and has competed twice in the European football competitions with one participation in the UEFA Cup and one participation in the Cup Winners' Cup respectively. The club's first participation in the UEFA tournaments was not promising. In 1985, Pirin faced the then reigning Swedish champion Hammarby IF. The first game in Blagoevgrad, ended with a 1–3 loss. The second game in Sweden was also a defeat – 0–4 and Pirin were out of the European competitions. Pirin's best season in the Bulgarian top division was in the 1984–85 season, where they finished at 5th place at the end of the season. The club was also three times runner-up of the Bulgarian Cup. Also, Pirin's youth academy is attributed as being one of the best developers of young and unknown players in Bulgaria. Among the club's famous players are Dimitar Berbatov, Spas Delev, Petar Mihtarski, Ivaylo Andonov, Ivan Tsvetkov, Vladislav Zlatinov and Petar Zlatinov.

On August 18, 2006, after failing to arrange some debts and signals of corruption, Pirin was expelled from the A PFG, the team's results for the season were annulled, and the club was relegated to the Bulgarian South-West V AFG. However, after two years, Pirin won the South-West V AFG and the club returned for the upcoming season of the Western B PFG.

Unification

In December 2008, Pirin, which competed in the Western B PFG, was merged with PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad, (former FC Makedonska Slava), which played in the A PFG after a significant pressure from the supporters in the town. The new club was named FC Pirin Blagoevgrad and was soon proclaimed as a holder of the club records of the former FC Pirin, which competed for more than 20 seasons in the top flight. FC Pirin's West B PFG place was taken by FC Bansko. Then, Nikolay Galchev appointed Petar Mihtarski as a manager of the club. A few months later, under Naci Şensoy's management, the successes followed-up and Pirin qualified for the final of the Bulgarian Cup, eliminating subsequently on their way CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia. In the final match played at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium in Sofia, Pirin were eliminated after a 3–0 defeat against Litex Lovech.

OFK Pirin

In the foremath of the 2011–12 season, Pirin Blagoevgrad failed to receive a professional license for the A Group. However, due to their financial struggles they were also rejected to participate in the South-West V AFG. Later that year, they acquired the license of Perun Kresna. The team finished 2011-12 season as Perun, but for 2012-13 the team was renamed to Obshtinski futbolen klub Pirin (), meaning Pirin Minicipal Football Club, as the club was owned by Blagoevgrad Municipality.

In 2015, the club achieved promotion to the A Group after a four-year absence from top-flight football. The 2015-16 season ended in an 8th place finish out of 10 teams in a modified season format. The next season (2016–17), Pirin again managed to avoid relegation. However the team was relegated from the A Group after the 2017-18 season.

On 11 June 2019, OFK Pirin secured a one-year sponsorship agreement and advertising partnership with the investment company Emirates Wealth EAD. In July, Blagoevgrad Municipality approved a business plan by the company discussing the future development of the club, in particular the partnership between the two sides, phases in acquiring participatory management, investment schemes, club finances and aims. The plan saw Emirates Wealth EAD become a majority owner, as it acquired 75% of the OFK Pirin's shares, with 25% remaining in Blagoevgrad Municipality's ownership. Part of obtaining participatory management saw the creation of a new association, a joint-stock company named Futbolen klub Pirin AD (), meaning Pirin Football Club, where OFK Pirin, owned by the municipality, was merged into.

In 2021, Pirin managed to return to the First League after three years of absence.

After three seasons in the First League, Pirin was relegated back to the Second League at the conclusion of the 2023–24 season.

Colours and badge

Currently, the team's home kit is green and the away kit is white. Various combinations of green and white have been used throughout the club's history.

Honours

Domestic

• Second League:
  • Winners (5): 1972–73, 1981–82, 1983–84, 2006–07, 2020–21
• Bulgarian Cup:
  • Runners-up (4): 1981, 1992, 1994, 2009

European Record

Players

Current squad

As of 24 January 2026

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2025 and Transfers winter 2025–26.

Foreign players

Up to twenty foreign nationals can be registered and given a squad number for the first team in the Bulgarian First League, however only five non-EU nationals can be used during a match day. Those non-EU nationals with European ancestry can claim citizenship from the nation their ancestors came from. If a player does not have European ancestry he can claim Bulgarian citizenship after playing in Bulgaria for 5 years. EU Nationals EU Nationals (Dual citizenship) Non-EU Nationals

• UKR Bohdan Kovalenko

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries, held any club record, or have more than 100 league appearance. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.

;Bulgaria

• Bulgaria Ivaylo Andonov
• Bulgaria Aleksandar Bashliev
• Bulgaria Ventsislav Bengyuzov
• Bulgaria Dimitar Berbatov
• Bulgaria Krasimir Bezinski
• Bulgaria Krum Bibishkov
• Bulgaria Marsel Bibishkov
• Bulgaria Dimitar Blagov
• Bulgaria Nikolay Bodurov
• Bulgaria Yordan Bozdanski
• Bulgaria Valentin Dartilov
• Bulgaria Georgi Daskalov
• Bulgaria Spiro Debarski
• Bulgaria Spas Delev
• Bulgaria Svetoslav Dyakov
• Bulgaria Aleksandar Dyulgerov
• Bulgaria Boris Galchev
• Bulgaria Georgi Georgiev
• Bulgaria Georgi Georgiev
• Bulgaria Kostadin Hazurov
• Bulgaria Dimitar Iliev
• Bulgaria Ivaylo Ivanikov
• Bulgaria Radoslav Kirilov
• Bulgaria Anton Kostadinov
• Bulgaria Stanislav Kostov
• Bulgaria Stanislav Manolev
• Brazil Bulgaria Marquinhos
• Bulgaria Petar Mihtarski
• Bulgaria Dobromir Mitov
• Bulgaria Radoslav Mitrevski
• Bulgaria Daniel Mladenov
• Bulgaria Yordan Murlev
• Bulgaria Stilyan Nikolov
• Bulgaria Malin Orachev
• Bulgaria Georgi Petrov
• Bulgaria Yuliyan Popev
• Bulgaria Todor Pramatarov
• Bulgaria Milen Radukanov
• Bulgaria Rumen Sandev
• Bulgaria Stoycho Stoilov
• Bulgaria Toni Tasev
• Bulgaria Radoslav Tsonev
• Bulgaria Ivan Tsvetkov
• Bulgaria Pavel Vidanov
• Bulgaria Kostadin Yanchev
• Bulgaria Preslav Yordanov
• Bulgaria Atanas Zehirov
• Bulgaria Vladislav Zlatinov
• Bulgaria Hristo Zlatinski

;Europe

• Latvia Vitālijs Jagodinskis
• Slovakia Kristián Koštrna ;Africa
• CAR Karl Namnganda
• Benin Steve Traoré ;Asia
• Kyrgyzstan Nazim Ajiev
• Kyrgyzstan Nematjan Zakirov
• Uzbekistan Georgi Georgiev

Past seasons

League positions

ImageSize = width:450 height:100 PlotArea = left:10 right:10 bottom:30 top:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2026 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2013 Colors = id:bl1 value:rgb(0.5,0.8,0.5) id:bl2 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.3) id:rs value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.6) id:rn value:rgb(0.9,0.1,0.1)

PlotData= bar:Position width:16 color:white align:center from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2013 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2013 till:01/07/2014 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2012 till:01/07/2014 color:red shift:(0,14) text: "V Group" from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 shift:(0,-4) text:2 from:01/07/2014 till:01/07/2015 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "B Group" from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 shift:(0,-4) text:8 from:01/07/2015 till:01/07/2016 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "A Group" from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2017 shift:(0,-4) text:10 from:01/07/2017 till:01/07/2018 shift:(0,-4) text:14 from:01/07/2016 till:01/07/2018 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "First League" from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2019 shift:(0,-4) text:13 from:01/07/2019 till:01/07/2020 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2020 till:01/07/2021 shift:(0,-4) text:1 from:01/07/2018 till:01/07/2021 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "Second League" from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2022 shift:(0,-4) text:12 from:01/07/2022 till:01/07/2023 shift:(0,-4) text:11 from:01/07/2023 till:01/07/2024 shift:(0,-4) text:15 from:01/07/2021 till:01/07/2024 color:green shift:(0,14) text: "First League" from:01/07/2024 till:01/07/2025 shift:(0,-4) text:3 from:01/07/2025 till:01/07/2026 shift:(0,-4) text: from:01/07/2024 till:01/07/2026 color:white shift:(0,14) text: "2nd"

Last Seasons

Personnel

Club officials

Managerial history

References

References

1. "История". pirinfc.com.
2. (11 June 2019). "ОФК Пирин ЕООД Благоевград влиза в рекламно партньорство с Емирейтс".
3. (1 August 2019). "Планът за развитие на ФК Пирин Благоевград".
4. (26 July 2019). "От днес ОФК "Пирин" – Благоевград официално е с нов собственик". Radio Blagoevgrad.
5. (27 September 2019). ""Емирейтс Уелт" придобива собствеността в "Пирин" след одобрението на общината". Dnevnik.bg.