FC CSKA 1948 Sofia

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FC CSKA 1948 Sofia (Bulgarian: ФК ЦСКА 1948 София) is a Bulgarian football club from Sofia. The team plays its home matches at the Bistritsa Stadium and competes in Bulgaria's First League. The colours of the club are red and white.

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Column 1Column 2Column 3Column 4
Football Club Central Sports Club of the Army 1948 Sofia
Червените (The Reds)
19 July 2016 (19 July 2016)
Stadion Bistritsa
4,000
Tsvetomir Naydenov
Aleksandar Aleksandrov
First League
First League, 11th of 16
cska1948.bg
Home colours

Away colours

Third colours | Home colours | Away colours | Third colours | | Home colours | Away colours | Third colours | | | | | | |

FC CSKA 1948 Sofia (Bulgarian: ФК ЦСКА 1948 София) is a Bulgarian football club from Sofia. The team plays its home matches at the Bistritsa Stadium and competes in Bulgaria's First League. The colours of the club are red and white.

The club was founded on 19 July 2016, at a meeting at the Central Military Club in Sofia. The members of the Constituent Assembly announced partnership with Erreà.

On 21 August 2016, FC CSKA 1948 won its first cup in a friendly four-team tournament in Kokalyane. The team defeated Akademik Sofia 1–0 in the final.

In its first official game for the 2016–17 season in A OFG Sofia (capital) South, FC CSKA 1948 won 8–0 against Lyulin Sofia. The club began playing its home games at Vasil Levski National Stadium, but later during the season used the stadiums in Obelya and German. FC CSKA 1948 won its group and became champion of the whole A OFG Sofia (capital) after victory 4–3 against Nadezhda Dobroslavtsi. Then, on 7 June 2017, the team played with Bratsigovo in order to qualify for the Third League and won after penalties (7–6). Beside that, FC CSKA 1948 reached the final for the Cup of Bulgarian Amateur League, which they lost on 25 May 2017 to the club from the Third league Chernomorets Balchik.

For their first season in the third division of the Bulgarian football (2017–18), the club moved to Dragalevtsi Stadium, in order to comply with the requirements of the respective league. After very strong performance, on 19 May 2018, FC CSKA 1948 secured its place in Second Professional League. The team finished with 29 wins, 5 draws and no losses, as two players of the Reds became goalscorers of the South-West Third League – Andon Gushterov and Petko Petkov. Also, FC CSKA 1948 had again a good campaign for the Cup of Bulgarian Amateur League, this time reaching the semi-finals.

For the beginning of the 2018–19 season in the Second Professional League, FC CSKA 1948 moved to Vasil Levski National Stadium due to the higher league it is playing in. Strong selection of professional players was done, as the goal for the season is qualification for First League. After four rounds, manager Valentin Iliev, who managed the club from the very beginning, was replaced with Petko Petkov. FC CSKA 1948 eventually finished fourth, three points below the promotion playoff place, which was occupied by Arda Kardzhali. Although FC CSKA 1948 didn't promote to the elite in their first attempt, the team established itself as a strong contender for promotion.

For the 2019–20 season, FC CSKA 1948 started the season on a high note, defeating local rivals Lokomotiv Sofia 2–0 at home. This was followed by an away win at newly promoted Spartak Pleven with a score of 1–4. Another dominant 2–0 win against Spartak Varna earned the team three out of three wins in their first three matches. An away win against Montana, followed by a home destruction of OFC Pomorie extended their winning steak to 5 games. FC CSKA 1948's spectacular form continued, as the team defeated Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa and Strumska Slava in the following rounds. The team then beat fellow Sofia rivals Septemvri Sofia 5–0 at home. The first defeat of the season came in the tenth round, when FC CSKA 1948 lost 1–0 to Litex Lovech. After a 2–0 home win against Chernomorets Balchik, FC CSKA 1948 suffered another loss in the hands of Kariana Erden. This was followed by three consecutive wins, which ended with a disappointing 2–2 home draw against Ludogorets II. Following that, the team managed to win two away games, against Botev Galabovo and Lokomotiv Sofia again, which put them in second place in the table, three points behind Septemvri Sofia, before the winter break.

FC CSKA 1948 secured their First League spot for the 2020–21 season after finishing 1st in the 2019–20 Second League. Krasimir Balakov was announced as manager for the new season on 2 June, and the club unveiled a new logo on 30 June in preparation for their First League debut. On 7 August 2020, the team faced CSKA in its first ever top flight game, with the encounter resulting in a 2–2 draw.

CSKA 1948 established itself in the following years in the First League, frequently finishing in the top six of the championship. During the 2022–23 season, the team reached the final of the Bulgarian Cup for the first time in club history, eliminating Lokomotiv Sofia in the semi-finals.

Until 2022, the club had a policy of relying exclusively on Bulgarian players, which gained the approval of a lot of the club's supporters who had previously criticized CSKA Sofia for fielding teams with many foreign footballers.

The colours of the team main kit are red and white. The second kit is in white and the third – in black, with white sleeves.

On 31 January 2017 CSKA 1948 presented its main sponsor – Efbet. The company sponsors not only the first team, but the academy too.

PeriodKit manufacturerShirt partner
2016ErreàNone
2017–2020Efbet
2020–2023Adidas
2023–Puma

Since 2018, the team mascot is Army the lion.

As of 15 March 2026

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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.NationPlayerNo.Pos.NationPlayer
1GKBULPetar Marinov
2DFBOLDiego Medina
3DFESPJuan Carrión
4DFGERAndré Hoffmann
5DFMARBenaissa Benamar
6DFBLRYegor Parkhomenko
7MFPORBernardo Couto
8MFFRAYohann Magnin
9FWBULAtanas Iliev
10MFBULBorislav Tsonev
11FWBULGeorgi Rusev (on loan from Sion)
13GKBULDimitar Sheytanov
14FWBULKaloyan Strinski
15DFTUNFourat Soltani
17FWBOLJosé Martines
19MFBULMarto Boychev
20MFARGBrian Sobrero
21DFGEOLasha Dvali
22DFMNEOgnjen Gašević
23MFGERFlorian Krebs
34MFBULPetar Vitanov
67FWPORFrédéric Maciel
77FWBRAElias Franco
87FWCIVJean David
88DFCIVAdama Traoré
93FWMTNMamadou Diallo
96DFMNEDragan Grivić

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

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.NationPlayer
16DFBULSimeon Vasilev (at Septemvri Sofia until 30 June 2026)
25DFFRASadio Dembélé (at Lokomotiv Sofia until 30 June 2026)
26MFBRALuann Augusto (at Lokomotiv Sofia until 30 June 2026)
40DFGHAChristopher Acheampong (at Montana until 30 June 2026)
—FWBULBoris Dimitrov (at Montana until 30 June 2026)

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.

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RankNameCareerAppearancesRankNameCareerGoals
1Georgi Rusev2020–20232025–present139
2Daniel Naumov2019–2024137
3Ivaylo Chochev2020–2024104
4Mario Topuzov2020–202595
5Radoslav Kirilov2022–202594
6Andon Gushterov2017–202093
7Emil Tsenov2023–202590
8Reyan Daskalov2022–202587
9Denislav Aleksandrov2019–202385
10Angel Bastunov2020–202383
1Andon Gushterov2017–202072
2Ivaylo Chochev2020–202448
3Georgi Rusev2020–20232025–present25
4Denislav Aleksandrov2019–202319
5Galin Ivanov2020–202218
6Pedrinho2023–202417
7Yevheniy Serdyuk2022–202515
8Mamadou Diallo2025–present13
—Vasil Shopov2019–2021202213
—Emil Gargorov2017–201813
—Radoslav Kirilov2022–202513
RankNameCareerAppearancesRankNameCareerGoals
1Georgi Rusev2020–20232025–present127
2Daniel Naumov2019–2024106
3Ivaylo Chochev2020–202494
4Mario Topuzov2020–202590
5Radoslav Kirilov2022–202584
6Reyan Daskalov2022–202581
7Birsent Karagaren2023–202579
8Angel Bastunov2020–202376
9Emil Tsenov2023–202575
10Simeon Petrov2020–202471
—Steve Furtado2022–202571
1Ivaylo Chochev2020–202443
2Georgi Rusev2020–20232025–present23
3Galin Ivanov2020–202218
4Yevheniy Serdyuk2022–202512
—Pedrinho2023–202412
6Mamadou Diallo2025–present11
7Aleksandar Kolev2022–202310
8Martin Kamburov2018–20219
—Thalis2023–present9
–Birsent Karagaren2023–20259
—Radoslav Kirilov2022–20259
  • Players in bold are still playing for FC CSKA 1948.

Had international caps for their respective countries, or held any club record. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries.

Column 1Column 2
Ivo StanislavovOperations director
Kiril EmilovSports Director
Aleksandar AleksandrovHead coach
Petko VasilevAssistant coach
Plamen ZdravkovAssistant coach
Deyan KostadinovGoalkeeping coach
Aleksandar KostadinovAnalyzer
Spas NikolayevScout
Ivan AtanasovScout
Ivan GeorgievFitness coach
Panayot MilenkovFitness coach
Hristo DeyanovPhysiotherapist
Nikolay PredragovPhysiotherapist
Ilian RadomirovMasseur
Ivaylo IlievPsychologist
Tsvetan YordanovAdministrator
Dushko StefanovAdministrator
Lyubomir LyupchovU19 coach
Ivan SvetoslavovU17 coach
Emil PetkovU15 coach
Rumen KirilovU11 coach
NameNatFromToHonours
Adalbert Zafirov1 July 20161 September 2016
Valentin Iliev2 September 201621 June 201899991 Fourth League title 1 Third League title
Petko Petkov1 July 201821 October 2019
Yordan Yurukov21 October 20196 June 20201 Second League title
Krasimir Balakov6 June 202023 March 2021
Rosen Kirilov (interim)23 March 202124 April 2021
Todor Kiselichkov25 April 202126 July 2021
Miroslav Mindev27 July 202130 August 2021
Nikolay Kirov3 September 202120 May 2022
Lyuboslav Penev28 May 20229 December 2022
Todor Yanchev13 December 202225 May 2023
Atanas Ribarski25 May 202315 August 2023
Nikolay Panayotov15 August 20235 April 2024
Valentin Iliev5 April 202430 October 2024
Ivan Ivanov30 October 202419 February 2025
Borislav Kyosev19 February 20254 April 2025
Aleksandar Aleksandrov4 April 202529 April 2025
Ivan Stoyanov29 April 202512 February 2026
Aleksandar Aleksandrov12 February 2026

As of match played 8 August 2024

CompetitionPlayedWonDrewLostGFGAGDWin%
UEFA Europa Conference League6213610−4033.33
6213610−4033.33
SeasonCompetitionRoundClubHomeAwayAggregate
2023–24UEFA Conference League2QFCSB0–12–32–4
2024–25UEFA Conference League2QBudućnost Podgorica1–01–1 (a.e.t.)2–1
3QPafos2–10–4 (a.e.t.)2–5
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