FC Rilski Sportist Samokov

Rilski Sportist

Full name	FC Rilski Sportist 2011 Samokov
Nickname(s)	The Skiers
Founded	1947 (1947)
Ground	Iskar
Capacity	7 000
Chairman	Dimitar Dzhorgov
Head coach	Plamen Krumov
League	South-West Third League
2024–25	South-West Third League, 4th
Home colours Away colours

FC Rilski Sportist (ФК Рилски спортист Самоков) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Samokov founded in 1947 and currently playing in the South-West Third League. Their home stadium is Iskar Stadium.

Throughout the majority of its history, Rilski Sportist has competed in the lower levels of Bulgarian football, usually the second, or third tiers. In 2002, however, the team managed to promote to the A Group for the first time. Their inexperience led to an immediate relegation. Three years later, Rilski Sportist returned to the A Group, only to be relegated again. Since then, the club has been competing mostly in the amateur levels of Bulgarian football.

The club's nickname is the ‘Skiers’, which originates from the fact that the town of Samokov and nearby Borovets are major resorts for winter sports in Bulgaria.

PFC Rilski Sportist was founded in 1947 after the union of a few smaller teams from Samokov. Throughout much of its history, the team competed in the second or third tiers of Bulgarian football.

In 2002, Sportist achieved its first ever promotion to the Bulgarian elite, then known as A Group, for the 2002–03 season. As expected from a newcomer, Rilski Sportist found it difficult to survive. The team managed to win only one game and finished last, thus being relegated, after just one year among the best.

Three seasons later, the team won the 2005–06 B Group, which enabled them to play in the A PFG for a second time. In their second top-flight season, they won 10 games and earned 30 points. They were the only team to win against Levski in the league in that season. However, they were still 3 points behind 13th placed Spartak Varna, meaning that they were relegated again. The two top flight seasons remain their most important achievement overall. Since then, the team has shifted between the second and third tiers of Bulgarian football.

In the second division "The Skiers" have 23 participations – 664 matches in total, with 269 wins, 139 draws and 253 losses. Their best result in the Bulgarian Cup has been reaching the quarter-finals in 1950/51 and 2001/02.

"Rilski Sportist" means "Rila sportsman" in Bulgarian.

• 
  1947–1960
• 
  1978–1990
• 
  1990–present

A Group (now First League):

• Fourteenth place (2): 2002–03, 2006–07

B Group (now Second League):

• Winners (2): 2001–02, 2005–06

A Regional – Sofia:

• Winners (2): 2010–11, 2013–14

Bulgarian Cup:

• Quarter-final (2): 1951, 2001–02

As of 11 August 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  BUL Denis Zashev 4 DF  BUL Pavel Todorov 6 MF  BUL Georgi Madzharov 7 MF  BUL Kaloyan Dokovski 8 MF  BUL Radoslav Mutafov 9 FW  BUL Toma Ushagelov 10 MF  BUL Krasimir Panchev 11 FW  BUL Martin Krastev 12 GK  BUL Dragomir Petkov 13 DF  BUL Galin Minkov 15 DF  BUL Atanas Aleksandrov 16 MF  BUL Simeon Mechev

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  BUL Emre Dryanov 18 DF  BUL Iliya Milanov 19 MF  BUL Georgi Miloshev 20 MF  BUL Filip Angelov 21 DF  BUL Kristiyan Beshev 22 MF  BUL Kristiyan Kochilov 23 MF  BUL Emil Gargorov 26 GK  BUL Aleksey Andreev 44 DF  BUL Viktor Genev 45 FW  BUL Grigor Dolapchiev 91 FW  BUL Ventsislav Hristov 99 FW  BUL Georgi Bozhilov

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

Results of league and cup competitions by season

Season	League											Bulgarian Cup	Other competitions		Top goalscorer
	Division	Level	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Pos
2010–11	A Regional Sofia	4	18	17	1	0	86	6	+80	52	1st ↑	DNQ	Cup of AFL	R1
2011–12	V Group	3	36	21	5	10	66	29	+37	68	3rd	DNQ
2012–13		3	30	6	4	20	28	71	–43	22	15th ↓	DNQ
2013–14	A Regional Sofia	4	20	20	0	0	94	12	+82	60	1st ↑	DNQ
2014–15	V Group	3	30	7	6	17	26	46	–20	27	14th	DNQ
2015–16		3	32	10	5	17	41	43	–2	35	11th	DNQ	Cup of AFL	GS
2016–17	Third League	3	34	12	7	15	53	61	–8	43	9th	DNQ		QF
2017–18		3	34	10	6	18	40	51	–11	36	15th	DNQ		R1
2018–19		3	34	13	10	11	47	42	+5	49	8th	DNQ		R1
2019–20		3	18	2	5	11	13	33	–20	11	16th	DNQ		QF
2020–21		3	34	9	7	18	30	45	–15	34	13th	DNQ		R1
2021–22		3	38	14	6	18	56	64	–8	48	10th	DNQ		DNQ	Petko Petkov	22
2022–23		3	22	11	3	8	37	31	+6	36	15th	DNQ		QF	Radoslav Vasilev	12
2023–24		3	38	16	4	18	58	61	–3	52	7th	DNQ		R1	Krasimir Panchev	11
2024–25		3	36	18	8	10	68	51	+17	62	4th	Preliminary round		QF	Grigor Dolapchiev	22
2025–26		3										TBA

Iskar stadium is situated in the southwestern part of Samokov near the biggest park of the city – "Gradski". Built in 1972, the stadium has around 7 000 seating places, most of which are covered. The field measures 105x68 meters. The best attendance was on 31.8.2002 in the match with PFC Levski Sofia – 6 800 spectators.

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