PFC Ludogorets Razgrad: From obscurity to fame in just four years

The newest addition to the Champions League family, PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, a Bulgarian football club who held a close contested 2-1 match away from home with five-time Champions Liverpool this Tuesday is a club you would want to keep your eyes on.Ludogorets became the second club from Bulgaria to reach the group stage of the tournament, and have been drafted into Group B, a group consisting current Champions Real Madrid, Liverpool and Swiss club Basel.In this slideshow, we talk about five things that you should know about Ludogorets:

#1 A bit about Ludogorets\' history

Ludogorets players celebrate their first Bulgarian Cup triumph.

PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, a new kid in the block in terms of football history, is a club based in the north-eastern city of Razgrad, a town with a population said to be around 32,500. Found originally in the year 2001, three years after Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard made his debut for the Reds, Ludogorets were playing in the amateur league till 2010 before their fate took a new turn, and the club was bought by businessman Kiril Domuschiev.

Domuschiev is one of the most influential personalities in Bulgaria, and boasts of having a fortune said to be around £400million. His takeover of the club soon started boring fruits, and the club was successful in winning promotion to the first division for the first time in their history.

The club’s history prior to their Champions League qualification is rather a brief one, with them having acquired to own the licence of being Razgrad’s first football club. Their late entry to the first division was due to their low budget which prohibited them from top flight football, a problem that was solved upon Domuschiev’s takeover of the club.

The club is said to be running on an annual budget of £4million.

#2 Road to Champions League

Ludogorets' players celebrate at the end of their Europa League tie against SS Lazio earlier this year.

Prior to Ludogorets, only one Bulgarian side hadreached the Champions League group stage, which wasPFC Levski Sofia back in 2006. With the financial aid provided bynew owner Kiril Domuschiev during the 2010/11 campaign, the club saw the addition of new quality players. Add the happiness of being promoted to the first division of the Bulgarian leaguewhich was a major morale boost for the club and players since they hadnt dreamt of such highs a year ago.

Followed by a league winning season in 2012, Ludogorets entered the second qualifying round of the Champions League, making their entry to the tournament. However, they were beaten 3-4 on aggregate by Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, ending their short-lived debut of a season in the tournament. The nextseason, following yet another league victory,Ludogorets made their way into the Europa League following defeat to Basel in the play-offs.

Drafted into Group B of the 2013-14 Europa League season,Ludogorets were unbeaten throughout the group stage, including wins against PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb both home and away. They made their way onto the knockout stage of the tournament where they would go onto defeat Lazio 4-3 on aggregate.

Ludogorets campaign in the tournament however came to a halt after suffering defeats over two legs against Valencia.

#3 Cosmin Moti - the Razigard hero

Ludogorets’ central defender Cosmin Moti had to step in as a goalkeeper after their keeper was sent off late in the game.

It was Ludogorets Razgrad central defender Cosmin Moti whose effort pushed the Bulgarian club to the group stage of the Champions League after emerging as their hero during their second play-off game against Steaua Bucharest by saving two penalties.

Formally a defender, Moti was forced to put on the gloves after Ludogorets goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off in the 118^th minute of the game, and since they had already used up all of their three substitutes, Moti was their only alternative. And, what an alternative he turned out to be!

"When I got back to the locker room after the game, I had about 60 text messages and 40 missed calls," Moti told BBC Sport. "Everybody wanted to congratulate me. That was when I realised I had done something special. The day after the game I set off for the national team and I didn't get back to my team-mates and coaches until last Wednesday. Everyone wanted to talk about my penalty saves and joke about me going in goal again. But as I said at the time, everyone at the club is a hero."

Moti, a former captain of Steaua Bucharest’s arch rival Dinamo Bucharest, has been promised by owner Domuschiev that the team’s new ground will be named after him after he was given a life long contract by the club.

#4 Club owner is known to be impatient with his managers

Ludogorets has been managed by three managers since 2010.

Despite tasting success in a pace that very few teams do, Ludogorets owner Kiril Domuschiev has not been very patient with his managers. After being appointed as the head coach of Ludogorets in 2010, Ivaylo Petev led the team as they were promoted to the first division for the first time in their history.

However, following a 1-0 defeat to Lyubimets 2007, Petev was then replaced by Stoycho Stoev who managed the team through their 2013-14 Europa League campaign. Eventually, he would go on to be replaced by his assistant, Georgi Dermendzhiev who took over the club’s management in July earlier this year.

A team who are known to be very possessive of their players, it somewhat comes off as a surprise that the owner is unaffected by the constant change of power inside the dressing room.

#5 Will their fate be similar to that of Unirea Urziceni\'s?

Unirea Urziceni: from Champions League football to being dissolved in two years.

Although this might seem more like an offbeat comparison, but the situation that former Romanian club Unirea Urziceni had to go through is a fate that any new club would want to avoid.

From being the smallest team to participate in the Champions League to subsequently become a non-exist name, Unirea Urziceni have come a long way down. After winning promotion to the domestic league for the first time in 2007, Urziceni earned qualification to the Champions League the 2009/10 season. Despite beating Rangers and Sevilla, Urziceni finished third in the group. They would go on to qualify for the Champions League yet again in the following season.

However, it wasn’t long until the club started to decline, with owner Dumitru Bucsaru selling many of the key players during the first half of the championship. The club later decided not to solicit for the license to play further, leading to their dissolvement in 2011.

What the future holds for Ludogorets Razgrad is something that time will tell, but given that they have emerged from being an amateur club to soon be a team facing Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in just four years, we sure hope they continue to live this fairy tale.