Bulgaria kept two cup tournaments and although the Soviet Army Cup was no longer important, it was still featured as the prime one. The Cup of Bulgaria had unsettled format, changing every year – this time it ended with ‘final table’ of 16 teams. There was no meaning to that.
The final of the Soviet Army opposed Levski-Spartak to Dorostol (Silistra). Dorostol, a second division team struggling to keep its place there, was not much of a challenge for the bright squad from the capital – Levski easily won 4-0.
Dorostol (Silistra) – expected to lose the final of no longer important competition, but all depends on standpoint: for Dorostol reaching the final was their highest all-time achievement and matter of big pride. They tried there best, even more – they hired leading coach to prepare them for the final, Petar Argirov, but he was unable to improve the modest squad. Nevertheless, this was the greatest historic moment for Dorostol. Standing from left: Vassil Simeonov – coach, Iliya Kachakov, Dimitar Zhelyazkov, Seyfy Bilyalov, Ivan Valchev, Ivan Tzonev, Kolyu Kolev, Toncho Georgiev, Marin Atanassov, Simeon Kolev – assistant coach.
Crouching: Elshan Mustafov, Grigor Genov, Ivan Stefanov, Rangel Portev, Veliko Yordanov, Alyosha Bayraktarov, Bozhidar Bachvarov, Angel Apostolov, Marin Tzvetkov.
15th Soviet Army Cup for Levski-Spartak – they won this trophy more than anybody else, but now it was only a matter of numbers, for the tournament was no longer the Cup of the country. Standing from left: Vassil Metodiev – coach, Nasko Sirakov, Emil Velev, Borislav Milhailov, Petar Petrov, Mikhail Valchev, Vlado Delchev, Plamen Tzvetkov, Grigor Grigorov, Stoyan Kitov – assistant coach.
First row: Petar Kurdov, Bozhidar Iskrenov, Emil Spassov, Plamen Nikolov, Roussy Gochev, Krassimir Kolev, Krassimir Chavdarov.
Much more was at stake in the final of the other cup – Levski reached it, looking for another trophy. Trakia (Plovdiv) was the other finalist – there was no love between them and Levski, so their motivation was strong. Of course, they wanted to win, especially when having rather weak championship. But Levski prevailed 1-0.
Trakia tried and failed, but it was not all that bad after all – they got the Bulgarian Cup Winners Cup spot as a losing finalist. Sitting in front from left: M. Bakalov, R. Yurukov, A. Pashev, L. Vassev – masseur, K. Kostadinov, V. Simov, K. Tanev.
Middle row: Zh. Machkansky, S. Khorozov, T. Pachev, B. Blangev, A. Pekhlivanov, D. Mladenov.
Standing: D. Dermendzhiev – coach, Tz. Dermendzhiev, D. Vichev, Z. Nikolov (a player of frequently changing name – later Ivanov and finally Rakov), P. Zekhtinsky, A. Marinov, A. Nikolov, T. Arssov, I. Stoynov, I. Glukhchev – assistant coach.
One more cup for Levski. First row from left: Stoyan Georgiev, Krassimir Chavdarov, Emil Velev, Nikolay Iliev, Emil Spassov, Plamen Tzvetkov, Plamen Nikolov – captain, Petar Kurdov, Bozhidar Iskrenov, Krassimir Kolev, Vlado Delchev.
Standing: Vassil Metodiev – coach, Nasko Sirakov, Khristo Denchev, Vesselin Balevsky, Mikhail Valchev, Krastyo Chakarov – chairman of the club, Petar Petrov, Grigor Grigorov, Roussy Gochev, Stoyan Kitov – assistant coach.
Triple winners – this was memorable season, for winning every trophy does not happen everyday. This was excellent vintage of players, coached by arguably the best Bulgarian coach at that time, Vassil Metodiev. Everything clicked just right and for many this is the strongest squad Levsky had ever. But most important for the fans was the fact that the bright young players were homegrown Iskrenov, Mikhailov, Sirakov, Velev, Iliev, Koev, Georgiev, Asparoukhov played together since childhood, moving from one age formation to another until reaching to first team. That was, to the fans, Levsky going back to its roots – depending on its own juniors, on players deeply attached to the club, kids, who were both players and fans, ‘true blue’. That was what made Levsky strong in the past, that was the tradition and the pride. And it was sweet to have controversial Metodiev coaching the talented and wild bunch: since Levsky fans were generally anti-Communist, having the coach, who the system disliked was just wonderful. His coaching abilities were great as well – he quickly find the way to shape the youngsters into winners and had strong rapport with quite an unruly gang. This was a squad to stay and shape Bulgarian football in the coming years, that was sure. One more look at them – sitting form left: Chr. Denchev, E. Spassov, L. Kolev, R. Gochev, Pl. Nikolov, Kr. Koev.
Middle row: V. Metodiev – coach, N. Sirakov, Kr. Chavdarov, P. Kurdov, N. Iliev, V. Balevsky, P. Petrov, A. Asparoukhov, St. Kitov – assistant coach.
Top row: Zh. Fillipov – doctor, V. Delchev, B. Iskrenov, M. Valchev, E. Velev, G. Grigorov, Pl. Tzvetkov, B. Mikhailov, S. Sofroniev – masseur.