Years of romantics and idealism

In the spring of 1914 the dreams of a group of Sofia secondary-school boys became reality. On 24 May they established a new sports and football club. At the suggestion of Boris Vasilev (Borkisha) the Club is named after Vasil Levski – the Apostle of Liberty. During the next months was constituted the statute of the Club. Article I thereof is reading: “On 24 May 1914 was established Sofia sports football club Levski.”
The constituent assembly selects management of the Club consisting of: Vladimir Grigoriev (Vladisa) – president, Georgi Manolov (Manoleto) – vice president, Krum Dinkov – secretary, Boris Vasilev (Borkisha) – cashier, Stefan Toshkov and Atanas Yankov – members, and Kostadin Manolov – steward. For control committee were assigned Zafir Abrashev , Krum Trayanov and Lyubomir Chavdarov . All boys selected in the club management are competitors also in the football team.
Trainings were conducted at first on ground called “The Hill” (the club establishment took place thereon) with dimensions 80х40 m. Today the park in front of the 22^nd secondary school is located there. In 1919 and 1920 the team trainings were moved to the drill ground of the VI Sofia regiment whereon the “1300 years of Bulgaria ” Monument is found today.
Not until 1924 the Capital Municipality allotted a ground for playground of the Levski Sports Club located on empty non-built up area to the right of Perlovska river upstream the Orlov Bridge. The ground then was a dung-hill. The stadium is designed by Arch. Zafir Abrashev – former player and founder of the Club. All labour thereof is gratuitous.
The colours of the Club are in red and yellow at first. The team plays until 1920 with shirts with vertical yellow and red stripes bought in Romania in 1914.
In 1921 the team changed the colours and started play with blue shirts and white or black shorts. Since then dates the nickname “the blue team”.
It is known for sure that Levski plays the first match against FK13 in the summer of 1914 on the Slavia playground. FKI13 wins 2:0. Still according to the same register the first match between Levski and Slavia was held on 01 April 1915. Slavia wins by 1:0.
The championship epic of “the blues” starts on 18 September 1921 with the match against Atletic ( Sofia ) 3:1. The match is in the frame of the first capital championship for the season 1921/22, organized by the new established Sofia Sports League (SSL) with Levski founder-member thereof. State championship is still not conducted.
The popularity of Levski starts growing during the twenties of the 20^th century. In 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1929 the team wins the capital championship but fails to cope with the republican title. During the same decade shine talants of Tsvetan Genev – The General, that is the main goalscorer of the of the team, Petar dimitrov Verter – goalkeeper, Alexander Hristov – Shkubata, the brothers Dimitar Mutafchiev and Nikola Mutafchiev.
The football players of Levski are spine of the national team yet since its foundation in 1924. The Austrian coach Leopold Nich includes nine players of “the blues” in the first international match lost from Austria by 0:6. At the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 Levski is represented by 9 players at the loss by 0:1 from Ireland .