PFC Ludogorets Razgrad

Professional football club Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgarian: Професионален футболен клуб Лудогорец Разград), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad, or simply as Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian football club based in Razgrad, currently playing in the A Group, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system.

The club was founded in 2001 as Ludogorie Football Club. It adopted its current name from one of the first football clubs in the town, founded in 1945 and dissolved in 2006. In their first season in A Group, Ludogorets became only the third Bulgarian team, after CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia, to achieve a treble by winning the league, the Bulgarian Cup and the Bulgarian Supercup. Subsequently, the club also made a significant impact in the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League, where it reached the round of 16. Ludogorets are the second Bulgarian team (after Levski Sofia) to reach the group stage of the Champions League, a feat which they achieved in the following 2014–15 season. During that same season they became the first Bulgarian team to score points in the modern Champions League group stages when they defeated FC Basel 1–0 in Sofia.

Razgrad

Razgrad (Bulgarian: Разград [razˈɡrat]) is a city in northeastern Bulgaria, administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Razgrad Province.

Etymology

The suffix "grad" means city in Bulgarian, while the origin and the meaning of the first part "raz" is obscure. During the Second Bulgarian Empire, around the present city there was a settlement, mentioned by the names of Hrasgrad, Hrazgrad and Hrizgrad. The first hypothesis is, that these names come from the name of the Proto-Bulgarian and Slavic god Hors. This deity is of Proto-Iranian (Persian) descent and means sun and sun light.

It is suggested that the mentioned location Igrizinus in the medieval maps of the Arab geographer Al Idrisi (1100 - 1165) in the surroundings of Razgrad was the city itself. In his maps the names of the settlements are strongly Arabized. It may be an Arabized form of the Latin name Abrittus. Another theory suggests that it is an Arabized form of the Medieval Hrizgrad and Hrazgrad, because the transliteration kept the syllable iz. In the following periods Hrazgrad (Keresdavicha within Ivan Shishman rule) was mentioned with the names: Hezargad, Herazgrad, Hasgrad, Chetehezar, Krasgrad, Arangrad, Azargrad, Hrazgrad, Krozgrad, Hirazgrad. The word "hezar" is of Iranian (Persian) origin and means thousand (thousand tents of the army). It is possible, that the word "hezar" derives from "Hisar", which is an Arabic word for fortress. The name Hezargrad may be also the turkified form of the medieval Bulgarian Hrazgrad (Hrizgrad).

Razgrad (village)

Coordinates: 43°45′N 023°30′E / 43.750°N 23.500°E / 43.750; 23.500

Razgrad is a village in Valchedram Municipality, Montana Province, northwestern Bulgaria.

References

Razgrad Province

Coordinates: 43°30′N 26°35′E / 43.500°N 26.583°E / 43.500; 26.583

Razgrad Province (Bulgarian: Област Разград (Oblast Razgrad), former name Razgrad okrug) is a province in Northeastern Bulgaria, geographically part of the Ludogorie region. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre - the town of Razgrad. As of December 2009, the Province has a total population of 132,740 inhabitants on a territory of 2,639.7 km² that is divided into 7 municipalities.

Municipalities

The Razgrad province (oбласт, oblast) contains seven municipalities (singular: oбщина, obshtina - plural: oбщини, obshtini). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town or village (towns are shown in bold), and the population of each as of 2009.

Population

The Razgrad province had a population of 152,417 according to a 2001 census, of which 7001492000000000000♠49.2% were male and 7001508000000000000♠50.8% were female. As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 132,740 of which 7001231000000000000♠23.1% are inhabitants aged over 60 years.