CSKA 1948

Vitosha Stadium stands in Bistritsa, a village folded into Sofia's southern sprawl at the foot of the mountain it takes its name from. The ground holds 2,500, sometimes listed higher elsewhere, and there is no pretence about it: CSKA 1948 play there because it is theirs, not because it matches the size of the club they grew out of.

That growing-out is the story. When the old PFC CSKA Sofia went bankrupt and was reorganised as a new legal entity relocated from Lovech, a group of supporters, veterans and former players of the historic club refused to accept the move. On 19 July 2016 they founded their own side in Sofia, calling it a moral heir to CSKA's traditions rather than a legal successor. The name borrows the year of the original club's birth, 5 May 1948. Even the crest marks the distance: a red shield with a white lion, stripped of the gold stars the old CSKA carries.

The climb started at the bottom. CSKA 1948 won the A OFG Sofia in 2016/17, the Third League Southwest the following year, and the Second League in 2019/20 — three promotions inside four seasons. By 2022/23 they had finished third in the First League and reached the Bulgarian Cup final, adding a Bulgarian Super Cup final that same year. In 2025/26 they finished second in the championship. No top-flight title or Cup has followed yet, a reminder that the new club's record starts from zero, whatever debt it carries from 1948.

None of it means as much as the derby. PFC CSKA Sofia are the rival that gives the club its edge, a fixture known locally as the Battle of the Reds. The two sides first met on 7 August 2020, drawing 2-2, and every meeting since has carried the argument over who actually inherited 1948.