Who are The New Saints’ Europa League opponents Ludogorets Razgrad?
After being eliminated from the Champions League, The New Saints drop into the Europa League to play Ludogorets Razgrad.
Scott Ruscoe will take his side out to Razgrad, before playing their home leg away from Park Hall.
Both sides meet in the Champions Path after being knocked out of Europe’s top tier competition.
Key Info
Re-formed in 2001 as Ludogorie, they are one of the youngest clubs in European football.
They’ve only been a top-flight team since 2011 and won the A Group title in their first season in the Bulgarian top flight.
The Bulgarian League is already three games in and they’ve won all three of their domestic fixtures, sitting proudly at the top of the Division.
Last season they finished five points ahead of CSKA Sofia, scoring 53 goals and conceding just 14.
Despite their League success, they went through four managers. Razgradian Stoycho Stoev is the man in the Ludogorets hottest now.
They’ve been champions of Bulgaria for the last eight seasons. They’ve achieved two trebles in 2012 and 2014.
The Bulgarian League is already four games in and they’ve won all four of their domestic fixtures, sitting proudly at the top of the Division.
They were in League action on Saturday, beating Beroe 4-2 away from home.
Guinea-Bissau international Jorginho was on the scoresheet twice, whilst Claudiu Keșerü continued his goalscoring habits with a brace also.
European competition
As one of the youngest clubs in Bulgarian football following their reformation in 2001, Razgrad’s European experience has all been in this decade.
The Bulgarians have been involved in both European competitions since 2012.
Last season, The Eagles were in the group stages of the competition, having qualified through the play-offs. Despite qualification, they finished bottom of a group consisting of AEK Larnaca FC, Bayer Leverkusen and Zürich.
On their way to qualification, last season they crushed NIFL Premiership side Crusaders 9-0 on aggregate.
This is the first time they’ll be coming up against Welsh opposition.
In 2016, they were in the group stages of the Champions League with Arsenal, Basel and PSG. They then dropped into the Europa League a year later, losing in the Round of 32 to Ilan.
Twice Ludogorets have two group stage appearances in the Champions League and three Europa League group stage appearances. They’ve reached the knockout of the Europa League on two occasions.
They were knocked out 5-3 on aggregate by Ferencvárosi TC but comfortably navigated past Valur.
Stadium
Ludogorets play at the aptly named Ludogorets Arena. The stadium has a capacity of 10,422, allowing them to host the game at their own ground.
It has been open since 2011, having previously been the Dyanko Stefanov Stadium.
Last year, the ground hosted the Bulgarian national team as they lost 1-0 to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Their players
Second top scorer in the Bulgarian Football League last season, Romanian striker Claudiu Keșerü scored 20 goals last season. He was by far their highest scorer, with secondary striker Jakub Świerczok in fifth in the overall league rankings on 11.
Brazilian born midfielder Marcelo Nascimento da Costa was the only other player in the scoring charts, scoring eight.
As Ludogorets alternated between goalkeepers, both Plamen Iliev and Renan dos Santos kept 17 clean sheets between them, with the Brazilian Renan keeping 10.
In European qualifying this summer Jakub Świerczok has been on target three times, whilst Anicet Abel, Georgi Terziev have both scored alongside two-goal hero against Valur Jordan Ikoko.
(Featured Image: Biser Todorov)
