We are in third place in terms of number of games played in Europe. Before us are only “Slovan” (Bratislava) and a Romanian team (FKSB – b.r.).
This was stated by the coach of “Ludogorets” Igor Jovicevich before the decisive match against “AZ Alkmaar” in the Conference League. The match is today at 19:45 in Razgrad, and if the players of the 13-time champions of Bulgaria do not win, they will 100% say goodbye to their theoretical chances of reaching the playoffs in the third strongest UEFA tournament.
Jovičević is absolutely right in what he said. The team led by him has played a total of 32 matches in our country and in Europe so far this season. And until the end of the calendar year, or until the halving of the campaign, there are 3 more for his team – the one in question against “AZ Alkmaar”, against CSKA 1948 for the cup, as well as to face “Botev” (South) in a postponed meeting from t .name born elite.
Thus, the matches from July to December for the 13-time champions become 35 (19 in the First League, 2 for the cup, 14 in Europe). “Slovan” (Bratislava) will also play as many. And only two teams from Europe will appear on the field more times than the native hegemon and the Slovak team – the Romanian FCSB (39 matches) and TNS from Wales (41).
It turns out that for “Ludogorets” it is nothing new to play 35 matches within 6 months. In the previous 3 years, players from Razgrad reached the same quota of matches from summer to winter. And the many matches do not prevent the dominator in our country from trampling everything in the First League.
The team from Razgrad has two equal elevens. And the rotations of the coaches have no effect whatsoever. The hegemon even has the luxury of leaving out of the European club tournaments footballers such as Todor Nedelev and Spas Delev, until recently the national team of Bulgaria.
During the last campaign, “Ludogorets” ended the year again with 19 meetings of the so-called born elite, as now.
The matches for the cup – both then and now – are 2 each. And the European matches are again the same number – 14. Thus, in total, the players of the champion in our country have again played 35 matches from the beginning of the season to the end of the 2023 calendar year.
A year earlier, the people of Razgrad played 1 game less than this year’s number in the First League – 18. As a regular participant in Europe, “Ludogorets” again played the full maximum of matches in the tournaments of the European club headquarters.
8 of the meetings are in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League, where the people of Razgrad are eliminated in the playoffs by “Dynamo” (Zagreb). After that, the hegemon goes to the Europa League, where it plays 6 more matches. There are 2 cup matches in this half-season as well.
Thus, the number becomes 34. But… “Ludogorets” is the last team that played a match for the Super Cup of Bulgaria, which was held according to the old scheme, or in other words, in the summer. On September 1, 2022 “Ludogorets” goes against the cup winner “Levski” and wins after penalties. And so it turns out that the people of Razgrad played 35 matches 2 years ago as well.
In 2021 the number of matches of the hegemon is the same as a year later – 18 in the so-called born elite, 14 in European club tournaments, 2 for the cup and 1 for the country’s super cup, when they ran over CSKA 4:0.
Against “AZ Alkmaar” today, “Ludogorets” is chasing a must win in order to have a real chance to attack the top 24 in the remaining matches with “Midtland” and “Lyon”.