team had brought a lot of talented Brazilian players, including Marcelo Vava, Dianu, Marquinos, and Eduardo Du Bala. In 2005, the team hired Macedonian coach Stevica Kuzmanovski, under whose guidance Belasitsa achieved its best ever result in the Bulgarian league, finishing in 6th place. Next season 2006-07, Belasitsa also performed strongly, finishing in 8th place. However, after that season, a general decline started, as the team finished in 13th place during the 2007-08 season, saving themselves from relegation in the last round. Unfortunately for Belasitsa, they finished last during the 2008-09 season, thus being relegated. Financial problems and relegations to lower leagues After they were relegated to the B Group in 2009, it was discovered that the team was in serious financial and administrative irregularities, and their future was very unclear. Belasitsa could not register enough players for the 2009–10 B Group, so they were disqualified before the season started. They were administratively relegated to the V AFG for that season. In 2012, further economic problems began and the team was in danger from ceasing its operations. However, the team is eventually saved, with the financial support coming from the Municipality of Petrich. Belasitsa was further relegated to the fourth tier of Bulgarian football, the regional amateur league for the 2012-13 season. They achieved first place and were promoted back to the V AFG. In the next few seasons, the club managed to rebuild their first team and returned to their original stadium, after it had license issues. In seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22, the team had largely fought for promotion to the Second League, but Belasitsa narrowly missed the first spot by a few points on both occasions. Belasitsa had a very strong 2021-22 season, finishing in first place in the Southwest Third League and clinching promotion to the Second League after several seasons in the lower leagues. Honours Bulgarian First League: 6th place 2005–06 Bulgarian Cup: Semi-finals (1): 1981 Previous names 1923 FC Manush Voivoda 1928 FC Lubomir Vesov 1931 FC Macedonia 1946 FC Ilinden 1948 FC Spartak League positions Current squad For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2022. Statistics Most league appearances for Belasitsa Petrich in A PFG 1. Dimitar Karadaliev – 108 2. Lozan Trenchev – 105 3. Yordan Popov – 101 4. Valeri Stoyanov – 93 5. Aleksandar Vukov – 86 Season record goals for Belasitsa Petrich 1. Kostadin Kabranov – 22 2. Dimitar Karadaliev –