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PFC CSKA Sofia

Bulgarian association football club from Sofia

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ136433
Source-derived summary

PFC CSKA Sofia (Bulgarian: ПФК ЦСКА София) () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. CSKA is an abbreviation for Central Sports Club of the Army (Bulgarian: Централен Спортен Клуб на Армията).

Officially established on 5 May 1948, CSKA's roots date back to an army officers' club founded in 1923. The club has won a record 31 Bulgarian titles and 22 Bulgarian Cups. Internationally, CSKA are the only Bulgarian club to have reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, which they have done twice, and they have also reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup once.

CSKA's home colors are red and white and its home ground is the Bulgarian Army Stadium. The club's biggest rivals are Levski Sofia and matches between the two sides are known as The Eternal Derby.

History

1923–1948

In November 1923, three Sofia-based football clubs (Officers' Sports Club, Athletic Sofia, and Slava Sofia) merged to form AS-23, short for Officers' Sports Club Athletic Slava 1923, under the patronage of the Ministry of War, which provided the equipment.

In 1931, AS-23 won their first Bulgarian championship and The Tsar's Cup, followed by another Tsar's Cup in 1941. The club's stadium (completed in 1938) was named Athletic Park and was situated where the Bulgarian Army Stadium now resides.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “PFC CSKA Sofia” is bulgarian association football club from Sofia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through CSKA, Sofia and Bulgarian, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewMost valuable as an event-and-institution map that identifies actors, dates and record creators for deeper historical inquiry. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1948, 1923, 1931, 1941—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1948-05-05. For this dossier, CSKA, Sofia and Bulgarian is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “bulgarian association football club from Sofia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q136433. VIAF identifies the subject as 305257376. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 1923, 1931 and 1941.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “PFC CSKA Sofia”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow PFC CSKA Sofia primary sources, PFC CSKA Sofia archive and CSKA research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “PFC CSKA Sofia”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from PFC CSKA Sofia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.