Stara Zagora

Stara Zagora is a city in south-central Bulgaria, in the Upper Thracian Plain, some 231 kilometres from Sofia, and the capital of the province of the same name. With around 122,000 inhabitants, it has a very long history: in 1968 Neolithic dwellings from the mid-6th millennium BC were discovered there, now turned into a museum, and the ancient Beroe was renamed Ulpia Augusta Traiana by the Romans. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 the city was burned and razed, and it was later rebuilt. In sport, its leading club is Beroe Stara Zagora, founded in 1916, which plays at the Beroe stadium and has won the Bulgarian Cup twice, in 2009-10 and 2012-13. Stara Zagora was recognised by ACES Europe as European City of Sport 2017, a title that places it within the Bulgarian representation in the ACES network.