About our club

History

Sports Club “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” was founded in 2004 as a successor of the most successful railway workers’ water polo club – “Lokomotiv” (Sofia). The club bears the name of the founder of water polo in the “Lokomotiv” sports club – the honored coach Nikola Nanov. Until 1990, he trained 70% of Bulgaria’s national athletes in this masculine sport, which is why he was nominated for coach of the 20th century.

Today, the work of the famous Bulgarian coach is continued by his son – the master of sports Vasil Nanov, who founded the club with the ambition to develop water polo in all age groups. A year later, Georgi Gadzhev began working at the club.

Vasil Nanov and Georgi Gadzhev formed a strong coaching tandem, which in just a few years turned the club into the best place for training children and adolescents in the sport of water polo.

Gradually, the club established itself as the place where the most talented young water polo players were discovered and developed. The school of “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” became the leading one for Bulgarian water polo. Thanks mainly to players from the club, who are the backbone of the national junior teams, the state teams, led by Nanov and Gadzhev, qualified twice in a row for the finals of the European Championships in Stuttgart (2009) and Rijeka (2011), successfully overcoming difficult qualifications. This happened for the first time in the domestic water polo after a 20-year break.

In 2023, the Bulgarian women’s national water polo team qualified for the first time in its history at the European Championship. Players from the “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” school once again played a key role in this. After years of effort, the girls helped overcome the qualifying group with their victory over Malta under the leadership of Vasil Nanov as the head coach of the national team.

The club’s president and sports director, Vasil Nanov, was born in 1959 in Sofia. His father, Nikola Nanov, was the founder of water polo at Lokomotiv. He began his sports career as a swimmer at Levski. Since 1971, he has played water polo at Lokomotiv, where he became a multiple junior champion.

He won the Bulgarian title in 1991 with the men’s team of “Slavia”, as well as the cup in 1979, also for men, but with “Lokomotiv”. He also has two bronze medals for men. Since 1981 he has played for CSKA, where until 1987 he became champion and winner of the cup in all consecutive years. Then he played for the Italian “Lazio”, “Roma” (4 years) and the French “Montpellier” (2 years). In 1987 with “Lazio” he became the top scorer of Serie B in Italy and won promotion to Serie A. From 1976 to 1991 he played for the men’s national team of Bulgaria, in which he has over 400 matches. Participant of the Olympic Games “Moscow 1980”. Eighth at the Berlin 1978 World Championship, eighth at the World Cups – “Yugoslavia 1979” and “Long Beach 1981”. Participant in nine consecutive European Championships from 1977 to 1991 – eighth at “Strasbourg 1997”. Coach of the men’s national team from 1994 to 1998. Under his leadership, the team played at two European Championships – “Vienna 1995” (8th place) and “Seville 1997” (12th place). Coach of the junior national team in tandem with Georgi Gadzhev from 2005 to 2011 – the team qualified for two European Championships (“Stuttgart 2009” and “Rijeka 2011”).

He established SKVT “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” in 2004, after which the club gradually established itself as the most vibrant children’s and youth school in water polo. In the last two years, the club’s men’s team finished second in the state championship.

Show all Hide

The head coach of the club, Georgi Gadzhev, was born in 1952 in Sofia. He started playing water polo in “Spartak” (Sofia). At the age of 18, he moved to “Slavia”, where he competed for 19 seasons until he turned 37. After that, he was a player for another 2 years in the amateur team of “Bankya”. He has over 400 matches in the national team of Bulgaria, a master of sports.

Long-time captain of the national men’s team, with whom he played in two world championships (Belgrade 1973 and Cali 1975), one World Cup (Yugoslavia 1979) and two European championships (Sweden 1977 and West Berlin 1978).

After ending his competitive career, Gadzhev moved to work at the Slavia Sports Club and the School of High Sportsmanship (SHVSM) at the State Sports Council. He was chief of staff and head of the SHVSM “Gen. Blagoy Ivanov”. At the Slavia Sports Club, he was successively chief methodologist and deputy chairman, and until 1997 he was chairman of the United Sports Club “Slavia”. Under his leadership at the club, in one year (1996) the “whites” were champions in basketball, volleyball, water polo and ice hockey, and the same season the team of PFC “Slavia – 1913” AD also won the title. Also in 1996, Slavia recorded its most successful participation in the Olympic Games, as in Atlanta the club won two titles (Valentin Yordanov – wrestling and Daniel Metrov – boxing), as well as silver (Serafim Todorov – boxing and bronze (Nikolai Peshalov – weightlifting).

After the closure of GUSV, he was engaged in private business.

In 2005, he actively participated with his friend and teammate in the national team Vasil Nanov in the creation and formation of the children’s teams of the newly established club “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov”. The two teams, which he led since childhood, are unchanging champions in the state championships of Bulgaria. Some of the club’s juniors are already playing successfully in the men’s team of “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov”.

Show all Hide

Coaches

Even today, the “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” club is a true flagship of Bulgarian water polo and a place where water polo is developing properly thanks to the hard work of its coaches.

Vasil Nanov

Head coach

+359898536268

Andrei Sushkov

Head coach

+359888991204

Yordan Mitov

Coach beginners

+359889890252

The “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” club offers year-round water polo training and individual and group swimming lessons for all age groups. The coaches are specialized in working with children and adolescents. The biggest advantage of the club is that the efforts of the coaching staff are aimed not only at forming certain sports qualities and skills, but also at building people with characters – ambitious, persistent, strong-willed, hardworking and honest.

“Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” has teams in all ages of water polo – children, boys, junior adolescents, senior adolescents, men, girls and women.

The base of the “Lokomotiv Nikola Nanov” sports club is located in the completely renovated indoor swimming pool “Diana” – one of the most modern water facilities in Bulgaria. Here, the participants in the training have a 50-meter pool, a gym, a steam bath, a sauna, a jacuzzi, etc.

Our achievements

Achievements

0

Second places

0

First places

0

Third places

Year (no. of prizes)
2005 (1)

Champions U15

First championship title since the club's founding

2006 (1)

Champions U13

1st place in the U13 age group championship

2007 (3)

Three championship titles

1st places in the state championship for ages U13, U15, U17

2008 (3)

Champions in two ages

1st places in U15 and U17. 3rd place in U13. Three sets of medals for the year, in total.

2009 (4)

U13 and U15 Champions

In total of four prize places during the year, along with the two 2nd places in U17 and U19

2010 (4)

U17 and U19 Champions

2nd place in U13 and U15, repeating last year's achievement.

2011 (6)

Champions U15, U17, U19

3rd place in U13, 2nd place in Men. First prize place for the Bulgarian Cup - 2nd place.

2012 (3)

U17 and U19 Champions

2nd place in Men

2013 (5)

Five championship titles

1st places in U13, U17, U19, Men, as well as the first Bulgarian Cup won

2014 (5)

Three championship titles

1st place in U15, U19, Bulgarian Cup. 3rd place in Men. First prize for the girls - 3rd place in the State Championship U17 Women

2015 (6)

Three championship titles

1st place in U15, U17, U19. 2nd place in Men, 2nd place in Bulgarian Cup Women, 3rd place U17 Women in State Championship

2016 (6)

Two championship titles

1st place in U19 Men and Bulgarian Cup. 2nd place in U17 Men, 3rd place in Men. 3rd place in U17 Women and 2nd place in Women.

2017 (7)

Two titles - a record seven awards

Championship titles in U19 Men and Men. 3rd places in U17 Men and Bulgarian Cup Men. Three prize 2nd places for women - in U17 Women, Women and Bulgarian Cup Women.

2018 (6)

Three championship titles

Titles in U19 Men (9th consecutive championship title for the age group), Men and Bulgarian Cup Men. 3rd place in U17 Women. 2nd places for Women and Bulgarian Cup Women.

2019 (6)

Men's Champions

2nd place in U19 Men, 3rd place in U11 Cup. Three 2nd places in women - U17 Women, Women and Bulgarian Women Cup

2020 (4)

First two titles for the Women

Championship titles in U17 Women and Women. 2nd place in the Bulgarian Women's Cup. 3rd place in the Men's

2021 (3)

Champions Women

2nd place in U17 Women and Bulgarian Women's Cup

2022 (2)

Two championship titles

Women's title and first Bulgarian Women's Cup won

2023 (2)

Women's double title

1st places for Women in the State Championship and Bulgarian Cup

2024 (2)

Another women's double title

1st places for Women in the State Championship and the Bulgarian Cup. The U19 Men age group is officially removed.

2025 (?)

Upcoming Women's Title Defense

Ages U13, U15, U17 change to U14, U16, U18

Copyright © 2025 СКВТ Локомотив Н.Нанов Inspiro Theme by WPZOOM

Ƌ.О.К.А. | 2025