FK CSKA 1948FC CSKA 1948 Sofia is a Bulgarian football club founded on 19 July 2016 at a meeting of former CSKA Sofia players, officials and supporters held at the Central Military Club in Sofia. The club was established in direct response to the reorganisation of PFC CSKA Sofia that same year, when the historic army club's professional licence was effectively transferred to a former provincial side, PFC Litex Lovech. Rejecting that process, the founders of CSKA 1948 set out to rebuild the CSKA tradition from the very bottom of the Bulgarian football pyramid rather than inherit any existing licence.
The club's early rise was rapid. Starting out in the regional amateur leagues in the 2016–17 season – and playing some of its first fixtures at the Vasil Levski National Stadium for want of a ground of its own – CSKA 1948 won its group and secured promotion to the Third League in 2017. Further promotions followed in the following seasons, and by 2020–21 the club had reached the First League, completing three promotions in four seasons, a rare achievement in Bulgarian football.
Since establishing itself in the top flight, CSKA 1948 has developed into one of the country's more competitive sides. In the 2022–23 season the club finished third in the First League, earning its first qualification for a UEFA club competition, and later reached the final of the Bulgarian Cup for the first time in its short history. For several years the club also pursued a policy of fielding largely Bulgarian-born players, a stance that resonated with supporters critical of the foreign-heavy squads fielded elsewhere in the league.
CSKA 1948 play in red and white, colours associated with the original CSKA tradition, and are commonly known to their supporters simply as Chervenite ("The Reds"). Matches against PFC CSKA Sofia, the other club claiming the CSKA legacy, are among the most closely watched fixtures in Bulgarian football, reflecting the unresolved dispute over which side represents the true continuation of the historic army club. CSKA 1948 play their home matches at the Bistritsa Stadium on the outskirts of Sofia, with larger fixtures occasionally moved to the Vasil Levski National Stadium in the capital.
