Plovdiv Bulgaria with the Trakia motorway (A1) only to the north. It lies on the important national route from Sofia to Burgas via Stara Zagora. First-class roads lead to Sofia to the west, Karlovo to the north, Asenovgrad, Kardzhali to the south, and Stara Zagora and Haskovo to the east. There are intercity buses which link Plovdiv with cities and towns all over the country and many European countries. They are based in three bus stations: South, Rodopi, and North. Railway transport in the city dates back to 1872 when it became a station on the Lyubimets–Belovo railway line. There are
FC Maritsa Plovdiv which flows past Plovdiv. The club is particularly famous for its renowned youth program that has produced many Bulgarian talents over the years – Hristo Stoichkov, Dinko Dermendzhiev, Aleksandar Aleksandrov. Bulgarian national first-team players Georgi Georgiev, Kostadin Vidolov, Krassimir Chomakov, Valeri Domovchiyski, Yordan Todorov, Asen Nikolov had also came through the ranks at Maritsa. In 2016–17 Third League season Maritsa Plovdiv finished second in their regional division, but gained promotion, because the first ranked team – FC Zagorets declined the offer to participate in the Second Professional League. On 16 June 2017 the club signed a contract with Botev Plovdiv