[5] With the help of Mihail Mihaylov again, in February 1948, Chavdar became the departmental club of the Central House of the Troops ("Centralnia Dom na Voiskata") and took on the name of CDV.

Septemvri pri CDV eliminated Aprilov (Gabrovo) and Spartak Varna en route to the final, where it faced Levski Sofia, losing 1–2 in the first leg.

The score was 3–3 on aggregate, as Septemvri pri CDV led 2–1 near the end of regulation time, when a last-minute goal by Nako Chakmakov gave the club its first ever title.

In 1953, the club was again renamed by the authorities, this time to Otbor na Sofiyskiya Garnizon ("Team of the Sofia Garrison"), and most of the key players were illegally transferred out.

However, during the 1966–67 season, CSKA recorded its first major international achievement, reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup for the first time, where they faced Italian giants Inter.

[13] The next season, CSKA reached their second-straight European Cup semi-final, eliminating Spanish champions Real Sociedad, Glentoran and Liverpool after losing 0–1 in England and winning 2–0 at home with two goals by Stoycho Mladenov.

The first leg was held in Sofia and started with a full dominance over Bayern, as by the 16th minute, CSKA were leading 3–0 in front of 85,000 jubilant spectators who saw the European final in their dreams.

Several players were banned from participating in official matches for varying periods of time, including Hristo Stoichkov and Kostadin Yanchev from CSKA.

Plamen Markov was appointed head coach, but after a disappointing first half of the season, he was replaced by Georgi Vasilev, who had previously won three Bulgarian titles (one with Etar Veliko Tarnovo and two with Levski Sofia).

After the first two fixtures in the spring of 2000, which the club lost, Dimitar Penev was relieved as coach and in his place was appointed Georgi Dimitrov – Jacky, who was later replaced by Spas Dzhevizov.

Immediately after, two of the new arrivals, Léo Lima and Rodrigo Sousa, purchased for a total of 3 million dollars the year before, left the club on the grounds they had not received two monthly salaries.

The match was engulfed in a scandal because of three CSKA players who at the time were on loan at Lokomotiv (Stoyko Sakaliev, Aleksandar Branekov and Ivan Ivanov).

At the end of the season, the Army Men secured the title well in advance, finishing 16 points ahead of second-placed Levski and without losing a single match.

Attempts to arrange a settlement with UEFA proved unsuccessful and CSKA lost its right to compete in the Champions League in favor of runners-up Levski Sofia.

[20] The person widely blamed for the crisis was club president Aleksandar Tomov, who resigned shortly after and was arrested and charged with embezzling millions of levs from CSKA and Kremikovtzi AD.

[28] In November 2009, coach Luboslav Penev threatened to resign following a squabble with the club's management after they had reversed his decision to reprimand several players for disciplinary reasons, but decided to carry on with the job.

[35] Despite the tumultuous second half of the season, CSKA managed to finish at second place in the table, behind champions Litex, and prepared to enter the third qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League.

CSKA started 2011–12 with eight-straight league victories, but after a 1–2 defeat against Slavia Sofia and a 0–0 draw against Cherno More Varna, Radukanov was unexpectedly fired by chairman Dimitar Borisov.

In the spring, Stoycho Mladenov was again hired as head coach, and he led the club to a second-place league finish, a single point behind champions Ludogorets Razgrad after losing on the final day of the season.

However, in the middle of the autumn half of the season, CSKA achieved some significant wins, defeating Levski 1–0 in the Eternal Derby and eliminating Ludogorets Razgrad in the round of 32 of the Bulgarian Cup.

In late December 2012, head coach Stoycho Mladenov was abruptly fired by the club owners for "disciplinary" reasons, and Miodrag Ješić was appointed in his place.

During the winter transfer window, CSKA made several signings, such as Bulgarian internationals Martin Kamburov and Spas Delev, in addition to South-American players Marcinho and Ignacio Varela.

In June 2013, former FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Hristo Stoichkov was released from Litex Lovech to replace Radukanov on the bench, but the poor financial condition of the club forced him to leave shortly after his arrival without even having signed a contract.

[37] After the serious financial problems led to CSKA's withdrawal from the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League, igniting multiple fan protests, the club was ultimately declared for sale.

Goalkeeper Raïs M'Bolhi was transferred to Major League Soccer (MLS) side Philadelphia Union after an impressive performance at the 2014 FIFA World Cup; young talent Ivaylo Chochev joined Palermo; club legends Martin Petrov and Todor Yanchev retired; and the team's leading scorer, Emil Gargorov, left due to conflict with the managing board.

However, after the season resumed, CSKA lost three-straight matches without scoring a goal, prompting the resignation of head coach Stoycho Mladenov.

The club earned a place in the group stage of a European tournament for the first time in ten years after eliminating FC Basel in the playoffs of the 2020-21 Europa League.

After defeating FK Liepāja, NK Osijek, and Viktoria Plzeň in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Europa Conference League, the club reached the group stage.

[54] For the following 2022-23 season, the club was managed by serbian football legend Saša Ilić, with whom the Reds came tantalizingly close to winning the title, losing it in the final match to rivals Ludogorets by a single point after Ivan Turitsov missed a penalty in the 95th minute.

The song is written in 1999 by composer Evgeni Dimitrov and lyricist Ivaylo Valchev, authors of many of the hits of Slavi Trifonov and Ku-Ku Band.