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Bulgaria national football team

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Bulgaria National Football Team
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)The Lions (Лъвовете), The Tricolours (Трикольорите)
AssociationBulgarian Football Union
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachBulgaria Plamen Markov
CaptainDimitar Berbatov
Most capsBorislav Mikhailov (102)
Top scorerHristo Bonev (47)
Home stadiumVasil Levski National Stadium
FIFA codeBUL
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current15
Highest1 (July 1994)
Lowest58 (August 2002)
First international
 Austria 6 - 0 Bulgaria Bulgaria
(Vienna, Austria; 21 May 1924)
Biggest win
Bulgaria Bulgaria 7 - 0 Norway 
(Sofia, Bulgaria, 1957)
Bulgaria Bulgaria 7 - 0 Thailand 
(Mexico City, Mexico October, 1968
Bulgaria Bulgaria 7 - 0 Malta 
(Sofia, Bulgaria 14 October 1982)
Biggest defeat
 Spain 13 - 0 Bulgaria Bulgaria
(Madrid, Spain; 21 May 1933)
World Cup
Appearances7 (first in 1962)
Best resultFourth place, 1994
European Championship
Appearances2 (first in 1996)
Best resultRound 1, 1996 and 2004
Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
Bronze medal – third place 1956 Melbourne Team
Silver medal – second place 1968 Mexico City Team

The Bulgaria national football team is the national football team of Bulgaria and is controlled by the Bulgarian Football Union. Bulgaria's best World Cup performance was in the 1994 World Cup in USA, where they beat defending champions Germany to reach the semi-finals, losing to Italy, and finishing in fourth place after a 4-0 defeat to Sweden in the third place play-off.

History

Bulgaria's first appearance in a World Cup was the 1962 World Cup in Chile, but failed to progress to the knockout stages. The same happened in England in 1966, Mexico in 1970, and West Germany in 1974. They progressed from the first round in Mexico 1986 but were beaten by the hosts in the round of 16.

1994

Certainly one of the most important dates in Bulgarian football history is November 17, 1993, when Emil Kostadinov scored two goals against France in Paris, allowing Bulgaria to qualify for the World Cup in the USA in 1994. Under the management of Dimitar Penev, the Bulgarians, led by players like Hristo Stoitchkov, Iordan Letchkov and Krassimir Balakov (along with a multitude of other talented players remembered in Bulgaria as the "Golden Generation"), made a strong impression, eliminating the then defending world champions, Germany in the quarter-finals, with a 2-1 win. Millions of Bulgarians celebrated this win in Sofia and other Bulgarian cities. Having reached the semi-finals, Bulgaria played Italy but they were knocked out. Hristo Stoitchkov won the Golden Boot as a joint top scorer in the tournament with six goals (Russia's Oleg Salenko was the other winner).Marcus hall scored 7 goals in the overall competition Bulgaria also has won the Balkan Cup four times. They narrowly missed out on qualifying for Euro 2008 by one point after drawing with Albania twice.ch

Post-1994 history

In 1996, the team qualified for the European Football Championship for the first time, although they did not manage to progress beyond the group stage. The Bulgarians, after a 1-1 draw against Spain (a Stoitchkov goal was disallowed) and a 1-0 victory against Romania, lost the third match to France 1-3. At the same time Spain defeated already eliminated Romania 2-1 with the winner coming in the 84th minute.

The Bulgarians did not progress to the quarter-finals in the 1998 World Cup, despite the good form they were in ([citation needed]). However, The "Golden Generation" was history. They drew 0-0 against Paraguay and lost to both Nigeria and Spain.

Bulgaria failed to qualify for the Euro 2000 and for the 2002 World Cup, but did reach the Euro 2004. However, they lost all their group matches and were once again sent home without reaching the knockout round.

Stadium

Normally, the Bulgarian national football team's home stadium is the "Vasil Levski". It has a capacity of 43 634. Vasil Levski National Stadium was officially opened in 1953 and reconstructed in 1966 and 2002. It is currently eligible to host UEFA Cup final matches. During the 2006/2007 UEFA Champions League the stadium was used for the games of FC Levski Sofia with FC Barcelona , Chelsea F.C. and Werder Bremen. The Bulgaria national football team's home matches and the Bulgarian Cup finals are held at the venue, as well as athletics competitions.

The stadium also offers judo, artistic gymnastics, basketball, boxing, aerobics, fencing and table tennis halls, as well as a general physical training hall, two conference halls and three restaurants.

Competitive record

Bulgarian FIFA Rank history

World Cup record

Year Result Position GP W D* L GS GA
Uruguay 1930Did not enter - - - - - - -
Italy 1934 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
France 1938-Brazil 1950 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Switzerland 1954-Sweden 1958 Did not qualify - - - - - -
Chile 1962 Round 1 15 3 0 1 2 1 7
England 1966 Round 1 15 3 0 0 3 1 8
Mexico 1970 Round 1 13 3 0 1 2 5 9
West Germany 1974 Round 1 12 3 0 2 1 2 5
Argentina 1978-Spain 1982 Did not qualify - - - - - -
Mexico 1986 Round 2 12 4 0 2 2 2 6
Italy 1990 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
United States 1994 Semi-Finals 4 7 4 0 3 13 12
France 1998 Round 1 29 3 0 1 2 1 7
South KoreaJapan 2002-Germany 2006 Did not qualify - - - - - -
Total 7/18 26 4 7 15 25 54

European Championship record

Year Result Position GP W D* L GS GA
1960-1992 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
England 1996 Round 1 12 3 1 1 1 3 4
BelgiumNetherlands 2000 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Portugal 2004 Round 1 16 3 0 0 3 1 9
AustriaSwitzerland 2008 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Total 2/13 6 1 1 4 4 13

2010 FIFA World Cup

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 8

Template:2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 8


Fixtures and results

The representatives of the six federations met in Sofia on 15 January 2008 to decide on a fixture calendar.

Montenegro 2 : 2 Bulgaria
62nd Vučinić (p)
83th Jovetić		 Report 11th S.Petrov
90th Georgiev
Attendance: 9,000
Referee: Oriekhov (Ukraine)
Bulgaria 0 : 0 Italy
Report
Attendance: 45,000
Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France)
Georgia 0 : 0 Bulgaria
Report
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Republic of Ireland v Bulgaria
Bulgaria v Cyprus
Bulgaria v Republic of Ireland
Bulgaria v Montenegro
Italy v Bulgaria
Cyprus v Bulgaria
Bulgaria v Georgia

Squad

As of 14 October 2008, for the World Cup qualifier against Georgia.

Goalkeepers

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Dimitar Ivankov 30 October 1975 50 0 Turkey Bursaspor
12 1GK Georgi Petkov 14 April 1976 12 0 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia

Defenders

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
3 2DF Aleksandar Tunchev 3 February 1981 18 1 England Leicester City F.C.
4 2DF Ivan Ivanov 25 February 1988 3 0 Bulgaria PFC CSKA Sofia
5 2DF Valentin Iliev 11 July 1980 15 0 Russia Terek Grozny
16 2DF Zhivko Milanov 15 July 1984 8 0 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia
14 2DF Kiril Kotev 22 April 1982 2 0 Bulgaria PFC CSKA Sofia
20 3MF Stanislav Manolev 16 December 1985 1 0 Bulgaria Litex Lovech

Midfielders

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
6 3MF Stanislav Angelov 12 April 1978 19 1 Germany Energie Cottbus
7 3MF Velizar Dimitrov 13 April 1979 25 4 Ukraine FC Metalurh Donetsk
8 3MF Chavdar Yankov 30 January 1984 24 3 Germany Hannover 96
10 3MF Stiliyan Petrov 5 July 1979 76 8 England Aston Villa
11 3MF Zdravko Lazarov 20 February 1976 33 3 Bulgaria PFC CSKA Sofia
13 3MF Ivelin Popov 26 October 1987 6 0 Bulgaria Litex Lovech
15 3MF Blagoy Georgiev 21 December 1981 27 3 Bulgaria PFC Slavia Sofia
28 3MF Emil Gargorov 15 February 1981 3 1 France RC Strasbourg

Strikers

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
9 4FW Dimitar Berbatov (C) 30 January 1981 65 41 England Manchester United
14 4FW Dimitar Rangelov 7 March 1983 7 1 Germany Energie Cottbus
17 4FW Martin Petrov 15 January 1979 71 17 England Manchester City

Recent callups

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Nikolay Mihaylov 28 June 1988 1 0 Netherlands FC Twente
1GK Ivaylo Petrov 3 May 1973 0 0 Cyprus AEK Larnaca
1GK Stoyan Kolev 3 February 1976 12 0 Romania Oţelul Galaţi
2DF Mihail Venkov 28 July 1983 6 0 Bulgaria Litex Lovech
2DF Lucio Wagner 15 June 1976 12 0 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia
2DF Zahari Sirakov 8 October 1977 3 0 Russia FC Amkar Perm
2DF Asen Karaslavov 8 June 1980 10 0 Germany SpVgg Greuther Fürth
2DF Petar Zanev 18 October 1985 7 0 Bulgaria Litex Lovech
3MF Stanislav Genchev 2 March 1981 3 1 Romania F.C. Vaslui
3MF Georgi Peev 11 March 1979 43 0 Russia FC Amkar Perm
3MF Nikolay Dimitrov 15 October 1987 1 0 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia
3MF Georgi Sarmov 7 September 1985 1 0 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia
3MF Yordan Todorov 27 July 1981 5 1 Bulgaria PFC CSKA Sofia
4FW Valeri Bojinov 15 February 1986 21 5 England Manchester City
4FW Tsvetan Genkov 8 August 1984 6 0 Russia FC Dynamo Moscow
4FW Georgi Kakalov 18 July 1984 1 0 Belarus FC Dinamo Minsk
4FW Valeri Domovchiyski 26 October 1986 4 0 Germany Hertha BSC Berlin
4FW Georgi Hristov 10 January 1985 0 0 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia

Players with most caps

# Name Career Caps Goals
1 Borislav Mikhailov 1983-1998 102 0
2 Hristo Bonev 1967-1979 96 47
3 Krasimir Balakov 1988-2003 92 16
4 Dimitar Penev 1965-1974 90 2
5 Hristo Stoichkov 1986-1999 83 37
6 Nasko Sirakov 1983-1996 81 23
7 Ayan Sadakov 1981-1991 80 9
7 Radostin Kishishev 1996-2007 80 0
9 Zlatko Yankov 1989-1999 79 4
10 Georgi Dimitrov 1978-1987 77 6

Players with most goals

# Player Career Goals Caps
1 Hristo Bonev 1967-1979 47 96
2 Dimitar Berbatov 1999- 42 64
3 Hristo Stoichkov 1987-1999 37 83
4 Emil Kostadinov 1988-1998 26 70
5 Petar Zhekov 1963-1972 25 44
6 Ivan Kolev 1950-1963 25 75
7 Nasko Sirakov 1983-1997 23 81
8 Dimitar Milanov 1948-1959 20 39
9 Georgi Asparuhov 1962-1970 19 50
10 Dinko Dermendzhiev 1966-1977 19 58

Coaches

Famous former players

     

The Golden Bulgarian Football Generation: 1992-1996

   

See also

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