BULGARIA NATIONAL FOOTBALL 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 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.

Contents

History

Post-1994 history

World Cup record

European Championship record

Euro 2008 Qualification

Group G Standings

Squad

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Strikers

Players with most caps

Players with most goals

Stadium

Famous players

External links

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.
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 stars 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, sensationally 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 in a controversial match. Hristo Stoitchkov won the Golden Boot as top scorer in the tournament with six goals. The award was shared with Oleg Salenko of Russia who too scored six goals.

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. It was believed the 1996 squad was stronger than the one in 1994, and that they did not progress to the quarter-finals due to misfortune. The Bulgarians, after a 1-1 draw against Spain (a fantastic Stoitchkov goal was controversially cancelled) and a 1-0 victory against Romania, played well but lost the third and decisive match to a very strong France (the future world champion), 1-3. At the same time Spain defeated a weak and 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. However, The "Golden Generation" was history. They earned a goalless draw 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 disappointingly lost all their group matches and were once again sent home without reaching the knockout round. However, there has been great improvement in the Bulgarian game, as they remain undefeated and in second place in their group for qualifying for the Euro 2008

World Cup record

★ 1930 - ''Did not enter''

★ 1934 - ''Withdrew during qualifying''

★ 1938 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1950 - ''Did not enter''

★ 1954 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1958 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1962 - Round 1

★ 1966 - Round 1

★ 1970 - Round 1

★ 1974 - Round 1

★ 1978 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1982 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1986 - Round 2

★ 1990 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1994 - Fourth place

★ 1998 - Round 1

★ 2002 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 2006 - ''Did not qualify''

European Championship record

★ 1960 to 1992 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 1996 - Round 1

★ 2000 - ''Did not qualify''

★ 2004 - Round 1

Euro 2008 Qualification

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score	Competition	Bulgaria scorers	Match Report
2 September 2006	Gheorghe Hagi Stadium (A)		2-2	ECQ	Martin Petrov (2)	Romania leads 2-0 at half time before Petrov slots 2 goals in 2 minutes to level the scores
6 September 2006	Vasil Levski (H)		3-0	ECQ	Valeri Bozhinov, Martin Petrov, Dimitar Telkiyski	3 goals in 2nd half
7 October 2006	Vasil Levski (H)		1-1	ECQ	Martin Petrov	Bulgaria leads 1-0 in the 1st half
11 October 2006	Stade Josy Barthel (A)		1-0	ECQ	Aleksandar Tunchev		S.Petrov quits national team
28 March 2007	Vasil Levski (H)		0-0	ECQ			S.Petrov rejoins national team
2 June 2007	Dinamo Stadium (A)		2-0	ECQ	Dimitar Berbatov (2)	First goals for Berbatov in this campaign
6 June 2007	Vasil Levski (H)		2-1	ECQ	Martin Petrov, Chavdar Yankov	Bulgaria came back from 0-1 to win the game
8 September 2007	Amsterdam ArenA (A)		0-2	ECQ
12 September 2007	Vasil Levski (H)			ECQ
17 October 2007	(A)			ECQ
17 November 2007	(H)			ECQ
21 November 2007	(A)			ECQ

;Key

★ H = Home match

★ A = Away match

★ ECQ = European Championship Qualifier

Group G Standings

Main articles: 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying Group G

As of matches completed through June 6, 2007.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Strikers

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	Anyo Sadkov	1981-1991	80	9
8	Zlatko Yankov	1989-1999	79	4
9	Georgi Dimitrov	1978-1987	77	6
10	Trifon Ivanov	1988-1998	76	6

Players with most goals

#	Player	Career	Goals	Caps
1	Hristo Bonev	1967-1979	47	96
2	Hristo Stoichkov	1987-1999	37	83
3	Dimitar Berbatov	1999-	35	58
4	Emil Kostadinov	1988-1998	26	70
5	Petar Jekov	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 Dermendjiev	1966-1977	19	58

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 , FC Chelsea 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.

Famous players

★ Hristo Bonev (coach)

★ Stiliyan Petrov

★ Dimitar Yakimov

★ Nikola Kotkov

★ Petar Zhekov

★ Bozhidar Iskrenov

★ Nikolay Iliev

★ Georgi Asparuhov

★ Alexandar Shalamanov

★ Manol Manolov

★ Krum Milev

★ Georgi Pachedzhiev

★ Georgi Denev

★ Plamen Getov

★ Atanas Mikhailov

★ Kiril Milanov

★ Nikola Tzanev

★ Georgi Slavkov

★ Asen Peshev

★ Spas Dzhevizov

★ Todor Diev

★ Dinko Dermendzhiev
''The Golden Bulgarian Football Generation'':

★ Hristo Stoichkov

★ Yordan Letchkov (current mayor of Sliven)

★ Nasko Sirakov

★ Emil Kostadinov

★ Daniel Borimirov

★ Krassimir Balakov (current coach of Grasshoppers Zürich)

★ Trifon Ivanov

★ Tsanko Tsvetanov

★ Borislav Mikhailov (current president of the Bulgarian Football Union)

★ Petar Mihtarski

★ Petar Hubchev

★ Zlatko Yankov

★ Emil Kremenliev

★ Bontcho Guentchev

★ Plamen Nikolov

★ Ivaylo Yordanov

★ Ilian Kiriakov
''Current Players''

★ Dimitar Berbatov

★ Martin Kamburov

★ Svetoslav Todorov

★ Hristo Yovov

★ Georgi Chilikov

★ Radostin Kishishev

★ Marian Hristov

★ Vladimir Manchev

★ Tzvetan Genkov

★ Dimitar Telkiyski

★ Yanko Valkanov

External links

★ Bulgarian football - history, teams, stadiums, fan clubs

★ RSSSF archive of results 1924-

★ RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers

★ Bulgarian football legends

★ Planet World Cup archive of results in the World Cup

★ Planet World Cup archive of squads in the World Cup

★ Planet World Cup archive of results in the World Cup qualifiers