Dimitar Berbatov

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Dimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Berbatov
Personal information
Full name Dimitar Berbatov
(Bulgarian: Димитър Бербатов)
Date of birth 30 January 1981
Place of birth Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Height 6'2" / 1.89 m
Nickname The Devil With The Angel's Face, Big Bad Berbs
Position Striker
Club information
Current club Tottenham Hotspur
Number 9
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)

1999-2001
2001-2006
2006-		 Makedonska Slava
CSKA Sofia
Bayer Leverkusen
Tottenham Hotspur
050 (25)
154 (69)
017 (9)
National team**
1999- Bulgaria 050 (31)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 14:19, 9 December 2006 (UTC).
** National team caps and goals correct
as of July 2, 2006.

Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgarian: Димитър Бербатов) (born 30 January 1981), is a Bulgarian international and Tottenham Hotspur football player.

Contents

[edit] Early Life & Career

He was born in Blagoevgrad near the border with Yugoslavia where his father was a professional footballer with local outfit Pirin Blagoevgrad. His career began at the same club but he left his home-town club at the age of 17 and moved to the more illustrious Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia following in the footsteps of his father, Ivan, who also played for the club as a left winger and later as a defender. He played for CSKA in the Bulgarian A PFG between 1998 and January 2001 making his debut as an 18-year-old in the 1998/99 season. He started to make his name the following year when he scored 14 goals in 27 league games to help Sofia win the Bulgarian National Cup in 1999. Despite being employed at one of the richest clubs in Bulgaria, he rarely got a wage, money and food was scarce and he had to share a dormitory with five other men from the club. He has said how he will never forget the humble beginnings he came from.


[1]

[edit] Bayer Leverkusen

A run of nine goals in 11 games in 2000/01 was enough to persuade Bayer Leverkusen to sign Berbatov in June 2001. Berbatov had a slow start to his Leverkusen career with just 16 goals in his first 67 appearances for the club. He did however play a crucial role in the Champions League during his first season with the club scoring a memorable sole effort against Lyon with an excellent bit of skill, as well as a goal against Liverpool in the quarter finals. He also played a part in the Final against Real Madrid coming on as a substiture for Thomas Brdaric after 38 minutes.

In 2001-02 Leverkusen were runners-up in the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal. During the 2002-03 Bundesliga season Berbatov established his place as the first-choice forward at Bayer Leverkusen but it wasn't until the 2003-04 season that he really began to shine scoring 16 goals in 24 starts. The following two seasons saw him go from strength to strength netting another 46 goals including 5 in the Champions League 2004-05 that raised awareness of his talent and generated interest from teams throughout Europe.

[edit] Move to Spurs

In May 2006, Berbatov joined English Premiership team Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of €16m [2] (£10.9 million). [3] making him the most expensive Bulgarian player in history, higher than Valeri Bojinov (€13m) and Martin Petrov (€12m). Due to work permit regulations the transfer was completed when the transfer window and player registration re-opened on 1 July 2006.

Berbatov scored his first Tottenham Hotspur goal on his home debut in the Premiership game against Sheffield United at White Hart Lane. He is building a rewarding partnership with Robbie Keane in the UEFA Cup and despite Martin Jol's rotation of his fellow strikers Berbatov has firmly established himself as the first choice forward at the club participating in all but one of the games he has been fit to play in, starting 12 of a possible 15 games and coming on as substitute for a further two of those. His experience in Europe is already reaping the rewards for his new club after scoring in each of the three UEFA Cup games he has played for Spurs with his performances earning man-of-the-match awards in the group stages against Besiktas and Club Brugge. On 27 November 2006 Berbatov sparkled once again for Spurs, and began to show his increasing adaption to the English Premier League with an excellent performance against Wigan, scoring a fantastic solo effort and creating the other two in a 3-1 win. On December 9, 2006, Berbatov scored his first FA Barclays Premiership brace for Spurs in a 5-1 victory for his side against Charlton Athletic.

[edit] International Career

Berbatov's first game for Bulgaria came as an 18-year-old against Greece in November 1999. He scored his first international goal against Chile in February 2000 and as of November 2005 he has a very impressive record of 31 goals in 50 international appearances.

In the qualification campaign for Euro 2004 he scored 5 times in 6 games and thus secured his place as one of the most successful attackers in the history of Bulgaria. Euro 2004, however, was a disappointing affair for Berbatov and Bulgaria as they went home after three defeats and only one goal. This has been Berbatov's only major international tournament appearance to date.

Despite scoring 7 goals for his country during the 10 games of the qualification stages for the World Cup 2006 Bulgaria failed to qualify with Croatia and Sweden progressing to the finals. He could however help take Bulgaria to Euro 2008. After the first four games of the qualification campaign for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship Bulgaria sit in second place two points behind Holland with 8 points and no losses.

[edit] Career in Numbers

Appearances And Goals In All Competitions

Season Club Team Games Goals
'98-'99 CSKA Sofia 11 3
'99-'00 CSKA Sofia 27 15
'00-'01 CSKA Sofia 12 8
'00-'01 Bayer Leverkusen 6 -
'01-'02 Bayer Leverkusen 34 9
'02-'03 Bayer Leverkusen 31 6
'03-'04 Bayer Leverkusen 32 16
'04-'05 Bayer Leverkusen 42 25
'05-'06 Bayer Leverkusen 36 21
'06-'07 Tottenham Hotspur 17 9

[edit] Honours

Bulgarian Cup: 1999

Bulgarian Player of the Year: 2002, 2004, 2005

[edit] Trivia

  • Scored 2 goals in 2 minutes in his first match as a Tottenham player against Birmingham in a pre-season friendly match.
  • Scored within 7 minutes of his home Premiership debut against Sheffield United on 22nd August 2006.
  • Also scored on his home and away European debuts for Spurs against Besiktas in Istanbul and Club Brugge at White Hart Lane.
  • Has, so far, scored in every European game he has played for Spurs.
  • Learnt the English language by watching the Godfather films.
  • Lists his hobbies as drawing and basketball.[4]
  • Bears a striking resemblance to Hollywood actor Andy García.
  • Has won many "Bulgarian Player of the Year" and "Journalists' Bulgarian Player of the Year" as well as "Fans' Bulgarian Player of the Year" awards.
  • Is a fans' favourite and also one of the "10 Hottest Bulgarian Men of the Year", an award given by the Bulgarian NOVA TV tabloid show Goreshto ("Hot")

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hot Spur Berbatov intent on offering full value. Matt Lawton, The Daily Mail. Retrieved on 20 October 2006.
  2. ^ NINE FOR BERBATOV. tottenhamhotspur.com. Retrieved on 18 May 2006.
  3. ^ BERBATOV: SPURS ON THE 'UP AND UP'. premierleague.com. Retrieved on 20 May 2006.
  4. ^ Dimitar Berbatov. BBC. Retrieved on 20 May 2006.

[edit] External links


Tottenham Hotspur F.C. - Current Squad

1 Robinson | 2 Chimbonda | 3 Lee | 4 Zokora | 5 Davids | 6 Tainio | 7 Stalteri | 8 Jenas | 9 Berbatov | 10 Keane | 11 Mido | 12 Černý | 13 Murphy | 14 Ghaly | 15 Malbranque | 16 Ziegler | 18 Defoe | 20 Dawson | 22 Huddlestone | 24 O'Hara | 25 Lennon | 26 King | 27 Davenport | 28 Barnard | 29 Ifil | 30 Gardner | 32 Assou-Ekotto | 35 Dervite | 39 Barcham | Manager: Jol
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