Georgi Asparuhov

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Personal information
Georgi Asparuhov

Full name	Georgi Asparuhov
Date of birth	May 4, 1943
Place of birth	Sofia, Bulgaria
Nickname	Gundi
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	died
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1960-1961 1961-1963 1960-1971	Levski Sofia Botev Plovdiv Levski Sofia	? (?) 53 (29) 249 (160)^{[dubious — see talk page]}
National team**
1961-	Bulgaria	50 (19)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 9, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of May 30, 2006.

Georgi Asparuhov (Bulgarian: Георги Аспарухов) (sometimes spelled Asparoukhov), nicknamed Gundi (May 4, 1943 – June 30, 1971) was one of the greatest Bulgarian football players of all time.

Asparuhov was a striker for Levski Sofia from 1960 to 1961 and 1964 to 1971, and for Botev Plovdiv from 1961 to 1963. He played 245 matches and scored 150 goals in the top Bulgarian division. The most famous clubs in Europe tried to get him so he could play for them. In European Cup 1965-66, Levski played against the famous and powerful Benfica (with Eusébio and others stars in the squad). When Benfica eliminated Levski after a very difficult 3:2 and 2:2 matches, Europe started to view interest in Gundi mostly because he scored the four goals for Levski in the two games. In fact he is also the first player to score two goals in Benfica's stadium^{[citation needed]}. After this match, Levski became popular in Europe. The rich Portuguese club wanted to buy Asparuhov , but the communist government of Bulgaria did not allow them to do so.

For the Bulgaria national football team, Asparuhov featured in 50 games and has 19 goals. He was the first Bulgarian to score a goal at Wembley against England. Also, he also scored the only goal for the Bulgarian team on their first participation at the World Cup, in Chile '62 and he also scored the only goal for Bulgaria in England '66.

Asparuhov died in a car crash in 1971 with his talented teammate, Nikola Kotkov. At his funeral, over 550,000 people went to Sofia to pay trubite and respect to his soil and to say "Farewell".

His most famous line is: "There is a country named Bulgaria, and in this country there is a team named Levski. You maybe haven't heard of it, but there I was born and there I shall die!" This is what he said to Milan scouts when they tried to persuade him to come to Milan.

[edit] Statistics

National team — 50 matches, 19 goals
Bulgarian championship — 245 matches, 150 goals — 199/125 for Levski, 45/25 for Botev
Bulgarian Cup — 35 matches, 20 goals — 27/16 for Levski, 8/4 for Botev
Total club mathes — 326 matches, 209 goals
European club tournaments — 23 matches, 19 goals — CEC-12, CWC-7
International club matches — 35 matches, 23 goals — 32/20 for Levski , 3/3 for Botev
First match — with Levski against Lokomotiv Sofia — 22 September 1960
Last match — with Levski against CSKA — 28 June 1971
First goal — for Levski against Botev (1:1) — 28 September 1960
Last goal — for Levski against Etar — 13 June 1971
First international cap — 6 May 1962 against Austria
Last international cap — 12 June 1970 against Morocco

[edit] Honours

Champion of Bulgaria — 3 times, 1965, 1968 and 1970 with Levski
Holder of the National Cup — 4 times, 1962 with Botev Plovdiv, 1968, 1970, 1971 (posthumously) with Levski
World Cup — 3 times, 1962, 1966 and 1970
Bulgaria's top scorer — 1964-1965 - 27 goals
Sportsman #1 of Bulgaria — 1965
Holder of an Order of Labour
Deserved Master of Sports
Holder of the Fairplay prize (posthumously) — 1999
8th place in the Golden Ball quiz — 1965

[edit] External links

	Bulgaria squad - 1962 World Cup
1 Naydenov \| 2 Rakarov \| 3 I. Dimitrov \| 4 Kitov \| 5 D. Kostov \| 6 Kovachev \| 7 Diev \| 8 Dimov \| 9 Iliev \| 10 Kolev \| 11 Yakimov \| 12 Zhechev \| 13 Velichkov \| 14 Sokolov \| 15 Asparuhov \| 16 A. Kostov \| 17 P. Dimitrov \| 18 Ivanov \| 19 Dermendzhiev \| 20 Parshanov \| 21 Panayotov \| 22 Nikolov \| Coach: Pachedzhiev

	Bulgaria squad - 1966 World Cup
1 Naydenov \| 2 Shalamanov \| 3 Vutsov \| 4 Gaganelov \| 5 Penev \| 6 Zhekov \| 7 Dermendzhiev \| 8 Kitov \| 9 Asparuhov \| 10 Zhechev \| 11 Kolev \| 12 Metodiev \| 13 Yakimov \| 14 Kotkov \| 15 Largov \| 16 Kostov \| 17 Abadzhiev \| 18 Yanchovski \| 19 Apostolov \| 20 Davidov \| 21 Simeonov \| 22 Deyanov \| Coach: Vytlačil

	Bulgaria squad - 1970 World Cup
1 Simeonov \| 2 Shalamanov \| 3 Dimitrov \| 4 Aladzhov \| 5 Davidov \| 6 Penev \| 7 Popov \| 8 Bonev \| 9 Zhekov \| 10 Yakimov \| 11 Dermendzhiev \| 12 Gaydarski \| 13 Yordanov \| 14 Zhechev \| 15 Gaganelov \| 16 Nikodimov \| 17 Kolev \| 18 Marashliev \| 19 Asparuhov \| 20 Mitkov \| 21 Grigorov \| 22 Kamenski \| Coach: Bozhkov