Hristo Stoichkov

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Hristo Stoichkov
Hristo Stoitchkov © Unknown
Personal information
Full name Hristo Stoichkov
Date of birth February 8, 1966 (age 40)
Place of birth Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position Manager
(former Striker)
Club information
Current club Bulgaria
Youth clubs
1976-1983
1983
1983-1984		 Maritsa
Yuri Gagarin
Hebros
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1984-1990
1990-1995
1995-1996
1996-1998
1998
1998
1998-1999
2000-2002
2003		 CSKA Sofia
FC Barcelona
Parma AC
FC Barcelona
Al-Nasr
CSKA Sofia
Kashiwa Reysol
Chicago Fire
D.C. United
Total		 119 (81)
151 (76)
23 (5)
24 (7)
4 (1)
2 (1)
28 (13)
51 (17)
21 (5)
423 (201)
National team**
1987-1999 Bulgaria 83 (37)
Teams managed
2004- Bulgaria

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of June 4, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of June 4, 2006.

Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgarian: Христо Стоичков) (born February 8, 1966, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a football manager and former striker who was a member of the Bulgaria national team that finished fourth at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Apart from his footballing talent, he was notable for his strong on-pitch temper. He was honoured as European Footballer of the Year in 1994. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony in 2004.

Contents

[edit] Playing style

Stoichkov played as a left attacker/winger. He was known for his explosive acceleration and speed dribbling,[citation needed] and for taking unpredictable shots on goal. He was also notable at taking free kicks and penalties. He gained much popularity because of his aggressive temper on the pitch. He could often be seen arguing enphatically with the referee, or with his opponents.

[edit] Club career

Stoichkov began his career in his hometown, moving to Hebros(Harmanli) in 1984. The next year he went to CSKA Sofia. There he was involved in the brutal fight during the final of Bulgarian Cup which resulted in his suspension. He then moved on to Barcelona, Parma, and finally finishing his career in Japan with Kashiwa Reysol and the United States with the Chicago Fire and D.C. United, as a coach.

[edit] National team

At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Stoichkov was awarded the Golden Boot as the joint top goal scorer of the tournament (with Oleg Salenko) at six goals as he led Bulgaria to the semifinals.

He was the only player to score from a free kick in Euro 96, but Bulgaria lost that match 3-1 to France and was eliminated in the group stage.

He was also part of the squad that was eliminated in the first round of the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Stoichkov ended his international career with 37 goals in 84 appearances.

[edit] Honours

Club

Individual

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Football Union as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [1]

Preceded by:
Roberto Baggio		 European Footballer of the Year
1994		 Succeeded by:
George Weah
Preceded by:
Salvatore Schillaci		 FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe
1994
Shared with:
Oleg Salenko		 Succeeded by:
Davor Šuker

[edit] Coaching career

In the 2003-04 season, Stoichkov started a coaching career, serving as a forwards coach at Barça. After Bulgarian national team coach Plamen Markov resigned in the wake of the team's first-round exit from Euro 2004, the Bulgarian Football Union named him as the new national team coach on 15 July.

Stoichkov's coaching career got off to a bad start with him failing to qualify the Bulgarian national team for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He brought his bad temper from his career as a player to the coaching bench. His first couple of seasons will be remembered with several scandals. A couple of proven players quit the team due to personal differences with Stoichkov. The most notable scandal was at the 03/09/05 game against Sweden, where he was sent-off for insulting the referee.

The biggest blow to Hristo Stoichkov as a coach of the national team of Bulgaria came on 12/10/2006, when Stiliyan Petrov, the captain of the team, announced he will not play for the team as long as Stoichkov is the coach [2]. Petrov is the third player and the second captain in two years to leave the team because of differences with Stoichkov.

[edit] External links

Bulgaria Bulgaria squad - 1994 World Cup Fourth Place Bulgaria

1 Mikhailov | 2 Kremenliev | 3 Ivanov | 4 Tsvetanov | 5 Houbchev | 6 Yankov | 7 Kostadinov | 8 Stoichkov | 9 Letchkov | 10 Sirakov | 11 Borimirov | 12 Nikolov | 13 Yordanov | 14 Guentchev | 15 Iliev | 16 Kiriakov | 17 Mihtarski | 18 Aleksandrov | 19 Georgiev | 20 Balakov | 21 Yotov | 22 Andonov | Coach: Penev
Bulgaria Bulgaria squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Bulgaria

1 Zdravkov | 2 Kishishev | 3 T. Ivanov | 4 I. Petkov | 5 Yordanov | 6 Yankov | 7 Kostadinov | 8 Stoichkov | 9 Penev | 10 Balakov | 11 Iliev | 12 Mikhailov | 13 Ginchev | 14 Hristov | 15 Zafirov | 16 Nankov | 17 Stoilov | 18 Borimirov | 19 Bachev | 20 G. Ivanov | 21 Kirilov | 22 M. Petkov | Coach: Bonev
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