Bulgaria national football team

Bulgaria

Nickname(s)	Лъвовете (The Lions) Трикольорите (The Tricolors)
Association	Bulgarian Football Union
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	vacant
Asst coach	vacant
Captain	Stiliyan Petrov
Most caps	Borislav Mihaylov (102)
Top scorer	Dimitar Berbatov (48)
Home stadium	Vasil Levski National Stadium
FIFA code	BUL
FIFA ranking	43
Highest FIFA ranking	8 (June 1995)
Lowest FIFA ranking	58 (August 2002)
Elo ranking	35
Highest Elo ranking	2 (June 1969)
Lowest Elo ranking	35 (June 2010)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Austria 6 – 0 Bulgaria (Vienna, Austria; 21 May 1924)
Biggest win
Bulgaria 10 - 0 Ghana (Sofia, Bulgaria; 14 October 1982)
Biggest defeat
Spain 13 – 0 Bulgaria (Madrid, Spain; 21 May 1933)
World Cup
Appearances	7 (First in 1962)
Best result	Fourth place, 1994
European Championship
Appearances	2 (First in 1996)
Best result	Group Stage 1996 and 2004

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 the United States, where they beat defending champions Germany to reach the semi-finals, losing to Italy, and finishing in fourth place after being defeated by 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.

1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s and '70s, Bulgaria qualified for four straight World Cup tournaments, in 1962 (their first time), 1966, 1970, and 1974, but without any successful performances. They also won the Balkan Cup in 1976 by beating Romania in the two legged final 1–0, 3–2. In the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico, they won a silver medal. They finished first in Group D by beating Thailand 7–0, Guatemala 2–1, and a 2–2 draw against Czechoslovakia. They passed the quarter-finals by beating Israel and the semi-finals by beating Olympic hosts Mexico. In the final, they lost 4–1 to Hungary, giving the Bulgarians the silver Olympic medals.

World Cup 1986

Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup in Mexico by finishing second in Group Four, behind France with 11 points, but worse goal difference, ahead of the teams of Yugoslavia, East Germany, and Luxembourg. This was their fifth World Cup appearance. They were drawn in Group A with Italy, Argentina, and South Korea. In the opening match of the World Cup, the Bulgarians held the defending champions Italy to a 1–1 draw. Alessandro Altobelli gave the Italians the lead, but a 85th minute equalizer by Nasko Sirakov gave the Bulgarians the point. The next match was another 1–1 draw against South Korea with the goal for Bulgaria coming from Plamen Getov in the 11th minute. They lost the final match of the group 2–0 against Argentina, who ended up winning the tournament. Despite not recording a win, the Bulgarians advanced to the knockout stage by being the third-best third placed team. That way, Bulgaria and also Uruguay became the first nations to qualify for the knockout stage without winning a game in the first round. In the Round of 16, they faced World Cup hosts Mexico and lost the match 2–0. Ivan Vutsov was the manager of the team.

World Cup 1994

Certainly one of the most important dates in Bulgarian football history is 17 November 1993, a date where Emil Kostadinov scored two goals to beat France in Paris, allowing Bulgaria to qualify for the World Cup in the United States in 1994. Under the management of Dimitar Penev, the Bulgarians, led by players such as Hristo Stoichkov, Yordan Lechkov, and Krasimir Balakov — along with a multitude of other talented players remembered in Bulgaria as the "Golden Generation" — made a strong impression by reaching the semi-finals. They entered Group D with Argentina, Nigeria, and Greece. Before that, the Bulgarians hadn't won a single match in five World Cup finals appearances. The first match ended with a 3–0 defeat by Nigeria. Despite the bad start, the team won 4–0 against World Cup-debuting featherweights Greece and 2–0 against Argentina. Argentina had actually been winning the group going into injury-time. A 91st minute strike from Nasko Sirakov, however, meant that they dropped two places and finished third. Bulgaria continued to the next round, where they faced Mexico. The match ended 1–1 and after no goals were scored in extra time, penalties would decide which team would go through. Team captain Borislav Mihaylov made a good performance saving the first three penalty kicks. Bulgaria won 3–1 on penalties with Mihaylov becoming the hero for the Bulgarian team. In the quarter-finals, Bulgaria faced the then-defending World Cup champions Germany. Lothar Matthäus scored from a penalty. The Bulgarians, however, managed to turn the game over with two goals by Hristo Stoichkov and Yordan Lechkov, giving them a 2–1 win and recording one of the most memorable wins for the team. Millions of Bulgarians celebrated this win in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia and other Bulgarian cities. Having reached the semi-finals, this was the best Bulgarian performance in the World Cup. In the semi-finals, they lost 2–1 to Italy and lost 4–0 against Sweden in the third place match. Hristo Stoichkov was awarded the Golden Boot as a joint top scorer in the tournament with six goals, along with Russia's Oleg Salenko. Krasimir Balakov was named in the all-star team along with Stoichkov.

Euro 1996

In 1996, the team qualified for the European Football Championship for the first time, after some good results in the qualifying group, including a stunning 3–2 turnaround win against future Euro 1996 champions Germany. They were drawn in Group B with France, Spain, and Romania. Bulgaria started with a 1–1 draw against Spain, followed by a 1–0 win against Romania. In the final group match, they lost 3–1 against France. At the same time, Spain defeated Romania 2–1 with the winner coming in the 84th minute, and the Bulgarians subsequently failed to qualify to the quarter-finals.

World Cup 1998

Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup in France by finishing first in the Group 5, followed by Russia. They entered the competition with a new manager Hristo Bonev, since Dimitar Penev was sacked after Euro 1996. Bulgaria drew Spain, Nigeria, and Paraguay in Group D. The first match ended in a 0–0 goalless draw against Paraguay. In the second match, the Bulgarians lost 1–0 for a second-straight World Cup to Nigeria. The final match ended with a disappointing 6–1 defeat to Spain. Following the bad results, Bulgaria finished fourth in the group, with only one point, and didn't go through the next round. This was the last major appearance at World Cup level for Bulgaria.

Euro 2000

Bulgaria was drawn in a tough qualifying group with teams like England, Sweden, and Poland. The campaign started bad with two defeats by Poland and Sweden. The most memorable match for Bulgaria in the group was the 1–1 draw against England, which was also the last one for Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov before his international retirement. Bulgaria finished fourth with eight points and failed to make the final stages of Euro 2000.

World Cup 2002

Group Three contained Bulgaria, Denmark, and Czech Republic amongst the main contenders for the qualifying spots. Bulgaria won the matches against the weaker teams, but lost 2–0 to Denmark and both matches with Czech Republic, including a disappointing 6–0 defeat. That way, Bulgaria finished third with 17 points and three points behind second-placed Czech Republic, thus failing to make the World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

Euro 2004

Bulgaria managed to qualify for the Euro 2004 in Portugal by finishing first in the group ahead of teams like Croatia and Belgium with 17 points and just one defeat. They drew Sweden, Italy, and Denmark in Group C. They started very disappointing with an embarrassing 5–0 defeat by Sweden, followed by a 2–0 defeat by Denmark. The last match against Italy was a reasonable 2–1 defeat. The match was looking to end 1–1 after goals from Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov and Simone Perrotta, but a last minute goal by Antonio Cassano gave the Italians the win. They finished fourth with zero points and were sent home without reaching the knockout round. After the disappointing performance, the manager Plamen Markov was sacked.

World Cup 2006

Bulgaria failed to qualify for the World Cup in Germany after a run of poor results, finishing third in Group Eight, behind Sweden and Croatia with 15 points.

Euro 2008

Group G had Netherlands, Romania, and Bulgaria as the main contestants for a qualifying spot for the Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria. Bulgaria performed well after a run of good results from Romania that gave them the first place. The Bulgarians finished third with 25 points, after Romania and Netherlands, with only one lost match against the Dutch.

World Cup 2010

Bulgaria were drawn against Italy and Ireland in qualifying Group Eight. Bulgaria started the campaign with a series of draws in the 2010 qualifiers. After the unconvincing start, the manager Plamen Markov was sacked and replaced by Stanimir Stoilov in January 2009. The Bulgarians then recorded their first win in the group against Cyprus, and also won against Montenegro and Georgia. They finished in third place in the group with 14 points, therefore failing to qualify directly or for a play-off place.

Euro 2012

Bulgaria were drawn in Group G along with England, Switzerland, Wales, and Montenegro. For the second time in a row, Bulgaria and Montenegro will be playing in the same qualification group.

In their first qualifying game on the 3rd Sep 2010, Bulgaria lost 4-0 away to England at The Wembley Stadium thanks to a hat-trick from Spurs Striker Jermaine Defoe and a goal from Manchester City winger Adam Johnson.

Their misfortune continued in their second match when they lost to Montenegro in Sofia, one of the best results of the newly established guest team so far.

Stadium

Normally, the Bulgarian national football team's home stadium is the Vasil Levski National Stadium with a capacity of 43,632. Vasil Levski was officially opened in 1953 and reconstructed in 1966 and 2002. It is currently eligible to host UEFA Europa League final matches. During the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, the stadium was used for the games of Levski Sofia with Barcelona, 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.

World Cup record

Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1930	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1934	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Round 1	15	3	0	1	2	1	7
1966	Round 1	15	3	0	0	3	1	8
1970	Round 1	13	3	0	1	2	5	9
1974	Round 1	12	3	0	2	1	2	5
1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Round of 16	12	4	0	2	2	2	6
1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Semi-finals	4	7	4	0	3	10	11
1998	Round 1	29	3	0	1	2	1	7
2002	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2010	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2014
Total	7/20		26	4	7	15	22	53

European Championship record

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1960	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1964	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1972	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	Round 1	12	3	1	1	1	3	4
2000	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	Round 1	16	3	0	0	3	1	9
2008	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2012
2016
Total	2/15		6	1	1	4	4	13

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Bulgaria is placed in Group G.

• Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Montenegro 4 3 1 0 3 0 +3 10  England 3 2 1 0 7 1 +6 7  Switzerland 3 1 0 2 5 5 0 3  Bulgaria 3 1 0 2 1 5 −4 3  Wales 3 0 0 3 1 6 −5 0

Bulgaria  — 2 Sep '11 0–1 26 Mar '11 11 Oct '11 England  4–0 — 0–0 4 Jun '11 6 Sep '11 Montenegro  4 Jun '11 7 Oct '11 — 1–0 1–0 Switzerland  6 Sep '11 1–3 11 Oct '11 — 4–1 Wales  0–1 26 Mar '11 2 Sep '11 7 Oct '11 —

Fixtures

A meeting was held in Zürich, Switzerland, on 15 March to determine the Group G fixture schedule.^[1][2] After that meeting proved inconclusive, the fixture list was determined by a random draw at the XXXIV Ordinary UEFA Congress in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 25 March.^[3]

3 September 2010 21:00	England	4 – 0	Bulgaria	Wembley Stadium, London Attendance: 73, 246 Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)
	Defoe  3', 61', 86' A. Johnson  83'

7 September 2010 20:30	Bulgaria	0 – 1	Montenegro	Vasil Levski, Sofia

8 October 2010	Wales	v	Bulgaria	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

26 March 2011	Bulgaria	v	Switzerland	Vasil Levski, Sofia

4 June 2011	Montenegro	v	Bulgaria	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica

2 September 2011	Bulgaria	v	England	Vasil Levski, Sofia

6 September 2011	Switzerland	v	Bulgaria	St. Jakob Park, Basel

11 October 2011	Bulgaria	v	Wales	Vasil Levski, Sofia

Players

Current squad

Caps and call-ups are correct as of September 7 2010, following the completion of the game against Montenegro.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Vladislav Stoyanov June 8, 1987 (1987-06-08) (age 23) 0 0 Sheriff 13 GK Nikolay Mihaylov June 28, 1988 (1988-06-28) (age 22) 12 0 Twente 2 DF Zahari Sirakov October 8, 1977 (1977-10-08) (age 33) 4 0 Amkar Perm 3 DF Ilian Stoyanov January 20, 1977 (1977-01-20) (age 34) 41 0 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 5 DF Veselin Minev October 14, 1980 (1980-10-14) (age 30) 7 0 Levski Sofia 14 DF Stanislav Manolev December 16, 1985 (1985-12-16) (age 25) 16 0 PSV Eindhoven 15 DF Ivan Ivanov February 25, 1988 (1988-02-25) (age 22) 11 0 Alania Vladikavkaz 16 DF Zhivko Milanov July 15, 1984 (1984-07-15) (age 26) 19 0 Vaslui 6 MF Stanislav Angelov April 12, 1978 (1978-04-12) (age 32) 35 2 Steaua Bucureşti 7 MF Stanislav Genchev March 20, 1981 (1981-03-20) (age 29) 5 1 Vaslui 8 MF Chavdar Yankov March 29, 1984 (1984-03-29) (age 26) 31 5 Rostov 12 MF Georgi Peev March 11, 1979 (1979-03-11) (age 31) 43 0 Amkar Perm 17 MF Martin Petrov January 15, 1979 (1979-01-15) (age 32) 80 19 Bolton Wanderers 18 MF Nikolay Dimitrov October 15, 1987 (1987-10-15) (age 23) 3 0 Kasımpaşa 19 MF Stiliyan Petrov (c) July 5, 1979 (1979-07-05) (age 31) 97 8 Aston Villa 9 FW Martin Kamburov October 13, 1980 (1980-10-13) (age 30) 15 0 Dalian Shide 10 FW Valeri Bojinov February 15, 1986 (1986-02-15) (age 24) 33 7 Parma 11 FW Dimitar Rangelov March 7, 1983 (1983-03-07) (age 27) 21 2 Maccabi Tel Aviv 20 FW Valeri Domovchiyski October 5, 1986 (1986-10-05) (age 24) 10 1 Hertha Berlin 21 FW Iliyan Mitsanski December 20, 1985 (1985-12-20) (age 25) 1 0 Kaiserslautern 23 FW Ivelin Popov October 26, 1987 (1987-10-26) (age 23) 18 3 Gaziantepspor

Recent callups

The following players have also been called up to the Bulgarian squad within last 12 months and are still available for selection.

Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club Latest Callup GK Ivan Karadzhov July 12, 1989 (1989-07-12) (age 21) 0 0 CSKA Sofia 24 May 2010, v South Africa DF Plamen Nikolov June 12, 1985 (1985-06-12) (age 25) 11 0 Litex Lovech 24 May 2010, v South Africa DF Kostadin Stoyanov May 26, 1986 (1986-05-26) (age 24) 5 0 CSKA Sofia 3 March 2010, v Poland DF Pavel Vidanov August 1, 1988 (1988-08-01) (age 22) 1 0 CSKA Sofia 24 May 2010, v South Africa DF Yordan Miliev October 5, 1987 (1987-10-05) (age 23) 1 0 Levski Sofia 3 March 2010, v Poland MF Blagoy Georgiev December 21, 1981 (1981-12-21) (age 29) 43 5 Terek Grozny 24 May 2010, v South Africa MF Georgi Sarmov September 7, 1985 (1985-09-07) (age 25) 5 0 Kasımpaşa 3 March 2010, v Poland

Previous squads

FIFA World Cup squads

• 1962 FIFA World Cup squad
• 1966 FIFA World Cup squad
• 1970 FIFA World Cup squad
• 1974 FIFA World Cup squad
• 1986 FIFA World Cup squad
• 1994 FIFA World Cup squad
• 1998 FIFA World Cup squad

UEFA European Football Championship squads

• UEFA Euro 1996 squad
• UEFA Euro 2004 squad

Recent results

2010

Date	Location	Opponent	Score	Competition	Bulgaria scorers
3 March 2010	Warszawa, Poland	Poland	0-2	F
19 May 2010	Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	1-2	F	Popov  31'
24 May 2010	Johannesburg, South Africa	South Africa	1-1	F	Bojinov  31'
11 August 2010	Saint Petersburg, Russia	Russia	0-1	F
3 September 2010	London, England	England	0-4	UEFA Euro 2012 Q
7 September 2010	Sofia, Bulgaria	Montenegro	0-1	UEFA Euro 2012 Q
8 October 2010	Cardiff, Wales	Wales		UEFA Euro 2012 Q

Records

Player records

As of match played 7 September 2010. Players in bold are still currently playing for the national team.

Most appearances

Most goals

Head coaches

See also

• Bulgaria national under-21 football team
• Bulgaria national under-19 football team

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

Sources

1. ↑ "Draw to decide qualification fixtures". TheFA.com (The Football Association). 15 March 2010. http://www.thefa.com/England/News/2010/Euro2012FixturesMeeting. Retrieved 26 March 2010. 
2. ↑ "News - Euro 2012 - Group G Fixtures Meeting". faw.org.uk (Football Association of Wales). 15 March 2010. http://www.faw.org.uk/news/1641. Retrieved 26 March 2010. 
3. ↑ "Fixtures draw completes qualifying schedule". UEFA.com (Union of European Football Associations). 25 March 2010. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/news/newsid=1467876.html. Retrieved 25 March 2010. 

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