| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ivan Petkov Tsvetkov | ||
| Date of birth | 31 August 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | PFC Levski Sofia | ||
| Number | 19 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Pirin Blagoevgrad | |||
| 1997–1998 | SC Heerenveen | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1998–2000 | SC Heerenveen | 16 | (2) |
| 2000–2002 | BV Veendam | 66 | (40) |
| 2002–2004 | FC Zwolle | 41 | (1) |
| 2004–2005 | Helmond Sport | 32 | (19) |
| 2005–2007 | Sparta Rotterdam | 41 | (8) |
| 2007–2008 | Sivasspor | 41 | (11) |
| 2008–2010 | Khazar Lankaran | 50 | (22) |
| 2011 | Pirin Blagoevgrad | 12 | (8) |
| 2011– | Levski Sofia | 14 | (3) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13 June 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Ivan Tsvetkov (Bulgarian: Иван Цветков) (born 31 August 1979 in Blagoevgrad) is an ethnically Bulgarian born Dutch footballer, who plays as a forward for Levski Sofia.[1]
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Born in Blagoevgrad, Tsvetkov took up football with local side Pirin. At the age of 18, he joined Dutch SC Heerenveen's youth academy. In 1998 Tsvetkov started his senior career and during his two seasons at Abe Lenstra Stadion, he scored 2 goals in 16 matches.
In summer of 2000, Tsvetkov joined BV Veendam. After 18 goals in his first season, he was named as the Eerste Divisie top scorer at the close of the following 2001–02 season with a total of 22 goals in the league.
In July 2002, Tsvetkov transferred to Zwolle after Veendam accepted an undisclosed bid. He spent two years at Zwolle, where he capped 41 times and scored 1 goal, before moved to Helmond Sport.
In January 2007 after making 41 appearances for Sparta Rotterdam, Tsvetkov was transferred to Turkish side Sivasspor. He scored his first Süper Lig hat-trick on 30 March 2007, scoring four in a 4–0 win over Kasımpaşa.[2]
On 27 August 2008, Tsvetkov signed for Azerbaijani club Khazar Lankaran.[3] During that season, Ivan became a topscorer of his team, scoring 15 goals, and the second goalscorer of the league.
On 4 March 2011, Tsvetkov returned to Bulgaria and signed for Pirin Blagoevgrad on a rolling contract until the end of the season.[4] On 2 April, in a 3–0 home victory over Montana, he netted his first goal in an A PFG match and assisted Krum Bibishkov and Anton Karachanakov.[5] Four days later Tsvetkov scored his first Bulgarian Cup goal as he netted the first in a 2–1 away victory over Lokomotiv Plovdiv. He continued his goal scoring form on 30 April, scoring the opening goal in the 2–0 home win over Beroe. On 4 May Ivan scored twice in a 2-3 home defeat to Levski Sofia.[6] Tsvetkov's 5th Pirin league goal came during a 2-2 away draw against Lokomotiv Plovdiv on 7 May. On 14 May, he scored the fifth goal of a 6–0 home victory over Akademik Sofia.[7] Four days later, Tsvetkov scored Pirin's second in a 2–2 away draw against CSKA Sofia. On 21 May, he netted from a free-kick in a 1-1 home draw against Chernomorets Burgas, securing Pirin's place in the top flight for the next season.
In June 2011, Tsvetkov signed for Levski Sofia. On 2 July 2011, he made his unofficial debut and netted the only goal in the 1:0 win against Loko Sofia in an exhibition match, which marked the end of former Bulgarian international Georgi Markov's professional football career.[8] His official debut for Levski came on 28 July 2011 - he played the full 90 minutes in the 2:1 win over Slovak side FC Spartak Trnava in a UEFA Europa League match.[9] On 8 August 2011, in his first A PFG match for Levski, he scored the only goal in the 1:0 win against Slavia Sofia.[10] On 28 October 2011, Tsvetkov made his first appearance in The Eternal Derby of Bulgaria, coming on as a late substitute in the 0:1 loss against CSKA Sofia.[11] On 23 November 2011, he scored the only goal for Levski in the 1:0 win over FC Bansko in a 2011–12 Bulgarian Cup match.[12]
He holds Dutch citizenship.[13] In 2003, Tsvetkov was forced to give up his Bulgarian citizenship in order to acquire a Dutch passport. He recently expressed a wish to regain his Bulgarian citizenship, but was taken aback due to the complicated procedures that had to be followed and eventually decided against it.[14]
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