Vladimir Gadzhev

Vladimir Gadzhev
Personal information
Date of birth18 July 1987
Place of birthVelingrad, Bulgaria
Height1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
Levski Sofia
Number45
Youth career
–2004Levski Sofia
2004–2005Panathinaikos
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2005–2009Panathinaikos0(0)
2006–2007Levadiakos (loan)26(5)
2007–2008OFI Crete (loan)18(0)
2008–2009Levski Sofia (loan)23(1)
2009–Levski Sofia114(15)
National team
2007–2008Bulgaria U21
2010–Bulgaria25(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 May 2014.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 09:24, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

Vladimir Gadzhev (Bulgarian: Владимир Гаджев; born on 18 July 1987) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays for Levski Sofia and the Bulgarian national team. He is a midfielder and serves as captain for Levski.

A product of the Levski Sofia Academy, Gadzhev joined Greek side Panathinaikos in 2004. He had three loan spells away from Panathinaikos. He was loaned to Levadiakos in 2006, OFI Crete in 2007 and Levski in 2008, and signed for Levski on a permanent basis in 2009.

Career

Youth career

Gadzhev is a product of Levski Sofia's youth academy.

Panathinaikos

In the summer of 2004, at the age of 17, Gadzhev joined a Greek side Panathinaikos but failed to break into the first team and was eventually loaned to Beta Ethniki side Levadiakos for the 2006–07 season. He earned 26 appearances for Levadiakos, scored five goals and helped his team gain promotion to the Superleague Greece. For the following campaign Gadzhev was loaned out to Superleague Greece club OFI Crete, where he made 18 appearances.

Levski Sofia

On 4 July 2008, Levski signed Gadzhev on a season-long loan deal. He made his Bulgarian A Group debut in a 1–0 away loss against Vihren Sandanski on 9 August. He scored his first goal for Levski on 27 August, netting the equalizer in the 1–1 away draw against BATE Borisov in the third qualifying round of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League. Gadzhev play regularly in his first season, making 23 league appearances and collected his first A Group title winner's medal at the end of the 2008–09 season. On 31 May 2009, in the penultimate game of the campaign against Minyor Pernik, Gadzhev scored his first league goal for Levski, clinching the draw 1–1 and the title for the club.[1]

On 7 July 2009, Gadzhev signed a permanent contract with Levski for an undisclosed fee.[2] A week later, he scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season, netting the fourth in a 4–0 win over Sant Julià in the 2nd Qualifying round of Champions League at Georgi Asparuhov Stadium. On 1 August, Gadzhev came on as a substitute in the 2009 Bulgarian Supercup against Litex Lovech. Unfortunately at the end of the game he received a very heavy injury. The diagnose was damaged torn knee ligaments. Cause of that he missed the first part of the season. However in January 2010 it was announced that Gadzhev recovered from his injury. He made his comeback for Levski from a serious knee injury on 16 March 2010, playing for 60 minutes as a captain of the reserves' 2–2 draw against Litex Lovech. On 20 March, Gadzhev featured as substitute in Levski's 3–0 win over Slavia Sofia in the A Group. On 2 May 2010, he scored the equalizer in a 1–1 away draw with Cherno More.

On 28 July 2011, Gadzhev scored the equalizing goal against Spartak Trnava in UEFA Europa League and afterwards Levski won the game with a 2–1 final score. On 21 November 2011, he signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him at Levski until 2014.[3]

On 17 March 2013, Gadzhev made his 100th league appearance for Levski in a 0–0 draw against Montana.

On 25 September 2013, Gadzhev scored his first brace for the club in a 6–0 win over Neftochimic Burgas.

On 23 May 2014, Gadzhev announced that he would leave Levski.[4] On 1 July, however, he re-signed a new one-year contract with Levski.[5] A few days later, Gadzhev was stripped of the captaincy by new manager Pepe Murcia.[6] After the departure of Valeri Bojinov in August, he was again given the captaincy.

National team

Gadzhev made his international debut on 17 November 2010 in a friendly match against Serbia. Vladimir came in as a substitution in the 65th minute. However, Bulgaria lost the match with a score of 0-1. He scored his first goal in a 2-1 home win over Belarus national football team, a precise long-distance header.

Career stats

Club

As of 29 May 2014.
Club Season League Cups Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Levski Sofia 2008–09 2314131313
2009–10 1010031132
2010–11 23231101364
2011–12 2762021317
2012–13 2214020281
2013–14 3255010385
Career totals 1371618221417622

National team

Bulgaria national team
YearAppsGoals
201010
201140
201270
201390
201411
Total221

International goals

Scores and goals list Bulgaria's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 5 March 2014 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria  Belarus 2–0 2–1 Friendly

Honours

References

  1. "Левски шампион!!!" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 31 May 2009.
  2. "Левски официално взе Гаджев" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 7 July 2009.
  3. "Гаджев продължи договора си с Левски до 2014 година" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 21 November 2011.
  4. "Гаджев призна: Напускам Левски" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 23 May 2014.
  5. "Vladimir Gadzhev stay with the club signed new contarct". levski.bg. 1 July 2014.
  6. "Левски смени и капитана" (in Bulgarian). segabg.com. 19 July 2014.

External links