Georgi Nikolov Glouchkov (alternate spelling: Gueorgui) (; born January 10, 1960) is a Bulgarian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and president of

Bulgarian Basketball Federation The Bulgarian Basketball Federation () also known as (BFB) is the national governing body of basketball in Bulgaria. They organize national competitions in Bulgaria for the Bulgaria national basketball team, Bulgaria men's national basketball tea ...

. A 6 ft 8 in (204 cm)

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, he was the first player from an

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

country to compete in the American

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). Glouchkov has served as Bulgaria's

Minister of Youth and Sports Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

under Prime Minister

Dimitar Glavchev Dimitar Borisov Glavchev (; born 15 August 1963) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2024 to 2025, leading a caretaker government. A political independent, he is currently the Head of the Chamber of Audit. He ...

since April 9, 2024.

Professional career

Glouchkov began playing with Bulgaria's national team as a teenager. After one successful season with the Luskov Yambol junior side, he got promoted to their senior side by his junior coach Simeon Varchev. They also worked together in

BC Balkan Botevgrad BC Balkan Botevgrad () is a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in Botevgrad.Team profile at ''Bgbasket.co ...

and Akademik Varna. By the mid-1980s, he had established a reputation as one of Europe's top five players.Johnson, Roy. F. "A sun far from home court". ''New York Times''. November 12, 1985. p. 10. After averaging 23 points and 19

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

during the 1984–85 seasonhttp://www.interbasket.net/players/glouchkov.htm
Retrieved 25 August 2006. in which his team Akademik Varna won the national championship, he attracted the attention of the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

, who selected him in the seventh round (148th pick overall) of the

1985 NBA draft The 1985–86 NBA season, 1985 NBA draft took place on June 18, 1985. It was also the first NBA draft of the "NBA draft lottery, lottery" era. It was also around this time where the league decreased the amount of rounds the draft spent, with the ...

. The Suns signed him to much fanfare on September 25, 1985, releasing a special

press kit A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials that provide information about a person, company, organization or cause and which is distributed to members of the Mass media, ...

which included a history of Bulgaria and a glossary of Bulgarian phrases. Glouchkov knew very little English and was accompanied by Bozhidar Takev, a Bulgarian coach and trainer who translated for him. At the beginning of the season, Glouchkov impressed the Suns with his strong rebounding and became a regular member of the team's playing rotation; as the year went on, however, Glouchkov began gaining weight, and his productivity decreased. He ended the 1985-86 NBA season with averages of 4.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. As the season came to a close, Glouchkov began losing weight at a dramatic pace. When he reported to the Suns' 1986 summer league team, he weighed 25 pounds less than he had weighed when he first signed with the Suns. After a poor performance in summer league competition, the Suns advised him to return to Europe. Glouchkov did return to his homeland and continued to play basketball in the European leagues. He had his most post-NBA success with the Italian club Phonola Caserta, whom he led to the European Winner's Cup finals in 1989 before losing to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Glouchkov was a

FIBA Balkans Selection The 1991 FIBA Centennial Jubilee was the special edition tournament of the Acropolis International Basketball Tournament that was organized jointly by FIBA Europe and the Hellenic Basketball Federation to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Honours and titles

Domestic competitions

* Italian League : ''Runners-up (1)'': 1986–87 *

Italian Cup Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

: Winners (1): 1987–88 : ''Runners-up (1)'': 1988–89 * Bulgarian Championships Winners (1) 1985 *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament's format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

Winners (1) 1981

European competitions

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup, founded as ''FIBA European Cup Winners Cup'', was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against eac ...

: ''Runners-up (1)'': 1988–89 *

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

: ''Semifinalist (1)'': 1986–87

National team career

Glouchkov began playing with the junior national teams of Bulgaria at the age of seventeen. He began playing with the senior men's Bulgarian national team at the age of 19. He participated in 4

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

s. He played at the EuroBasket 1979, the

EuroBasket 1985 The 1985 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1985, was the 24th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 5 to 16 June 1985 in West Germany. The Soviet Union defeated Cze ...

, the EuroBasket 1989, and the EuroBasket 1991.FIBAEUROPE.com:Glouchkov, Gueorgui Nikolov
/ref>

References

External links

*
Georgi Glouchkov Player Info
at

NBA.com The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

ACB.com Profile

LegaBasket.it profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glouchkov, Georgi 1960 births Living people BC Yambol players Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Bulgarian men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Bulgarian expatriate basketball people in the United States Italian men's basketball players Italian people of Bulgarian descent Liga ACB players Mens Sana Basket players Pallacanestro Reggiana players People from Tryavna Sportspeople from Gabrovo Province Phoenix Suns draft picks Phoenix Suns players Power forwards Saski Baskonia players 20th-century Italian sportsmen 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen