Kiril Kotev ( bg, Кирил Котев; born 18 April 1982) is a Bulgarian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

In his youth years, Kotev started to play football at Vihar Gorublyane. At the age of 16 he moved to

Velbazhd Kyustendil Velbazhd Kyustendil ( bg, Велбъжд Кюстендил) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Kyustendil. The club currently competes in the A RFG Kyustendil, the fourth tier of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1919. ...

. In 2002 Kotev signed with

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park a ...

, with whom he became a Champion of Bulgaria and holder of

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup ( bg, Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match an ...

in 2004. In the same year he made his debut for the

Bulgaria national football team The Bulgaria national football team ( bg, Български национален отбор по футбол, Bǎlgarski natsionalen otbor po futbol) represents Bulgaria in men's international football and is administered by the Bulgarian F ...

. In January 2005,

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

signed Kotev to a four-year deal for €100,000. After the departure of

Aleksandar Tunchev Aleksandar Blagov Tunchev ( bg, Александър Тунчев; born 10 July 1981) is a Bulgarian former footballer who played as a defender. He is currently head coach at Arda Kardzhali. Club career Bulgaria Tunchev started his career in h ...

and

Valentin Iliev Valentin Iliev Valov ( bg, Валентин Илиев Валов; born 11 August 1980) is a Bulgarian football manager and former professional player. Personal life Iliev's father, Iliya Valov, was goalkeeper for CSKA and Bulgaria's nationa ...

in the summer of 2008, he started to play a lot more regularly showing his great abilities, great sense for marking and also scoring some important goals for the club. On 5 June 2013, Kotev signed with Cherno More. He quickly became an important player and was made team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in February 2014. He left the club after his contract expired at the end of the 2014–15 season. On 26 May, it was announced that he will be released and Kotev was not included in the squad for the 2015 Bulgarian Cup Final. On 24 June 2015, Kotev signed a 1-year contract with his old club

. He was released on 15 June 2017 and publicly expressed his disappointment regarding the late announcement of the club's decision. On 7 July 2017 he joined CSKA 1948 in the Bulgarian Third League. On 12 June 2018, Kotev was appointed as sporting director of CSKA 1948 which marked his retirement as footballer.

International career

He was part of the Bulgarian

2004 European Football Championship The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

team, which exited in the first round, finishing bottom of Group C, having finished top of Qualifying Group 8 in the pre-tournament phase.

Chinese League career statistics

(''Correct as of 1 March 2012'')

Honours

;Lokomotiv Plovdiv *

A Group The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

: 2003–04 *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

;CSKA Sofia *

: 2007–08 *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) 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 tourname ...

: 2005–06 *

(2):

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Dalian Aerbin Dalian Professional Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that participates in the China Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). Their home stadium is Dalian Sports Ce ...

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotev, Kiril 1982 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Velbazhd Kyustendil players PFC Vidima-Rakovski Sevlievo players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players PFC CSKA Sofia players PFC Cherno More Varna players FC CSKA 1948 Sofia players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate footballers in China Dalian Professional F.C. players China League One players UEFA Euro 2004 players Bulgaria international footballers Association football defenders