Aleks Milenov Petkov ( bg, Алекс Миленов Петков; born 25 July 1999) is a Bulgarian 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, rugby ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Polish club

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish f ...

and the Bulgaria national team.Alex Petkov Stats
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Career

Petkov began his career at

Cherno More Varna Cherno More ( bg, Черно Море) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on March 3, 1913, as an asso ...

and joined Heart of Midlothian at the age of 16 in June 2016, signing a three-year contract. On 22 July 2017, Petkov made his first-team debut, replacing John Souttar during a 3–0

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

victory over East Fife at

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...

. On 19 January 2018, Petkov joined

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

side

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing f ...

on loan until the end of the season. He made his league debut in a 2–3 home loss against

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census ...

eleven days later, playing the full 90 minutes. During the 2019–20 season Petkov was loaned to Clyde and

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...

. On 8 September 2020, Petkov returned to Bulgaria, signing a 1-year deal with

Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 ...

. On 6 July 2023, after a two-year stint at

Arda Kardzhali FC Arda 1924 Kardzhali ( bg, ПФК Арда Кърджали) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Kardzhali, which currently competes in the First League, the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system. It was founded on 13 ...

, Petkov joined Polish side

on a one-year contract, with an option for another two years.

International career

Petkov made his debut for the Bulgarian under-21 team on 22 March 2019 in the starting eleven for the friendly against Northern Ireland U21. He earned his first cap for the senior national team on 26 March 2022, coming on as a substitute during the second half in the 1–2 loss against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

in a friendly match. On 16 November 2023, he scored an own goal in the 97th minute in the penultimate match of the

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament is an upcoming football competition that will be played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that will join the automatically qualified host team Germany in ...

against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

Personal life

His father

Milen Petkov Milen Ivanov Petkov ( bg, Милен Иванов Петков; born 12 January 1974) is a former Bulgarian international football player, who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Petkov started his career in the Dobrudzha Dobrich and ...

was also a professional footballer and Bulgarian international.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petkov, Alex 1999 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Bulgaria men's youth international footballers Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Brechin City F.C. players PFC Levski Sofia players FC Arda Kardzhali players Śląsk Wrocław players Scottish Professional Football League players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ekstraklasa players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland