Anatoli Aleksandrov Nankov (; born 15 July 1969) is a Bulgarian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is currently in charge of Marek Dupnitsa.

Career

Nankov spent most of his career playing in the

Bulgarian A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

, but also had a spell with

GKS Katowice GKS Katowice (; GKS stands for , ) is a Polish professional football club based in Katowice. They currently compete in the Ekstraklasa in the 2024–25 season after gaining promotion from the I liga in 2024. History In 1963 in Katowice a spe ...

. On 23 July 1997, Nankov was involved in arguably one of the most dramatic matches in

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () 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 Sports Club of the Army'' ...

's recent history, scoring twice to give his team a 3:1 away lead against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n side

FC Steaua București Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of th ...

in the first leg of a Champions League preliminary phase match, but was ultimately sent off and the

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

succeeded in bringing the score to 3–3. CSKA Sofia were eliminated from the competition after suffering a 0–2 home defeat in the return leg, for which Nankov was ineligible to play. He has been capped 17 times for the Bulgaria national team, scoring 1 goal, and played two games at the 1998 World Cup, receiving a red card in the first match against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, which ended in a scoreless draw. He acted as manager of Hebar Pazardzhik in 2005 and was later employed as the assistant manager to

Stoycho Mladenov Stoycho Dimitrov Mladenov (; born 12 April 1957 in Ploski, Blagoevgrad Province) is a Bulgarian former football player and manager. He has 212 matches and 107 goals for CSKA. With the club he won the national title 6 times, 4 as a player and ...

at CSKA Sofia until March 2015. Following Mladenov's resignation, Nankov was head coach of the "redmen" in one match – a 0–0 draw with Beroe.

Honours

CSKA Sofia *

First Professional Football League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

: 1991–92, 1996–97 *

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 ...

: 1992–93, 1996–97

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nankov, Anatoli 1969 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders 1998 FIFA World Cup players FC Dunav Ruse players PFC Slavia Sofia players PFC CSKA Sofia players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players FC Spartak Varna players Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. players GKS Katowice players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ekstraklasa players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in China Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Bulgarian football managers PFC CSKA Sofia managers PFC Hebar Pazardzhik managers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) managers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen