Atanas Kurdov ( bg, Атанас Курдов; born 28 September 1988) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

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

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) ** Sm ...

for

Botev Ihtiman Botev ( bg, Ботев) may refer to: Places * Botevgrad * Botev Peak, the highest peak of the Balkan mountains * Botev Point Sports * FC Botev Galabovo, a football club from Galabovo * OFC Botev Ihtiman, a football club from Ihtiman * FC Bote ...

. His father is former player and manager Petar Kurdov.

Career

Youth career

Kurdov is a product of the

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 ...

's Youth Academy. In 2007, he spent weeks on a trial period in

Celtic FC The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigr ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

. All in all, Kurdov signed for

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, ...

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

On 9 July 2007, Kurdov signed a four-year contract with

. In his first season there, Atanas capped 26 times and scored 10 goals for the

reserves team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. In the summer of 2010 he was released from the club.

Botev Plovdiv

After being released from

he signed with

Bulgarian V AFG The Bulgarian Third Amateur Football League ( bg, Трета аматьорска футболна лига, Treta Amat'orska Futbolna Liga), commonly referred to as Third League ( bg, Трета лига) or Treta liga, is the third level of the ...

side

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes in ...

on 24 August, despite being wanted by his youth club

earlier that summer. He was top scorer in the third tier in 2010–11, with 46 goals in the South East V FG. He also scored 3 goals in 3 minutes against Stambolovo. In January 2011, Kurdov was approached by newly promoted

A PFG 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 ...

club Ludogorets Razgrad, but his transfer fell through, due to the accusations of being a glory seeker from the Botev fans. On June 26, 2012, he was released from

along with 15 other players.

Lokomotiv Plovdiv

After a one-week trial, on 25 August 2012, Kurdov joined Botev's eternal rivals

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 ...

on a year contract. His move to Lokomotiv remains very controversial keeping in mind his family's history with Botev (his father and older brother Evgeni also played for Botev).

FC Astana

On 26 February 2014, Kurdov signed for

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

side

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

. On 19 April, he scored three goals in the 4:3 away win over

Irtysh Pavlodar FC Irtysh Pavlodar ( kk, Ертіс Футбол Клубы, ''Ertis Fýtbol Klýby'') was a Kazakh professional football club based at the Central Stadium in Pavlodar. Irtysh won the Kazakhstan Premier league in 1993 (as ''Ansat''), 1997, 19 ...

in a

match.

Levski Sofia

He returned to his youth club

in the summer 2015, but had difficulty establishing himself as a regular player under manager

Stoycho Stoev Stoycho Zahariev Stoev ( bg, Стойчо Захариев Стоев; born 15 July 1962) is a Bulgarian former footballer and manager. Manager career On 23 July 2013, Bulgaria champions Ludogorets Razgrad replaced coach Ivaylo Petev with Sto ...

and parted ways with the "bluemen" in November.

Lokomotiv Sofia

On 29 June 2017, Kurdov signed a 1-year contract with

Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv 1929 ( bg, Локомотив 1929) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refou ...

. On 3 August 2017, Kurdov released his contract with club.

Slivnishki Geroy

In February 2019, Kurdov joined FC Slivnishki Geroy Slivnitsa.Атанас Курдов продължава кариерата си в Сливнишки герой
topsport.bg, 21 February 2019

Honours

;Astana *

(1):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

Kurdov at IMScouting
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurdov, Atanas 1988 births Living people Footballers from Plovdiv Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria under-21 international footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players FC Winterthur players Botev Plovdiv players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players PFC Slavia Sofia players FC Astana players PFC Levski Sofia players PFC Velbazhd Kyustendil players PFC Litex Lovech players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players Swiss Challenge League players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Kazakhstan Premier League players Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Association football forwards