Ayan Faikov Sadakov () (26 September 1961 – 1 July 2017) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

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 lea ...

and a key member of the Bulgarian national team in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

Club career

Sadakov began his club career at the local

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

. For "The Smurfs" he played eleven seasons, before transferring to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

in 1989. Two years later he return in Lokomotiv and played two years, before signed with

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

in summer 1994.

International

Sadakov made 80 appearances for Bulgaria, between 1981 and 1991 and scored 9 goals. He played in four matches for his country at

Coaching career

Sadakov had been appointed on September 29, 2008 as a manager of

a second time to replace Dragan Kanatlarovski.

Personal life

In 2014, Sadakov announced he was diagnosed with

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

. He died on 1 July 2017, aged 55.

Honours

;Lokomotiv Plovdiv * Cup of the Soviet Army (1):

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sadakov, Ayan 1961 births 2017 deaths Bulgarian football managers Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Primeira Liga players Footballers from Plovdiv Botev Plovdiv players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv managers C.F. Os Belenenses players Neurological disease deaths in Bulgaria Deaths from motor neuron disease Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal