Bozhidar Mitrev (; born 31 March 1987 in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

) is 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 ...

n retired 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Mitrev began his career at Levski Sofia. In early 2013 he moved to Lokomotiv Sofia, where he made more than 60 league appearances, before moving to

Moldovan National Division The Moldovan Liga, officially known as Liga 7777.md for sponsorship reasons, is an association football league that is the top division of Football in Moldova, Moldovan football league system. The competition was established in 1992, when Moldov ...

club Sheriff Tiraspol in 2015. In early 2017 Mitrev re-signed for Levski.

Career

Levski Sofia

Mitrev came through the youth ranks at Levski Sofia. For 2006–07 season he was promoted to the first squad as third choice behind Georgi Petkov and Nikolay Mihaylov. He made his debut in a 3–0 home loss against Werder Bremen in the group stage of the Champions League on 31 October 2006, replacing Nikolay Mihaylov at half-time. On 4 November, he started for first time, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 home league win over Beroe Stara Zagora. On 5 December, Mitrev played in Levski's 2–0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, making several excellent saves, including one reaction save from a

Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian Association football, football coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach at Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland. During his prime he was regarded as on ...

header. However, he received criticism from the Chelsea faithful for a bad challenge on

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is the Top international association football goal scorers by cou ...

, clearly fouling him. Chelsea were not offered a penalty, however Drogba accepted the apologies of the goalkeeper. Mitrev collected his first A Group title winner's medal at the end of the 2006–07 season, playing 12 matches in all competitions. On 10 March 2009, Mitrev scored 90-meters goal for the second team of Levski in a game against Vihren Sandanski. On 9 May 2009, he kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 win in the

Eternal derby of Bulgarian football The Eternal derby of Bulgarian football or simply The Eternal derby () is the name of the local derby Association football, football match between the two most popular and successful football clubs in Sofia and Bulgaria: PFC Levski Sofia, Levski ...

against CSKA Sofia. Mitrev finished the season with 7 appearances in the league, as Levski clinched the A Group. On 17 December 2009, Mitrev played in a 1–0 Europa League away win over

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

Stadio Olimpico Stadio Olimpico (; ), colloquially known as l'Olimpico (The Olympic), is an Italian multi-purpose sports venue located in Rome. Seating over 70,000 spectators, it is the largest sports facility in Rome and the second-largest in Italy, after ...

. Mitrev left Levski on 1 July 2012 after his contract with the club expired. He spent six seasons of his career with Levski, mainly as a backup. He played 52 competitive games in all competitions.

Lokomotiv Sofia

After six months without a club, Mitrev joined Lokomotiv Sofia on 28 December 2012. He made his debut in a 2–0 away loss against

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 ...

on 2 March 2013. Mitrev left the team from the Nadezhda district after the 2014/2015

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 ...

season when it was administratively relegated to the V group, as it was unable to obtain a license for professional football due to failing to meet the deadlines to pay for or provide sufficient guarantees regarding its debts.

Sheriff Tiraspol

In June 2015, Mitrev moved abroad for the first time, joining

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

n club Sheriff Tiraspol.

Return to Levski

In March 2017, Mitrev was signed by Levski urgently since the starter Bojan Jorgacevic will be unavailable for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury and the other two goalkeepers being too young and inexperienced. Mitrev signed for 1,5 years. At the beginning of 2017–18 season, he was appointed as the captain of the team.

Voluntari

On 27 February 2019, Mitrev signed with

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 club FC Voluntari until the end of the season with an option for extension.

International career

On 7 February 2015, Mitrev made his first appearance for

, in the 0–0 draw with

in a non-official

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

, playing the first 45 minutes. He earned his first cap on 8 June 2015, in the 0:4 loss against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in another exhibition game, being between the sticks for the entire duration of the match. His official debut followed a few days after, keeping a clean sheet the whole match in a 0–1 away win against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Career statistics

Honours

; Levski Sofia * A Group (2): 2006–07, 2008–09 * Bulgarian Cup: 2006–07 * Bulgarian Supercup (2):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

; Sheriff Tiraspol *

: 2015–16 *

Moldovan Super Cup The Moldovan Super Cup () is the national football (soccer), football super cup competition in Moldova, officially having the winners of the previous season's Moldovan Liga and Moldovan Cup face-off against each other. In case when the national cu ...

: 2016 ; Individual Best goalkeeper in the

Bulgarian First 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 ...

- 2017.

References

External links

Profile at Levskisofia.info
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitrev, Bozhidar 1987 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bulgaria men's international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Moldovan Super Liga players Liga I players PFC Levski Sofia players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players FC Sheriff Tiraspol players FC Voluntari players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Moldova Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Romania 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen