Dimitar Ivanov Evtimov (; born 7 September 1993) 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 lea ...

who plays 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 ...

for

Botev Vratsa Botev () is a Bulgarian professional association football, football club based in Vratsa, that competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 1921. Si ...

club

. A former Bulgaria under-21 international, he was signed to Chavdar Etropole from Volov Shumen in 2009. He made his first-team debut during the 2010–11 season before he joined English club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in April 2011. From Forest he has spent time on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Ilkeston Ilkeston ( ) is a town located in the Borough of Erewash in Derbyshire, England, with a population of 40,953 at the 2021 census. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/textiles, have now all but disappeared. Part of t ...

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

, Nuneaton Town,

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense (), commonly known as Olhanense, is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Algarve Football Association First Division, the fifth tier of ...

(Portugal), and

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

. He was named the Championship Apprentice of the Year for the 2012–13 season. However, he left the club in August 2018 after making a total of just three first-team appearances. He signed with

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home g ...

in September 2018 and then moved on to

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

four months later. He returned to Bulgaria to sign with CSKA Sofia in July 2020 and won the

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 ...

at the end of the 2020–21 season. He was loaned to Karmiotissa of the Cypriot First Division in July 2024 and to divisional rivals

in January 2025, whom he joined permanently five months later.

Club career

Chavdar Etropole

Evtimov signed with Chavdar Etropole from Volov Shumen in 2009. He made his first-team debut in a 5–1 victory over Kom on 18 September 2010. He made a total of five appearances in the B Group in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season.

Nottingham Forest

Evtimov signed for the English club

in April 2011. He spent a brief time on

, before he joined

in the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

on a one-month loan on 10 November 2011. He played three matches in the space of a week for Steve Housham's "Holy Blues", before losing his first-team place. He was named the Championship Apprentice of the Year for the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. On 16 July 2013, he joined

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

club Nuneaton Town on a three-month loan deal. He made four appearances during his stay at Liberty Way. He made his first-team debut for Forest on 21 April 2014, coming on as a late substitute for the injured

Dorus de Vries Dorus de Vries (born 29 December 1980) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. De Vries began his professional career in his native the Netherlands with Telstar, before spending three seasons with ADO Den Haag. He moved to Brita ...

in a 2–0 win at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. He signed a new two-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

with the club three months later after new

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Stuart Pearce Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. ...

was told by

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

Gary Brazil Gary Nicholas Brazil (born 19 September 1962) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. He scored 160 goals in 658 league and cup games in an 18-year professional career. Starting at Crystal Palace, he turned professi ...

that he was a good prospect. A loan to

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

fell through in July 2014 after manager

Kevin Wilkin Kevin Wilkin (born 1 October 1967) is an English manager and former professional footballer. He is the manager of AFC Telford United. Playing career Born in Cambridge but raised in the Cambridgeshire village of Milton, Wilkin started his caree ...

was unable to accept an instant recall option demanded by Forest due to regulations by the FAW. Evtimov instead joined Nottinghamshire League Two club

on 19 August, on loan until 3 January, after impressing manager Paul Cox during pre-season. He was named on the Football League team of the week for his performance in a 1–0 win at

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

on 20 December. He played a total of 11 games for the "Stags", and new manager Adam Murray stated that "we attempted to extend his loan but unfortunately for us, Forest see him as part of their long-term plans". Evtimov extended his contract with Forest by a further four years in July 2015, tying him to the club until 2019. Following an injury to de Vries, he made his second appearance for Forest at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on 31 October 2015, and manager

Dougie Freedman Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently the sporting director of Al-Diriyah, where he has been since 2025. Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Pal ...

said that he "cost us the game" after he allowed a strike from

Fernando Forestieri Fernando Martin Forestieri (born 15 January 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger. Club career Born in Rosario, Argentina, by Italian parents, Forestieri's career began in 2003 with Newell's Old Boys. Later on that year, when ...

to creep underneath him for the only goal of the game. On 31 August 2016, he signed on loan with Portuguese club

for the 2016–17 season, who were bottom of the

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal Meu Super for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier ...

. His loan spell at the

Estádio José Arcanjo Estadio José Arcanjo is a multi-purpose stadium in Olhão, Portugal. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of SC Olhanense, Olhanense. The stadium was able to hold 11,622 people and was built in 1984. Currentl ...

proved a difficult one as he conceded within three minutes of his debut, in a 3–2 defeat at

União da Madeira União is the Portuguese word for Union. It may refer to: *the Brazilian federal government *União do Vegetal, a church known for its usage of Hoasca as tea * Brazilian frigate ''União'' (F45), a general-purpose ''Niterói'' class frigate launc ...

on 10 September. Manager

Cristiano Bacci Cristiano Bacci (born 6 July 1975) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Greek Super League club Panserraikos. Playing career Bacci has played for Roma and for various Serie C2 and Serie D te ...

lost his job the following month, and though Evtimov established himself in the first-team under new boss Bruno Baltazar, he was recalled from his loan spell earlier than planned on 13 January, having made ten appearances for the "Lions". Evtimov started the 2017–18 season as

Mark Warburton Mark Warburton (born 6 September 1962) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who is currently the Sporting Director and Head of Soccer for Sporting Club Jacksonville ...

's third-choice goalkeeper behind Jordan Smith and Stephen Henderson, and was advised by former "Reds" goalkeeper

Barry Roche Barry Christopher Roche (born 6 April 1982) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and now works as a goalkeeping coach for Fleetwood. He is an Irish former Under-21 international. Career Nottingham Forest Born i ...

to go out on loan to find first-team football. On 8 August 2017, Evtimov started Forest's first round

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

tie against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, conceding a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in a 2–1 win. This was Evtimov's first game for Forest since October 2015 and his home debut at the

City Ground The City Ground is a association football, football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455. ...

six years after first joining the club. On 28 October 2017, Evtimov joined League Two club

on an emergency loan following an injury to loanee goalkeeper

Kelle Roos Kelle Willem Roos (born 31 May 1992) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club US Triestina Calcio 1918, Triestina. Roos spent his youth with a wide variety of ...

, and made his "Valiants" debut later that day against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

. At fault for at least one of the goals in a 3–0 defeat, '' The Sentinels Michael Baggaley wrote that "Evtimov looked as though he had only just been introduced to his defence, but that’s not a criticism because actually he had". Manager

Neil Aspin Neil Aspin (born 12 April 1965) is an English association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A defender who could play at centre-back and right-back, he was a Marking (association football), marker an ...

reserved his criticism for the club's medical staff as they only ruled Roos as unfit to play the previous day. On 31 August 2018, Evtimov's contract with Nottingham Forest was terminated by mutual consent after he found himself behind

Costel Pantilimon Costel Fane Pantilimon (; born 1 February 1987) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. As a player, Pantilimon was deployed as a goalkeeper and began his career at Politehnica Timișoara. In 2011, he signed fo ...

, Luke Steele and Jordan Smith in the first-team pecking order.

Burton Albion

On 14 September 2018, Evtimov signed a one-month contract with

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

club

after manager

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was capped by ...

looked for a goalkeeper with experience in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

to stand in for the injured

Stephen Bywater Stephen Michael Bywater (born 7 June 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He has made appearances for thirteen clubs, most notably for Derby County, where he made over 150 appearances and won the 200 ...

and

Bradley Collins Bradley Ray Collins (born 18 February 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Coventry City. Career Chelsea Born in Southampton, Collins joined Chelsea in 2010 at under-12 level, and signed a scholarshi ...

. He made his debut the following day in a 2–1 win over

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

at the

Pirelli Stadium Pirelli Stadium is an association football stadium on Princess Way in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was built in 2005 and is the current home of Burton Albion FC, replacing the club's old Eton Park home, also on Princess Way, ...

. After the game he said that he was happy with the win and passed on his best wishes to opposition striker

Charlie Wyke Charles Thomas Wyke (born 6 December 1992) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward and captains club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. Career Middlesbrough Wyk ...

, who he injured during an accidental collision. On 16 October, Evtimov signed a new one-month contract. Despite Collins being restored to the starting line-up, Evtimov went on to sign a second contract extension with the "Brewers" to keep him at the club until January.

Accrington Stanley

On 19 January 2019, Evtimov signed an 18-month contract with EFL League One club

. He was signed by manager John Coleman after loanee goalkeeper

Connor Ripley Connor James Ripley (born 13 February 1993) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club Swindon Town F.C., Swindon Town. Ripley turned professional at his lo ...

was recalled by

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. He made his debut the same day, replacing

Luke Armstrong Luke Thomas Armstrong (born 2 July 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Carlisle United. Armstrong came through the ranks at Middlesbrough and Birmingham City. After a short spell in Scotland with Cowdenb ...

in the 83rd minute of the club's 1–0 defeat at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

after

Jonny Maxted Jonathan James Maxted (born 26 October 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Brackley Town. Early and personal life Born in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, Maxted grew up in Boston Spa. His uncle, Paul Maxt ...

was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

; after the match he said he was "gutted" to concede the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the third minute of stoppage-time. On 5 March, he was sent off after he tossed a bottle thrown by a

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

fan back into the crowd. He was sent off for the second time in his Stanley career on 20 April after giving away two penalties in a 3–0 defeat to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

at the

Crown Ground The Crown Ground is a multi-use stadium in Accrington, Lancashire, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Accrington Stanley. Opened in 1968, the stadium has a capacity of 5,450. Stands/terraces *J ...

. He was one of five players released by the club at the end of the 2019–20 season.

CSKA Sofia

On 17 July 2020, Evtimov returned to Bulgaria, signing for First League side

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'' ...

, a club he supported growing up. He was a back-up to Brazilian goalkeeper Gustavo Busatto and played only seven games during the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. He won a

winners' medal after being an unused substitute in the 2021 cup final win over Arda Kardzhali at the

Vasil Levski National Stadium Vasil Levski National Stadium (), named after Bulgarian Folk hero, national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski (1837–1873), is the country's second largest stadium. The stadium has 43,230 seats and is located in the centre of Sofia, on the te ...

. He featured twelve times in the 2021–22 season and played six games in the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

campaign. He featured three times in the 2023–24 campaign. He joined

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club Karmiotissa on loan for the 2024–25 season. He was released by CSKA at the end of the 2024–25 campaign.

Botev Vratsa

On 27 January 2025, Evtimov joined

on loan until the end of the 2024–25 season. He played 20 games for the Green Lions, keeping a clean sheet in the promotion/relegation play-off win over

Pirin Blagoevgrad Football club Pirin (), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the Second League, the second division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 2008, after a merger ...

. On 18 June 2025, he joined the club on a two-year contract.

International career

Evtimov won caps for the under-19 and under-21 teams before he was called up to the senior

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 ...

squad in November 2018.

Career statistics

Honours

CSKA Sofia *

Individual * Championship Apprentice of the Year:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evtimov, Dimitar 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Shumen Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Nottingham Forest F.C. players Ilkeston F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Nuneaton Town F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players S.C. Olhanense players Port Vale F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players PFC CSKA Sofia players POFC Botev Vratsa players Karmiotissa FC players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Northern Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Liga Portugal 2 players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Cypriot First Division players 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen