Dimitar Rangelov ( Bulgarian: Димитър Рангелов; born 9 February 1983) is a Bulgarian former 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

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

. He made his debut for

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 ...

in 2004.

Career

Slavia Sofia

Born 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 ...

, Rangelov started playing football in local team Slavia. On 3 June 2000, then 17 years old, he made his official debut in professional football in a match against

Beroe Stara Zagora Professional Football Club Beroe Stara Zagora, better known as just Beroe (), is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league syst ...

as a 65th-minute substitute. Rangelov played for Slavia Sofia between 2000 and 2006.

Strasbourg

Rangelov was sold to RC Strasbourg for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1 million. In January 2007, he was loaned for six months to German side

Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

. After that, he moved to

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

on a season-long loan and quickly developed into an important first team player at his new team.

Energie Cottbus

After the 2007–08 season, Rangelov signed permanently for Energie Cottbus. He made 49 appearances playing in the Bundesliga, scoring 15 goals.

Borussia Dortmund

On 16 June 2009, Rangelov officially signed his contract with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. The transfer fee was

1 million. His contract is for four years. On 20 March 2010, he scored his first goal in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

for the Dortmund side in the 3–0 home win against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv (loan)

On 4 September 2010, Borussia Dortmund loaned him to

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

until the end of the season with purchase option in the end. On 6 November 2010, Rangelov scored his first goal for Maccabi in the match against

Hapoel Ashkelon Hapoel Ashkelon F.C. (, ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Ashkelon'') was an Israeli football club based in Ashkelon. It was reestablished in 2024 as "Ironi Ashkelon". History After being founded in 1955, Hapoel Ashkelon spent their first few decades in ...

. In April 2011 with the end of regular season (before the playoffs). Rangelov reached a mutual agreement on his release from Maccabi and his return to his original club Dortmund.

Return to Energie Cottbus (loan)

On 28 June 2011, Rangelov re-joined

where he played between 2007 and 2009, signing a one-year loan deal. Rangelov ended the season in 2. Bundesliga with 12 goals to his name making him Energie's top scorer.

Luzern

On 11 July 2012, Rangelov joined

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

side

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (). It is best known for its professional association football, football team, which plays in the Swiss Super League, Super League, the top tier of the ...

on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee, though media reports estimated it to be between €300,000 and £350,000. Four days later, he made his debut in a 1–1 home draw against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

, playing the full 90 minutes. On 11 August Rangelov netted his first goal, scoring a penalty against St. Gallen. He scored his first-ever European goal on 23 August, opening the scoring in a 2–1 home win over

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

in their

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

play-offs first leg tie. A week later, in the second leg tie against Genk, Rangelov was sent off in the 37th minute.

Third Energie Cottbus stint

In October 2018, Rangelov joined

for the third time in his career having signed a contract until the end of the season. As of 2019, he is the only Bulgarian to have scored at four different levels of the German league system.

Return to Slavia Sofia

After nearly 15 years playing abroad Rangelov returned to his childhood club

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia 1913 () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground is the Stadion Aleksandar Sh ...

by signing a contract with the club in July 2020.

VfB Krieschow

Rangelov moved to German club VfB Krieschow, playing in the fifth-tier

NOFV-Oberliga Süd The NOFV-Oberliga Süd is the fifth tier of the German football league system in the southern states of the former East Germany. It covers the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony and southern Brandenburg. It is one of fourteen Ob ...

, in 2021. He left the club after the 2021–22 season.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rangelov goal''.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rangelov, Dimitar 1983 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Footballers from Sofia Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Bulgaria men's international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ligue 2 players Bundesliga players Israeli Premier League players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players NOFV-Oberliga players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Swiss Super League players PFC Slavia Sofia players RC Strasbourg Alsace players FC Erzgebirge Aue players FC Energie Cottbus players Borussia Dortmund players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players FC Luzern players Konyaspor footballers Ümraniyespor footballers Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen