Dinko Tsvetkov Dermendzhiev (; 2 June 1941 – 1 May 2019), nicknamed Chico 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 coach.

Club career

Dinko Dermendzhiev began his youth career in Maritsa Plovdiv. Initially, he played as a goalkeeper, although later he would be famed as a skillful and elegant forward. Dermendzhiev spent his entire professional career 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 ...

, playing for the club for 19 years during the 1960s and 1970s. He participated in 447 matches in A Grupa and scored 194 goals for the club. Dermendzhiev would score twice in eight UEFA club competition games. He also holds the third place in the all time goalscorers ranking of A Grupa. Throughout his career Dermendzhiev scored seven

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

International career

He made 58 appearances for the Bulgaria national football team and scored 19 goals from 1966 to 1977. He participated at three editions of

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

(2 games),

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

(2 games) and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

(2 games and 1 goal), scoring one goal against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Coaching career

The first team Dermendzhiev coached was Chepinets. He then took charge of

, leading the club to win the 1980–81 Bulgarian Cup. On 30 September 1981, under his guidance the club achieved a glorious 1–0 victory over

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. Dermendzhiev would spend several spells in charge of Botev. He would also coach local rivals

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 ...

, as well as Shumen, Lokomotiv Sofia, Spartak Pleven, Maritsa Plovdiv, Omonia Aradippou, Hebar Pazardzhik, Chernomorets Burgas, Bulgaria U21, and have a short spell at Levski Sofia where he achieved 8 wins and 2 draws in 1991.Великият Чико
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Honours

Club Honours

Player

* Bulgarian Cup: 1962, Runner-up: 1963, 1964 * A Grupa: 1967, Runner-up: 1963, 3rd place: 1961 * Balkans Cup: 1972

Manager

* Bulgarian Cup: 1981, Runner-up: 1984, 1991 * A Grupa 3rd place: 1981, 1983 * Balkans Cup Runner-up: 1981

Individual Honours

* Best football player of

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

: 1966, 1967, 1976 * Best football player of

for 20th century

References

External links

* 1941 births 2019 deaths Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgaria men's international footballers Botev Plovdiv players FC Maritsa Plovdiv players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Men's association football midfielders 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Bulgarian football managers Botev Plovdiv managers PFC Levski Sofia managers PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv managers PFC Hebar Pazardzhik managers FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia managers Footballers from Plovdiv Neurological disease deaths in Bulgaria {{Bulgaria-footy-midfielder-stub