Emil Lyubchov Kostadinov (; born 12 August 1967) 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 forward and represented the Bulgaria national team at two World Cups.

Club career

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 ...

, Kostadinov started his career in CSKA Sofia. There he formed a redoubtable trio with

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov (; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer and current football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association football), forward, he is widely regarded as the g ...

and Luboslav Penev in the late 1980s, helping the team to win three times the Bulgarian Championship title, three times the Bulgarian Cup and reached the semi-final of the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

. He played for

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

from 1990 to 1994, winning the Portuguese league twice, and becoming popular among Portuguese fans. He also played for

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, Bayern Munich (winning the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

with them in 1996 and scoring in the final itself), Fenerbahçe, Mainz 05, and UANL Tigres.

International career

Kostadinov played in the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship scoring two goals. He was a member of the Bulgaria national team from 1988 to 1998. He earned 70 caps in which he scored 27 goals. Kostadinov gained international prominence after scoring two goals in the last matchday of the European 1994 World Cup qualification, against the France national team. He scored his second goal in the last second of the match with a shot with his right foot from inside the French penalty area that sent the ball into the roof of the net. That match-winning goal enabled

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 ...

to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals at the expense of France. After helping Bulgaria qualify for the 1994 World Cup, he was a part of the squad that reached the semi-finals in the proper tournament, again in partnership with

. He played all seven games but did not score. During the game against Italy in the semi-final, Kostadinov was fouled by Alessandro Costacurta in the penalty area, who later committed a handball offence there as well. Both actions were not given penalties, which sparked a lot of controversy, as Bulgarians accused the French referee Joël Quiniou of purposefully ignoring the situations to get "revenge" for the decisive qualifying game between Bulgaria and France at the

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

, which saw the former qualifying to the World Cup at the expense of the latter. He also played at the Euro 96 and the 1998 World Cup, both tournaments in which Bulgaria did not reach the second round. He scored one (and actually the only) goal in the 1998 World Cup against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the group stages. He retired before the qualifying campaign for Euro 2000.

International goals

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

Honours

CSKA Sofia * Bulgarian A PFG: 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90 * Bulgarian Cup: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89 * Cup of the Soviet Army: 1985-86, 1988-89, 1989–90 * Bulgarian Supercup:

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Porto *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 1990–91, 1993–94 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Bayern Munich *

: 1995–96 Bulgaria *

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 ...

: fourth place (bronze):

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kostadinov, Emil 1967 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Men's association football forwards Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgaria men's international footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers PFC CSKA Sofia players FC Porto players FC Bayern Munich footballers 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Tigres UANL footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Primeira Liga players La Liga players Süper Lig players Liga MX players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico UEFA Europa League–winning players