Evdokiya Dimitrova Popadiynova (, born 26 October 1996) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Australian

A-League Women A-League Women (currently known as the Ninja A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Fe ...

club

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

and the Bulgaria women's national team. She previously played for Sportika Blagoevgrad in the

Bulgarian Women's League The Bulgarian women's league (Bulgarian: Българска женска лига) is Bulgarian's top level league of women's football in Bulgaria. It features fourteen teams that play a double round robin to decide the champion, which qualifi ...

, Bristol Academy in the English

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

London Bees London Bees is an England, English women's football (soccer), women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League Division One South East, the fourth tier of the Women's football in England#Pyramid, Engl ...

in the English

FA WSL 2 The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

, Northwestern Ohio Racers in the American

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (also FGCU) refer to the fifteen College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Florida Gulf Coast University, located in unincorporated Lee County, Florida near Fort Myers, Fl ...

in the American

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

AaB AAB, AaB or Aab may refer to: Aviation * Abelag Aviation in Belgium * Air Assault Badge, a United States Army military badge * Anti-aircraft battery, a weapons system component for anti-aircraft warfare * IATA airport code for Arrabury Airport ...

in the

Danish Women's League The Danish Women's League () is a professional top-flight league for women's football in Denmark. It is organised by the Danish Football Association (DBU) as part of the nation-wide Danmarksturneringen i kvindefodbold (Kvinde-DM) and is placed a ...

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

and

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, and

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 ...

in the Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

Club career

Early years

Popadinova has played for Sportika Blagoevgrad in her home country before moving to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to sign with Bristol Academy. In doing so, she is the first Bulgarian to make an appearance in the

. In March 2016, Popadinova signed with

team

College

In 2016, Popadinova enrolled at the

University of Northwestern Ohio The University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) is a private university in Lima, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1920 and grants associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, and master's degrees across more than 50 disciplines within five constitue ...

to play for the Racers in the Division II

program. After two yearsת in June 2018, Popadinova transferred to play with the

. Ahead of her senior season, Popadinova was named on the

MAC Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

watchlist, one of only two players from her

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

AaB

In August 2020, Popadinova signed a professional contract with Danish club

. She scored one goal in the four matches she played for the club.

Italy

In November 2020, Popadinova moved to Italy, signing with

. A couple of days later, she made her debut in a 2–1 loss to

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. After scoring four goals in 13 matches during her first season, she signed a one-year contract extension with Napoli in July 2021. In July 2022, Popadinova signed for

. After one season, in August 2023, Popadinova joined

. She scored four goals for the club in 14 matches, helping them win the

title and earn promotion to the

2024–25 Serie A The 2024–25 Serie A (known as the Serie A Enilive and Serie A Made in Italy for sponsorship reasons domestically and abroad, respectively) was the 123rd season of top-tier Italian football, the 93rd in a round-robin tournament, and the 1 ...

Brisbane Roar

In August 2024, Popadinova joined Australian club

. In November, in her first match for the club, she scored her first goal during a 3–2 loss to

Canberra United Canberra United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 2008 by Capital Football, the club was an inaugural member of the W-League and the only club not affiliated with ...

International career

At age 16, Popadinova made her senior 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 ...

on 20 August 2013, coming on as a substitute to score in the 4–2 away win over

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

in a friendly match.

International goals

Personal life

Popadinova was born in

Hadzhidimovo Hadzhidimovo ( ) is a small town and the centre of Hadzhidimovo Municipality in Blagoevgrad Province, south-western Bulgaria. It is located in the southernmost part of Bulgaria, bordering on Greece in the Chech (region), Chech region. Geography ...

Awards

Individual * Bulgarian Women Footballer of the Year (6): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023 * WHAC Newcomer of the Year: 2016 * WHAC Offensive Player of the Year: 2017 * NAIA First Team All-American: 2016, 2017 *

ASUN The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. O ...

Women's Soccer All-Decade Team (2010–19)

References

External links

*
UNOH profile

FGCU profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popadinova, Evdokiya 1996 births Living people People from Hadzhidimovo Bulgarian women's footballers 21st-century Bulgarian sportswomen Women's association football forwards Bristol Academy W.F.C. players London Bees players University of Northwestern Ohio alumni College women's soccer players in the United States Florida Gulf Coast Eagles women's soccer players SSD Napoli Femminile players Women's Super League players Serie A (women's football) players Serie B (women's football) players SS Lazio Women 2015 players Brisbane Roar FC (women) players Bulgaria women's international footballers Bulgarian expatriate women's footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate women's footballers in Denmark Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Footballers from Blagoevgrad Province