Kiril Vasilev Despodov (; born 11 November 1996) is 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 ...

n 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 primarily as a winger for

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

and the Bulgaria national team, which he captains. Despodov made his way through the youth teams at Litex Lovech before making his senior debut in 2012 at the age of 15. He became part of

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'' ...

in June 2016, where he established himself as the team's star player, winning the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award in 2018 – the first CSKA player to do so since

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 ...

in 1989. He won it for second time in 2021, and again in 2022. On 23 March 2018, Despodov made his senior international debut for Bulgaria in a 1–0 friendly loss against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Club career

Litex Lovech

Despodov was born in

Kresna Kresna ( ) is a town and the seat of Kresna Municipality in Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria. It is located in the southwestern part of Bulgaria. History The archaeological findings found testify that the area has been inhabited since ancient ...

. He joined Litex Lovech's Academy at the age of 12 and progressed through the club's youth system. He played an important role in Litex's 2012 BFU U-16 Cup win, scoring two goals in the final against Cherno More on 26 April. Despodov made his first team debut under

's management, at 15 years 183 days, in a 5–0 league win over Kaliakra Kavarna on 12 May 2012, coming on as a substitute for Svetoslav Todorov. He scored his first goal on 10 August 2013, netting the fifth in a 5–1 away league win over Pirin Gotse Delchev. On 22 November 2014, Despodov scored his first goal of the 2014–15 season against Cherno More in a 3–0 away win. On 27 November, he signed his first professional contract with Litex shortly after turning 18. Two days later he scored his second goal of the season in a 2–2 away draw against

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

in the 66th minute to clinch a point for his team. Despite the not so good start of the season 2015–16 for Despodov, as he played only in 4 matches from 19 rounds, he became a hero in the quarterfinals of the Bulgarian Cup. In the match against

, after coming on as a substitute in the 76th minute when the match was 0–0 and Litex was down to 10 people, they eventually ended up winning the game after extra time 3–0, with Despodov scoring 2 of the goals.

CSKA Sofia

He joined

in the summer of 2016. On 29 April 2017, Despodov scored his first goal in The Eternal Derby, netting the second in CSKA Sofia's 3–0 win over

in a

First Professional Football League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

match. Remaining with the club until January 2019 and becoming popular with the fans of the "redmen", Despodov later began receiving a frosty reception from many of them as a result of becoming part of the ranks of league rivals

Ludogorets Razgrad Professional Football Club Ludogorets 1945 (), commonly known as Ludogorets Razgrad or simply Ludogorets, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Razgrad, which currently competes in the First Professional Football League ...

in 2020. On 30 April 2023, a decisive league match between CSKA Sofia and Ludogorets Razgrad had to be temporarily halted after Despodov was unable to take a corner kick as a result of objects being thrown at him by CSKA supporters.

Cagliari

On 30 January 2019, Despodov completed a transfer to

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 ...

side

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, signing a contract until 2023 with an extension option for one more season. CSKA Sofia did not reveal the exact transfer fee, but it was reported that it broke the record for an outgoing First League transfer of a local Bulgarian player, which until then was

's $ 4.5 million move to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in the summer of 1990. He made his debut for the club in a 3–0 away loss to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

on 10 February, coming on for Artur Ioniță in the 75th minute.

Sturm Graz (loan)

On 2 September 2019, Despodov was loaned to Sturm Graz for the 2019–20 season.

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 5 October 2020, Cagliari announced that Despodov would be loaned to

with an option to buy. The deal would see him remain at the club for the duration of the 2020–21 campaign. On 19 June 2021, Ludogorets announced that he had signed permanently with the club. On 12 March 2023, Despodov scored his first hat-trick for Ludogorets in a 3–2 home win over Cherno More in a league match.

PAOK

On 4 September 2023,

club

announced the signing of Despodov on a four-year contract, for a reported fee of €3 million. On 28th January 2024, he scored a brace in a home match against Panathinaikos, securing a 2–1 win.

International career

On 7 February 2015, Despodov made his first appearance for

, in a goalless draw with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in a non-official

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

, coming on as a late substitute for Stanislav Manolev. He was also called up in March 2017, for a 2018 World Cup qualifier against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, but remained on the bench. Despodov finally made his complete debut for Bulgaria on 23 March 2018 in a friendly match against

, replacing Spas Delev shortly after the one hour mark. On 13 October 2018, he scored his first goal for the national team in a 2–1 home win against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, in a match for the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competition ...

. His second goal came in a

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

against

Switzerland national football team The Switzerland national football team (, , , , ) represents Switzerland in men's international Association football, football. The national team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. Switzerland's best performances at the FIFA Worl ...

. On 29 March 2022, Despodov opened the scoring in the friendly match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, but was dismissed from the field almost immediately after that due to receiving a second yellow card for taking off his shirt as part of his

goal celebration In sports, a goal celebration is the practice of celebrating the scoring of a goal. The celebration is normally performed by the goalscorer, and may involve their teammates, the manager or coaching staff or the supporters of the team. Whilst ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals :''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Ludogorets Razgrad *

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 * Bulgarian Supercup:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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 ...

: 2022–23 PAOK *

: 2023–24

Individual

* Bulgarian Footballer of the Year: 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 * Bulgarian Youth Footballer of the Year: 2017 *

top assist provider: 2020–21, 2022–23 *

Player of the Month: January 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Despodov, Kiril Living people 1996 births People from Kresna Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Serie A players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Super League Greece players FC Lovech players PFC CSKA Sofia players Cagliari Calcio players SK Sturm Graz players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players PAOK FC players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Footballers from Blagoevgrad Province 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen