Lachezar Hristov Kotev (; born 5 January 1998) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Arda Kardzhali.

Club career

On 11 February 2023, Kotev signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Khimki Khimki (, ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located approximately northwest from central Moscow, and is part of the Moscow metropolitan area. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station that had existed sin ...

. Khimki were relegated to the

Russian First League The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Football in Russia#League system, Russian football league system. The Russian Professio ...

at the end of the 2022–23 season, and First League has much stricter restrictions than RPL on the number of foreign players allowed on the squad. On 28 June 2023, Kotev returned to Arda Kardzhali on a season-long loan. On 20 August 2024, Kotev returned to Arda Kardzhali on a permanent basis and signed a three-year contract.

International career

Youth levels

In August 2018 he was called up for the Bulgaria U21 team for the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tourn ...

matches against France U21 and Montenegro U21 to be held on 7 and 11 September 2018.

Senior level

Kotev received his first call up for the

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 ...

national team on 14 May 2021 for the friendly games against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

between 1 and 8 June.Ясен Петров викна 31 играчи в националния
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Career statistics

Club

References

Living people 1998 births 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgarian men's footballers Footballers from Sofia Men's association football midfielders Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers PFC Septemvri Sofia players FC Vitosha Bistritsa players FC Oborishte Panagyurishte players FC Arda Kardzhali players FC Khimki players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Russian Premier League players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia {{Bulgaria-footy-midfielder-stub