Marcho Petrov Dafchev (; born 12 May 1978 in

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 ...

) 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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and a 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He has been

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

once in 2005. Dafchev previously played for Sokol Komatevo,

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'' ...

, Patraikos in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

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 ...

and Neftchi Baku in Azerbaijan.

Career

Born in

to Peter Dafchev, Dafchev was in the youth setups of

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( ), also known as Evros ( ) and Meriç ( ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,

before moving to Sokol Komatevo. In June 1998, at the age of 20, he joined

Lokomotiv Sofia FC Lokomotiv Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refounded in 2015, following ...

. Dafchev made his debut during the 1998–99 season on 8 August 1998 in a 1–3 away loss against

Litex Lovech FC Lovech (; formerly Litex Lovech) is a Bulgarian professional association football, football club based in Lovech, that competes in the Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria), Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Spor ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Ivaylo Pargov Ivaylo Sashov Pargov ( Bulgarian: Ивайло Сашов Паргов, born 21 August 1974) is a Bulgarian former footballer who played as a forward. He has been the academy manager of Lokomotiv Sofia from 2015 to 2023 and became Chief Executi ...

. He scored his first goal for Lokomotiv in a 1–0 home win against Levski Kyustendil on 17 October 1998. Dafchev made 27 league appearances and a total of 34 matches scoring eight goals during his debut season with ''the Railwaymen''. He left Lokomotiv for

during the January 2002 transfer window, but earned only 6 appearances in the

A PFG 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 ...

and was released just five months later, signing a contract with Greek side A.O. Patraikos. In July 2003, Dafchev joined

. He made his debut on the opening day of the 2003–04 season in a 1–0 win over

Rodopa Smolyan FC Rodopa (ФК Родопа) is a Bulgarian football club based in Smolyan, which currently plays in the South-East Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football league system. The team was named after the Rhodope Mountains and plays its h ...

on 9 August. Twenty days later Dafchev scored his first Botev and

Plovdiv derby The Plovdiv derby () is the derby in Bulgarian football between Botev Plovdiv and Lokomotiv Plovdiv. It is named after the city, where both clubs are located. The Plovdiv derby is considered to be the second fiercest rivalry in Bulgarian football ...

goal, opening the scoring in a 2–3 defeat against

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 ...

. On 28 September he scored twice in a 3–1 home victory over

. Dafchev made 24 appearances for ''the Canaries'', scoring nine goals, but Botev were relegated from the

at the end of the campaign. In the summer of 2004, Dafchev signed for his previously team

. On 10 August 2006, he scored his first ever

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

goal, netting a free-kick against

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. (, ''Moadon Kaduregel Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv''), commonly referred to as Bnei Yehuda (), is an Israeli football club from the Hatikva Quarter of the city of Tel Aviv. The club is a member of the Liga Leumit. History The ...

in a 2–0 away win. On 14 September, Dafchev scored free-kick and in a 2–2 home draw against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. The following 2007–08 season he netted his third European goal in a 3–1 home win over Oţelul Galaţi of 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 ...

on 16 August 2007. In a 3–1 league win over

Pirin Blagoevgrad Football club Pirin (), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the Second League, the second division of Bulgarian football. The club was founded in 2008, after a merger ...

on 11 November 2007, Dafchev scored his 49th and 50th goals in all competitions for Lokomotiv. In May 2008, Dafchev was sold to Neftchi Baku. He passed his medical on 29 May and signed a three-year contract. He earned 12 appearances in the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

and scored two goals. On 15 August 2009, Dafchev returned to

after being released from his contract at Neftchi Baku. During the 2009–10 season he scored once in a 2–4 away loss against Cherno More on 7 November 2009. At the end of the following 2010–11 season, Dafchev became the club's second topscorer with 7 goals in 19 appearances and provided 6 assists for his team-mates.

Coaching career

Marcho Dafchev started his coaching career during the 2013–14 season when he was appointed as head coach of Eurocollege in the 3rd division. In the next season Dafchev joined the youth academy of his former club

as a coach of the children born in 2003. On 1 June 2015 his team won the championship after 0–1 away win over

Career statistics

As of 12 June 2011

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dafchev, Marcho Bulgarian men's footballers 1978 births Living people First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players Botev Plovdiv players PFC CSKA Sofia players Patraikos F.C. players Bulgaria men's international footballers Footballers from Plovdiv Men's association football midfielders Neftçi PFK players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan