Marian Georgiev Hristov () (born 29 July 1973) 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

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 ...

. Since his retirement from playing, he has worked as an assistant manager.

Club career

Hristov started his professional career at

PFC Balkan Botevgrad FC Balkan Botevgrad () is a Bulgarian football club based in the city of Botevgrad. The stadium of the club is " Hristo Botev" in Botevgrad with capacity of 8,000 people. History The club was established in 1929 with the name "Stamen Panchev". ...

in 1993. He then went on to play at

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia 1913 () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground is the Stadion Aleksandar Sh ...

(1994–95) and

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 ...

(1995–97) before joining

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

in 1997. During his tenure at the german club, he achieved notable success, winning the Bundesliga title in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, reaching the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

quarter-final in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

as well as 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 ...

semi-final in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. He was also runner-up for the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. In 2004, Hristov joined

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

, but missed most of the 2004–05 season due to a serious knee injury. He was able to return successfully towards the end of the 2005–06 season. Unfortunately, he was again out of the team for almost the entire 2006–07 season due to another injury, as a result of which his contract with VfL was not renewed in 2007.

International career

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 ...

, he played at the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

where he appeared in two of the three games of the team, against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

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 ...

. He was also part of the Bulgarian squad that reached the 2004 European Championship, and started in all three group stage matches. By 27 March 2007, Hristov had retired from international football, earning 45 caps and scoring four times for the national team. He has also expressed an interest in coaching his country.

International goals

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

Honours

1. FC Kaiserslautern *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

: 1997–98 *

runner-up: 2002–03

References

External links

*
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
Living people 1973 births Men's association football midfielders Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen People from Botevgrad 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players PFC Slavia Sofia players PFC Levski Sofia players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players VfL Wolfsburg players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bundesliga players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Footballers from Sofia Province {{Bulgaria-footy-midfielder-stub