Martin Miroslavov Kushev (, born 25 August 1973 in

Troyan Troyan ( ) is a town remembering the name of Roman Emperor Trajan, in Lovech Province in central Bulgaria . It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Troyan Municipality. The town is about away from the country capital Sofia. The river ...

) 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 Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who is currently an assistant coach 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 ...

. During his football career, Kushev has often been described as an old fashioned English-style centre forward due to his physical presence and outstanding aerial ability.

Career

Kushev started his playing career at Yantra Gabrovo. After one season on loan to Lokomotiv Dryanovo, he made his debut for Yantra in

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 ...

during the 1992–93 season. In 1996 Kushev was spotted by

Spartak Varna FC Spartak Varna () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Varna, which currently competes in the First League, the top level of Bulgarian football league system. Spartak plays its home matches at the local Stadion Spartak. Founded ...

, where he scored 6 league goals in his first season and transferred to

. He spent three periods with

(1997–99, 2000–01 and 2002) and played also for German

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

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 ...

. With Levski Kushev has won one

title and one

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 ...

. In January 2003 he was signed by Russian Shinnik Yaroslavl, where scored 10 goals for two years in the

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 ...

. After a half season at

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 ...

, Kushev returned to Russia, signing with

Amkar Perm FC Amkar Perm ( ) is a professional football club. Originally founded in 1994, it is based in the city of Perm. It was a participant in second-tier football from 1995 and in the Russian Premier League from 2004 to 2018, after which it was dissol ...

. He marked his debut with a goal in a 3–2 victory over

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

on 24 July 2005. In 2008, he took over the captaincy of Amkar, a responsibility he held until leaving the club in December 2010. He played his last match for Amkar on 28 November 2010 in a 0–0 home draw against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. Martin spent 6 seasons of his career at the club of

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places * Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 ** Perm Governorate, an administr ...

, playing in 134 games. With his 35 goals Kushev is the third highest scorer at Amkar in the

. On 28 January 2011, Kushev returned to Bulgaria and signed for

on a 5-month contract. His last official game in his career was against

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 the 2011 Bulgarian Cup Final, which Slavia lost 1–0. On 28 May 2011, Kushev retired from active football. On 31 July 2011, Kushev played his farewell game for Slavia, appearing for 10 minutes in the 2:2 draw with Cypriot side

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

in an

exhibition 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 sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

. In the summer of 2011, he was appointed as head coach of

International career

On 12 September 2007, at the age of 34 years, Kushev made his debut for the Bulgarian national team. He played his first and last match for Bulgaria in a 3–0 home win against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, coming on as a second-half substitute for Ivelin Popov.

Honours

Bulgarian 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 ...

: 2001–02 **

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

** Saarland Cup winners: 1999, 2000

References

External links

*
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushev, Martin 1973 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers FC Yantra Gabrovo players FC Spartak Varna players PFC Slavia Sofia players 1. FC Saarbrücken players PFC Levski Sofia players FC Shinnik Yaroslavl players FC Lovech players FC Amkar Perm players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Russian Premier League players Bulgarian football managers PFC Slavia Sofia managers People from Troyan Footballers from Lovech Province Men's association football forwards 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen