Mihail Ivanov Aleksandrov (; born 11 June 1989) 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 former

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 ...

. He primarily played as a

right winger 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. ...

or a right-sided midfielder.

Career

CSKA Sofia

Aleksandrov began his career at

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'' ...

. He made his debut for the first team in a 2–1 home win over

Belasitsa Petrich OFC Belasitsa () is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Petrich, currently playing in the Second League. The team was founded in 1923. They play at the Stadion Tsar Samuil in Petrich, which has a capacity of 9,500. The club last played ...

on 26 November 2006 at the age of 17.

Borussia Dortmund

In August 2007, Aleksandrov was signed by

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

on a three-year contract. After joining Borussia, he played exclusively for the club's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

. He made his debut on 7 November 2008 in a 3–1 home victory over Köln II. On 20 March 2010, in a 2–0 away win over

Wuppertaler SV Borussia Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in the year of 1880 by the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdor ...

Aleksandrov assisted Marcel Großkreutz for the second goal. He spent most of his time with Borussia II on the bench, making only five appearances.

Akademik Sofia

After his contract expired in late July 2010, Aleksandrov agreed to join Akademik Sofia. He made his debut for Akademik in their match against Sliven 2000 on 21 August, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Asparuh Vasilev Asparuh Vasilev () (born 14 November 1981 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian football midfielder who currently plays for Slivnishki geroi. Vasilev previously played for Spartak Varna and Akademik Sofia in the A PFG The First Professional Football ...

. He made his first start a week later 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 ...

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 22 December 2010, Aleksandrov joined

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 ...

. On 19 March 2011, he scored a goal in his competitive debut for Ludogorets against

Dobrudzha Dobrich FC Dobrudzha () is a Bulgarian football club based in Dobrich, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. It plays its home matches at Stadion Druzhba with a capacity of 12,500 seats, and its team colours are gr ...

. Aleksandrov began the following 2011–12 season in fine form for Ludogorets. On 20 August he assisted

Marcelinho Marcelinho is a diminutive form of the given name Marcelo, and may refer to: Sports Football *Marcelinho Carioca (born 1971), born ''Marcelo Pereira Surcin'', Brazilian attacking midfielder * Marcelinho Paulista (born 1973), born ''Marcelo José d ...

for Ludogorets's third goal in a 4–0 home win over

Vidima-Rakovski FC Sevlievo () is a Bulgarian association football club based in Sevlievo, which currently competes in the North-West Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football league system. Their home ground is Stadion Rakovski, which currently has ...

. Aleksandrov scored his first league goal of the season by netting Ludogorets's third goal in a 6–0 victory over

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 ...

on 11 September. On 18 September he scored his second goal of the season, netting the solitary strike in a 1–0 away victory over Cherno More. On 13 October, Aleksandrov signed a new two-year contract with Ludogorets. On 31 July 2013, Aleksandrov netted the winning goal for Ludogorets in the 2–1 victory over

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

in the first leg of a

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 ...

match. In 2015–16 season Aleksandrov was dropped to the bench, making only four league appearances as a substitute during the first half of the campaign. He scored four goals in six matches for the club's

in the B Group. He scored 4 goals in 6 matches for the team, playing only 3 for the first team.

Legia Warsaw

On 29 February 2016, Aleksandrov signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

. He made his debut for the team on 5 March 2016 in a match against

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

won by Legia.

Arsenal Tula

On 10 February 2017, Legia announced the transfer of Aleksandrov to

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

FC Arsenal Tula FC Arsenal Tula () is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League. Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League in 2014 for the first time in its hi ...

. On 8 July 2018, he extended his contract for another year with an additional 1-year extension option. In the opening game of the 2018–19 season against

FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', , ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footba ...

he suffered an

ACL tear ACL may refer to: Aviation * IATA airport code for Aguaclara Airport in Casanare Department, Colombia Companies and organizations * ACL Cables, a cable manufacturing company in Sri Lanka * Administration for Community Living, United States, f ...

, even though he didn't even remember the moment of the injury. He recovered from injury in January 2019 and was cleared for training, however, he re-aggravated the injury and the season opening game remained his only appearance of the 2018–19 season for Arsenal. On 9 August 2019, he left Arsenal as his contract expired.

Arda Kardzhali

On 2 September 2019, he signed a one-year contract with Bulgarian club Arda Kardzhali.

International career

In October 2011, Aleksandrov earned his first call-up to the

national side for a

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 ...

against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and a

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

qualifier against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He was also selected for a

against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in February 2012, but did not take part in it. Aleksandrov earned his first cap on 5 March 2014, in the 2–1 home win over

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

in a

Career statistics

Club

National team

International goals

:''As of match played 7 October 2016. Bulgaria score listed first, score column indicates score after each Aleksandrov goal.''

Honours

Ludogorets *

A Group 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 ...

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

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 ...

: 2011–12, 2013–14 *

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup () is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and the holder of the Bulgarian Cup at that time. ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Legia Warsaw *

: 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksandrov, Mihail 1989 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Men's association football midfielders Bulgarian men's footballers 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgaria men's youth international footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers PFC CSKA Sofia players Borussia Dortmund II players PFC Akademik Sofia players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players Legia Warsaw players Legia Warsaw II players FC Arsenal Tula players FC Arda Kardzhali players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Ekstraklasa players III liga players Russian Premier League players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia