Milen Gamakov (; born 12 April 1994) 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 defender or

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

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 ...

Career

Early career and loan

Gamakov is youth player of Chernomorets Burgas since 2009. In 2013, he was sent on loan at Neftochimic Burgas till end of season 2013. He won promotion in A group with the team.

Chernomorets Burgas

After the 2012–13 season and his good performances at Neftochimic, he returned to Chernomorets. He made his debut for the team in the first match of 2013–14 season against

Cherno More Varna Cherno More () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on 3 March 1913, as an association football branch ...

as a substitute.

Botev Plovdiv

On 12 July 2014, Gamakov signed with

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 ...

. On 13 August, he scored a goal in the

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. ...

final, but despite his performance Botev lost 1–3 to

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 ...

. Milen scored the opening goal in the derby game against Beroe Stara Zagora on 24 October. He was among the best players in the match although he was substituted at the 68th minute of a 3–1 win. On 15 March 2015, Gamakov scored the first goal with a header in a 2–0 home win over

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'' ...

. On 16 and 23 May Milen Gamakov was included in the starting lineup as a defensive midfielder for the 3-2 home win over CSKA Sofia and the 1–2 away defeat to Beroe Stara Zagora. He played well, but received yellow cards in both games. Milen Gamakov was named the second-place winner of the best youth player in A Grupa for the 2014–15 season. His teammate Tsvetelin Chunchukov won the first prize.

2015–16 season

For Botev, the 2015–16 season was marked with a lot of managerial changes. Despite this, Gamakov was regularly included in the starting lineup. In February 2016, due to a lot of injuries of his team mates,

Nikolay Kostov Nikolay Nikolov Kostov (; born 2 July 1963) is a Bulgarian former footballer and current manager. Career Much of his coaching career has taken place in Cyprus. His first coaching role in the country was at Anorthosis, where he won the Cyprio ...

started using Gamakov as a central defender. On 13 March 2016, Gamakov played as a midfielder and scored one of the goals in a 3–1 win over

Lechia Gdańsk

In June 2016, Gamakov signed with Polish

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 ...

side

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...

. He spent the second half of the 2016–17 season on loan at

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland, having won fourteen List of Polish football champions, Polish Championship ...

Slavia Sofia

On 1 June 2018, Gamakov signed a two-year contract with

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 ...

Belasitsa Petrich

In June 2025, he joined

B PFG The Bulgarian Second Professional Football League (), also known as Second League () or Vtora liga, is the second level of the Bulgarian football league system, below First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League and above the Third ...

club

International career

Under-21

Gamakov made him international debut for Bulgaria U21 in a 3–1 friendly win against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, with Gamakov scoring in the additional time. Antoni Zdravkov was appointed manager of the under-21 team in October 2014 and selected Gamakov as the new captain. Gamakov missed the game 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 ...

due to a ban. In the next game, on 9 June 2015, he played 90 minutes during a 1–0 win in a friendly game over

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. In September 2015, Gamakov was in the starting lineup for a 0–2 away victory over

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and a 3–0 home win over

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 ...

. He was the captain of the team and played 90 minutes in both games. On 25 March 2016, Gamakov was in the starting lineup as a captain for the goalless draw with

. Four days later, on 29 March, he played in another goalless draw, this time against

. On 21 May 2016, Gamakov was in the starting lineup during the 0–1 defeat from

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 ...

. On 6 June he played during the 0-2 defeat in a friendly game from Norway U21.

Senior

Gamakov was included in the

Bulgaria national football team The Bulgaria national football team () represents Bulgaria in men's international Association football, football, and is administered by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. Bulgaria's best achievements are reaching the ...

for the first time on 6 November 2014. He remain and unused substitute for a 1–1 draw with

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Club statistics

Honours

Žalgiris *

A Lyga The A Lyga is the top division of professional football in Lithuania. It is organized by Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) (). History The first football league was established in Lithuania in 1924, and in various forms existed until 1939. ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Lithuanian Cup The Lithuanian Football Federation Cup (), also known as Hegelmann LFF Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian football cup competition contested in a knockout tournament format. The winner of the cup gains entitlement to participate in the ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gamakov, Milen 1994 births Living people Footballers from Burgas Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ekstraklasa players I liga players A Lyga players PSFC Chernomorets Burgas players PFC Neftochimic Burgas (2009–2014) players Botev Plovdiv players Lechia Gdańsk players Ruch Chorzów players Stomil Olsztyn S.A. players PFC Slavia Sofia players FC Sozopol players FK Žalgiris players FC Dobrudzha Dobrich players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Lithuania Expatriate men's footballers in Lithuania Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen