Nikola Spasov (; 15 December 1958 – 23 November 2020) was 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 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 ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Playing career

Born in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Spasov played for

PFC Lokomotiv Sofia FC Lokomotiv Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports C ...

FC Dunav Ruse FC Dunav (, officially named ''"Дунав от Русе"'') is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Ruse, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. Part of a larger spo ...

PFC 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 ...

and PFC Spartak Varna in his country. With the first club, he won the Bulgarian League in his first professional season. Spasov moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in December 1986, and remained in the nation for the following seven years, representing five teams. In the 1989–90 campaign he scored a career-best 34 goals for F.C. Paços de Ferreira, which however failed to promote them from the second division; in the top flight he played with

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

, S.C. Beira-Mar and Paços. In June 1994, after one season in his homeland with former team Cherno More, Spasov retired from football at nearly 36 years of age.

Coaching career

Spasov started managing in Portugal and Spain, in both countries at amateur level. In 2003, he was appointed at

PFC Marek Dupnitsa FC Marek () is a Bulgarian football club based in Dupnitsa, currently playing in the Second League, the second level of the Bulgarian football league system. It was founded in 1947 following the unification of four local clubs. Home matches take ...

in his country, switching to the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

and

FK Bregalnica Štip FK Bregalnica Štip () is a professional association football, football club based in Štip, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian Second Football League. History FK Bregalnica was formed in 1921 and currently play in th ...

the following season. From 2006 and during four years, Spasov worked with former club Cherno More, as assistant, head coach and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

. In 2011, he returned to Bregalnica. On 3 January 2018, he was announced as the new manager of the

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

team Kyzylzhar. Spasov has managed Tsarsko Selo on two occasions – during 2016/2017 as well as between June 2018 and April 2020.

Honours

Player

;Lokomotiv Sofia * Bulgarian League: 1977–78

Manager

;Cherno More *

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 ...

: 2014–15 *

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. ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

;Tsarsko Selo *

Bulgarian Second League 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 League and above the Third League. Twenty teams take part in the league ...

: 2018–19

Personal life

Spasov's younger brother, Yulian (born 1963), was also a footballer. 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 too represented Spartak and Cherno More Varna, and also spent several years as a professional in Portugal (nine seasons, including eight with Paços de Ferreira). On 23 November 2020, Spasov died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria The COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bulgaria when the country's first ...

.Трагедия! Никола Спасов почина след битка с COVID-19
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spasov, Nikola 1958 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Men's association football forwards First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players PFC Cherno More Varna players FC Spartak Varna players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.C. Farense players S.C. Salgueiros players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players S.C. Beira-Mar players Rio Ave F.C. players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Bulgarian football managers FK Bregalnica Štip managers PFC Cherno More Varna managers PFK Svetkavitsa 1922 managers Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in North Macedonia FC Dunav Ruse players FC Kyzylzhar managers Expatriate football managers in Kazakhstan Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria S.C. Freamunde players