Nikolay Dimitrov (; born 15 October 1987) is a former

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 ...

who played as a winger.

Career

Levski Sofia

Born in Ruse, Nikolay Dimitrov started growing his football abilities in

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 ...

's Youth academy. Dimitrov took his league bow for Levski in 2004–05 season, making seven substitute appearances in his first campaign. He made his senior debut on 6 August 2004, in a 3–1 win 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 ...

, as an 89th-minute substitute for Emil Angelov. In the following season Dimitrov scored his first and second goals for the club, during a 6–1 win over

Rodopa Smolyan FC Rodopa (ФК Родопа) is a Bulgarian football club based in Smolyan, which currently plays in the South-East Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football league system. The team was named after the Rhodope Mountains and plays its h ...

on 30 April 2006. His first start came against

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 ...

in the final game of the

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 ...

season on 30 May. Dimitrov became a regular starter during the 2007–08 season. He ended that season with 8 league goals in 29 matches. With Levski Dimitrov has won three

titles, two

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 ...

s and three

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. ...

Kasımpaşa S.K.

On 17 May 2010, Dimitrov together with his teammate Georgi Sarmov signed for Kasımpaşa S.K. for five years. He made his

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

debut on 14 August 2010, in a 0–0 away draw against

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

. On 27 October, Dimitrov scored a penalty in a 4–1

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

win over

Menemen Belediyespor Menemen Futbol Kulübü, formerly Menemen Belediyespor and Menemenspor, is a Turkish professional Association football, football club located in the Menemen district of İzmir Province, İzmir that competes in TFF Second League. The club colours ...

. On 20 November, he scored his first Süper Lig goal against Gençlerbirliği. During the season, he earned 23 league appearances and scored two goals. However, Dimitrov and his Kasımpaşa team mates were relegated at the season's end. During 2011–12 season he scored 12 goals in the

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

. His goals helped the team reach the promotion playoffs for the Süper Lig. On 19 May 2012, Dimitrov scored in a 2–0 away win against

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

in the first leg of the play-offs semi-final. Four days later, en route to the play-off final, he scored the first goal, his fourteenth of the season, in Kasımpaşa's 3–0 home win over Konyaspor. On 27 May he played 120 minutes in the play-off Final against

Adanaspor Adanaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Adana; currently, they play in the TFF First League. The club was founded in 1954 by middle-class merchants and artisans in response to their perceived ali ...

. Kasımpaşa won the match 3–2 after extra time with goals from

Gökhan Güleç Gökhan Güleç (born 25 September 1985) is a Turkish footballer who currently plays for Şanlıurfaspor. Career Güleç was transferred to his previous club, Beşiktaş, on 17 January 2006 by French Manager Jean Tigana who was advised by Turke ...

Adem Büyük Adem Büyük (born 30 August 1987) is a Turkish professional football manager and a former player who played primarily as a striker (association football), striker but also as a Winger (association football), left winger. He is the manager of Ye ...

and

Azar Karadas Azar Karadas (; born 9 August 1981) is a Norwegian former footballer. Although he could also play as a central defender, he operated primarily as a centre forward. He had three spells with Brann, where he began and ended his career, winning Ti ...

sending them back to the Süper Lig after a one season absence.

Slavia Sofia

Dimitrov joined

on 29 September 2016.

Ural Yekaterinburg

On 10 June 2020, his club

FC Ural Yekaterinburg FC Ural Yekaterinburg () is a Russian professional association football club based in Yekaterinburg that plays in the Russian First League. History The club was founded in 1930 and was known as Avangard (1930–1948, 1953–1957), Zenit (1944� ...

announced that his contract was terminated by mutual consent as Dimitrov decided to retire from playing.

International career

He made his debut for

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 ...

on 6 February 2008 in a friendly match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, a game in which Bulgaria won with a score of 0–1. Dimitrov came on as a substitute and played during the second half of the match. In November 2016, he was recalled to the national side (after a long absence from international duty) for a 2018 World Cup qualifier against

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 ...

, during which he remained on the bench.

Career statistics

Club

:¹ Includes

matches, promotion playoffs for the Turkish Süper Lig and relegation playoffs for the Russian Premier League

International goals

:''Bulgaria score listed first, score column indicates score after each Dimitrov goal.''

Honours

Club

;Levski Sofia *

: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09 *

: 2006–07 *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

* *
Nikolay Dimitrov
at LevskiSofia.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrov, Nikolay 1987 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Super League Greece players Russian Premier League players PFC Levski Sofia players Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Samsunspor footballers Boluspor footballers Manisaspor footballers Xanthi F.C. players PFC Slavia Sofia players FC Ural Yekaterinburg players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Footballers from Ruse, Bulgaria 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen