Petar Petrov Zhekov (, 10 October 1944 – 18 February 2023) was a Bulgarian

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 ...

, widely regarded as one of the best forwards in the history of the Bulgarian football. He won the silver medal at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

. Zhekov was born in Knizhovnik, Haskovo Province, and began his career at F.C. Dimitrovgrad. He was initially deployed as a defender, but on the advice of manager Hristo Hadzhiev switched to the forward position. Later he moved to Beroe Stara Zagora, where he twice became

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 ...

's top goalscorer. Between 1968 and 1975 Zhekov played for

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'' ...

and scored 144 goals for the team. This makes him the club's best goalscorer of all time. He also won the European Golden Boot in 1969 and two European Bronze Boots. He had 333 appearances and a record of 253 goals in the Bulgarian A Group. He is CSKA's all-time top scorer with 175 goals Zhekov later coached PFC Hebar Pazardzhik. He died on 18 February 2023, at the age of 78.

Career statistics

Honours

CSKA Sofia * Bulgarian League: 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75 *

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 ...

: 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974 Individual * European Golden Boot: 1969 * Bulgarian League top scorer (6): 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973

References

1944 births 2023 deaths Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgaria men's international footballers Olympic silver medalists for Bulgaria Olympic footballers for Bulgaria Footballers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics FC Dimitrovgrad players PFC Beroe Stara Zagora players PFC CSKA Sofia players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Sportspeople from Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria Olympic medalists in football Bulgarian football managers PFC Hebar Pazardzhik managers OFC Vihren Sandanski managers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Haskovo Province {{Bulgaria-footy-forward-stub