Robert Popov (; born 16 April 1982 in

Strumica Strumica (, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedonian (PDF) in so ...

) is a retired

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 ...

from

North 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 ...

Club career

Robert is a right defender or defensive midfielder. He started his career with

FK Belasica FK Belasica () is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Strumica, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian Second Football League, Macedonian Second League. History The club was founded on ...

. In 2003 Popov signed with

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 ...

for a fee of 200.000 €. In May 2004 he helped them win the

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 ...

. In January 2008 Robert Popov signed with

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or by the abbreviation AJA, is a French professional association football, football club based in the Communes of France, commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club plays in L ...

. Popov had a serious injury while at Auxerre but when he recovered, he did not play much so both Popov and the club mutually agreed to terminate his contract in the summer of 2010.

International career

He made his senior debut for

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

in a July 2001

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

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and has earned a total of 17 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a November 2009 friendly against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Personal life

He is the older brother of former national team left back

Goran Popov Goran Popov (; born 2 October 1984) is a Macedonian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. Popov started his career with local side FK Belasica, Belasica and moved to Gree ...

References

External links

*
Profile at MacedonianFootball.com
1982 births Living people Footballers from Strumica Men's association football fullbacks Macedonian men's footballers 21st-century Macedonian sportsmen North Macedonia men's international footballers FK Belasica players FC Lovech players AJ Auxerre players SC Kriens players Macedonian First Football League players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ligue 1 players Swiss Challenge League players Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in France Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland {{NorthMacedonia-footy-bio-stub