Todor Marev (Bulgarian: Тодор Марев), (born on 20 November 1954) 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 ...

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 ...

. He played in the center of the defence for

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 ...

(1972-1990, 1994), Dorostol Silistra and Ovech Provadia (1990-1993). Marev was capped 16 times for the Bulgaria national team, 6 times for the Olympic team and 26 times for the U18 team of his country, with which he won the Balkan championship cup played in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

in 1969. Todor Marev was voted Best player of

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

in 3 consecutive years (1976, 1977, 1978).

Club career

Marev was born in

Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...

but he grew up and spent all his life in

. He went through all youth formations of Cherno More and is considered one of the greatest talents the club has ever raised. He was introduced to

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

football by coaches Ivan Mokanov and Georgi Dimitrov, making his debut at the age of 17, on 4 June 1972 in a match against

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 spor ...

. He established himself as a leader at the center of the defence becoming one of the youngest skippers in

football aged only 22. Marev was known for his faultless tackles, positioning abilities and speed. Under his leadership the Cherno More defence was one of the hardest to beat in

. Only ones in his career, Marev was red carded. It was in the last minutes of one of his last competitive games on 6 April 1994 in a brusque

derby which saw a total of 4 players sent off. Marev took little to no part in the attacking phase of the game. He scored only 2 goals in his career, the first and most memorable one coming against local rivals Spartak on 29 September 1985, sealing a 3-0 victory for “The Sailors”. Todor Marev played a total of 530 matches for Cherno More (422 in

and 108 in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

) which is a record in Bulgarian football. He played 3 seasons in the lower divisions for Dorostol Silistra and Ovech Provadia before making a brief return to Cherno More as a playing assistant coach under manager Stefan Bogomilov in the spring of 1994. On 13 August 1994, at the age of 39, he put an end to his playing career.

International career

Todor Marev was selected for the Bulgarian A team by manager

Stoyan Ormandzhiev Stoyan Ormandzhiev (; 10 January 1920 – 10 October 2006) 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, ...

and made his debut in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on 22 December 1974 in a friendly against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(0-0). He made a total of 16 appearances, the last one being a match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, played in

on 9 March 1983 (1-1).

Coaching career

Marev graduated from the University of Economics (Varna) in 1983 and also took a course in the National Sports academy (

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 ...

), receiving a coaching degree in 1995. He coached the female football side of Grand hotel Varna to 3 successive National championship titles after which he dedicated his coaching career to the youth teams of Cherno More. For a brief period in 1998, Marev took charge of the first team when the club was in deep trouble facing relegation to 3d division (Group “V”). From the following season to date, Marev works as a coach with the Cherno More youth academy.

References

* *
a-pfg.com

a-pfg.com
* Ст. Янев, П. Герчев, Д. Димитров, В. Свраков, "Футболна Варна", издание "Георги Бакалов", Варна, 1988 г.
chernomorepfc.bg

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marev, Todor 1954 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers PFC Cherno More Varna players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bulgarian football managers PFC Cherno More Varna managers Footballers from Varna, Bulgaria Men's association football defenders 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen