Velizar Kostadinov Dimitrov (; born 13 April 1979) is 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 former 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

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 ...

. Dimitrov previously played for Minyor Pernik,

Lokomotiv Sofia FC Lokomotiv Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refounded in 2015, following ...

, Marek Dupnitsa and

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 was part of the Bulgarian

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

team. He has worked as a

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

since his retirement.

Career

He joined

in 2002, brought in the team by the manager

Stoycho Mladenov Stoycho Dimitrov Mladenov (; born 12 April 1957 in Ploski, Blagoevgrad Province) is a Bulgarian former football player and manager. He has 212 matches and 107 goals for CSKA. With the club he won the national title 6 times, 4 as a player and ...

.. In 2003, when Dimitrov won a number of individual awards as one of the best players in 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 ...

, he was close to securing a move to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, but the deal eventually fell through due to financial reasons.

Metalurh Donetsk

On 11 June 2008, Dimitrov signed with Metalurh Donetsk on a 2+1-year deal for a reported fee of €500,000. He made his

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

debut against Karpaty Lviv on 19 July, playing the full 90 minutes. On 17 November 2012, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

. He marked his 100th league appearance for Metalurh against Hoverla Uzhhorod on 20 April 2013, by scoring a winning goal for a 2–1 home win.

International career

Dimitrov played for the league based national side in an unofficial friendly against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

on 21 February 2002, scoring a goal for a 3–0 home win. He made his competitive debut for the national team in a 1–0 away loss against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 20 November 2002, coming on as a second-half substitute. On 20 August 2003, Dimitrov opened his senior international goals tally, scoring twice for a 3–0 win over

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. He was included in the Bulgaria

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

squad in May 2004 by Plamen Markov and came on as a second-half substitute in Bulgaria's opening game against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on 14 June. He was brought on once again in the match 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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;CSKA Sofia *

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2007–08 *

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 ...

: 2005–06 *

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. ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

;Metalurh Donetsk *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

: ''Runner-up'' 2009–10, 2011–12 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

: ''Runner-up'' 2012

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrov, Velizar 1979 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players FC Minyor Pernik players FC Marek Dupnitsa players PFC CSKA Sofia players FC Metalurh Donetsk players UEFA Euro 2004 players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ukrainian Premier League players Bulgaria men's international footballers Footballers from Pernik Men's association football midfielders