Velko Nikolaev Yotov (; born 26 August 1970) is a Bulgarian retired 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Career

He was part of the Bulgaria national team that reached the semi-finals of the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

. After coming through the ranks 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 ...

he moved to

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

and was then sold to Espanyol, where he helped them win Segunda Division with his 13 goals in 1993–94 season. In 1995, he moved to Argentina and spent four seasons with

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

before finishing his career in the USA-League with

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

and

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...

Honours

Levski Sofia *

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 ...

: 1992–93 *

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 ...

: 1990–91, 1991–92 Espanyol *

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

: 1993–94

External links

* *
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
1970 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Bulgaria men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players PFC Levski Sofia players RCD Espanyol footballers Newell's Old Boys footballers Charleston Battery players Atlanta Silverbacks FC players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players La Liga players Argentine Primera División players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen {{Bulgaria-footy-forward-stub