Zhivko Milanov (; born 15 July 1984) is a Bulgarian 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 ...

. He was primarily deployed as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, but when needed he could also operate on the left side. Milanov was capped 28 times for the Bulgaria national team. Milanov spent the majority of his playing career at

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 ...

, but he also had several stints abroad at

Vaslui Vaslui (), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu, and Viișoara. History Archaeological surveys indicate t ...

Tom Tomsk FC Tom Tomsk () was a Russian professional football club, based in the Siberian city of Tomsk. The team played in Trud Stadium (Tomsk) before being dissolved in 2022. History The team was previously named ''Burevestnik'' (1957), ''Tomich'' (195 ...

and

APOEL APOEL FC (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a Cypriot professio ...

. After ending his playing career, in 2021 he became an assistant manager of Levski, later also spending some time as head coach of the club.

Career

Levski Sofia

Milanov made his league debut in 2003. With Levski Sofia he reached the quarter finals of

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

in 2005–06. Next season, Levski Sofia reached the group-stage of

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, becoming the first Bulgarian team to do so. He became a Champion of Bulgaria in 2009.

Vaslui

Milanov joined

on 14 January 2010 on a -year contract. The deal was reported by media to be worth $350,000. He was seen as the perfect substitute for Vaslui's captain Buhuș, whose long-term injury would keep him out from the field for the rest of the season. He made his league debut against

Gaz Metan Mediaş Gaz may refer to: Geography *Gaz, Kyrgyzstan Iran * Gaz, Darmian, village in South Khorasan province * Gaz, Golestan, a village in Bandar-e Gaz County * Gaz, Hormozgan, a village in Minab County * Gaz, Kerman, a village * Gaz, North Khorasan, a ...

, wearing the number 20 for Vaslui. He did not missed a single match for his new team, and helped Vaslui finishing third in

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

, and reaching the Romanian Cup final, eventually lost at the penalty shootout. After Buhuș's departure, he established himself as Vaslui's first-choice right back. On 23 July 2010, in

's opening match, Milanov received his first red card since his arrival in Vaslui. Following Luz's long term-injury and Bălace's bad shape, Milanov was sent to play on the left side. However, because of Papp's unsuccessful try out on the right side, Milanov was sent back on his favourite position. In his second season in Vaslui, he ended third in

, after a long battle, between Oţelul Galaţi, Poli Timişoara and SC Vaslui, for their first championship. On 23 July 2011, Milanov received his second red card, in Vaslui's opening match against

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

. On 19 August, he scored his first goal for Vaslui, against

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

helping his team qualify for the first time to the UEFA Europa League's Group Stages.

Tom Tomsk

After his contract with

expired, Milanov joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

on a free transfer on 24 June 2013. He signed a two-year contract.

Return to Levski Sofia

Milanov returned to

in early September 2015 and played for the Blues during the autumn part of the 2015–16 A Group, receiving praise for his performance.

APOEL

On 30 December 2015, Milanov signed an 18-month contract with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

champions

. He made his debut on 10 January 2016, playing the full 90 minutes in APOEL's 2–1 away victory against

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a professional Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the A ...

for the

. A few months after joining APOEL, he crowned champion as his team managed to win the

title for a fourth time in the row. On 2 March 2017, Milanov signed a two-year contract extension with APOEL, running until 31 May 2019.

Third stint at Levski Sofia and retirement

After agreeing with APOEL to rescind his contract, Milanov returned again to

. On 11 February 2019 he signed a 1,5-year contract with the club. On 23 June 2020, Milanov played his last professional match against

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv (), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Stadion Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park and ha ...

in a semi-final

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

tie, finishing 0-0. After the match, he stated that a lung disease made him retire on the age of 35.

International career

Milanov started playing for the Bulgaria national team in 2006, and has been capped 28 times during his international career. He announced his retirement from the national team on 21 March 2017, at the age of 32.Живко Миланов разкри каква е причината да се откаже от националния
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Career statistics

Club

International

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 ...

(3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09 *

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 ...

(3): 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07 *

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. ...

(3):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

APOEL *

(4): 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

*
APOEL official profile

Profile at LevskiSofia.info
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milanov, Zhivko 1984 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Men's association football defenders First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Liga I players Russian Premier League players Cypriot First Division players PFC Levski Sofia players FC Vaslui players FC Tom Tomsk players APOEL FC players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus 21st-century Bulgarian sportsmen