Northern Ireland vs Bulgaria (15/10/2024)

THE SQUAD: BULGARIA

WORDS: IAN PARKER

DIMITAR MITOV GOALKEEPER ABERDEEN

IVAN DYULGEROV GOALKEEPER CSKA SOFIA AGE 25 CAPS 6 GOALS 0 Dyulgerov knows his international manager well, having broken through at Cherno More and played for Iliev’s team until this summer, when he left to join CSKA Sofia. He has played for Bulgaria at several age levels.

SVETOSLAV VUTSOV GOALKEEPER SLAVIA SOFIA

AGE 27 CAPS 5 GOALS 0 Though born and raised in

AGE 22 CAPS 6 GOALS 0 The youngest of Bulgaria’s goalkeepers comes from a footballing family. His grandfather Ivan Vutsov played for Bulgaria at the 1966 World Cup, and his mother Svetlana, father Velislav and brother Petar have all played professional football.

Bulgaria, Mitov has spent his entire professional career in Britain, joining Charlton as a teenager, then spending six seasons with Cambridge United before moving to St Johnstone in 2023 and on to Aberdeen this summer.

VALENTIN ANTOV DEFENDER CREMONESE (ITA)

SIMEON PETROV DEFENDER SLASK WROCLAW (POL) AGE 24 CAPS 6 GOALS 0

ALEKS PETKOV DEFENDER SLASK WROCLAW (POL) AGE 25 CAPS 12 GOALS 0

AGE 23 CAPS 28 GOALS 1 Antov became the youngest player to ever turn out for CSKA Sofia when he made his debut at 14 years, nine months and 10 days in a Bulgaria Cup match in 2015. He later earned a move to Serie A side Bologna on loan, then joined Serie B team Monza. After Monza’s promotion, he has moved on loan to Cremonese. FABIAN NURNBERGER DEFENDER DARMSTADT (GER) AGE 25 CAPS 2 GOALS 0 Born in Hamburg, Nurnberger has spent his entire club career in Germany, first with FC Nürnberg before joining Darmstadt in 2023. He is eligible to play for Bulgaria through his mother. He made his international debut last month in the 0-0 draw with Belarus before facing Northern Ireland in his second appearance. AGE 33 CAPS 8 GOALS 0 The son of former Olympic hurdler Yordanka Donkova, Atanasov provides a veteran presence in the Bulgaria squad despite only having a handful of caps to his name. Now in his second spell with Cherno More, Atanasov has also had two stints with Levski Sofia. And he spent several years playing in Italy for Juve Stabia, Viterbese and Catanzaro. ZHIVKO ATANASOV DEFENDER CHERNO MORE

Born in Limoges, Petrov began his career in France but moved to his parents’ home country in 2019 when he signed for Strumska Slavia, joining top flight side CSKA 1948 a year later. He joined Polish side Slask Wroclaw initially on loan in January this year before making the move permanent in the summer.

The Slask Wroclaw captain will be familiar to fans of Scottish football, having joined Hearts as a teenager and playing for them in the Scottish League Cup before loan spells at Berwick Rangers, Clyde and Brechin City. He moved back to Bulgaria in 2020 with Levski Sofia and joined his current club last summer.

HRISTIYAN PETROV DEFENDER CSKA SOFIA AGE 22 CAPS 4 GOALS 0

IVAN TURITSOV DEFENDER CSKA SOFIA

AGE 25 CAPS 19 GOALS 0 Like Petrov, Turitsov broke through at CSKA with the help of a loan spell with Litex Lovech. He made his debut for Bulgaria’s Under-21s against Northern Ireland in March 2019 before his first senior cap came with a 1-0 friendly defeat to Belarus in February the following year. GEORGI KOSTADINOV MIDFIELDER APOEL NICOSIA (CYP) AGE 34 CAPS 42 GOALS 3 Veteran midfielder Kostadinov was a two-time Bulgarian champion early in his career with now perennial winners Ludogorets Razgrad before spells with Beroe and Levski Sofia, but more recently has played his football elsewhere, joining Israeli club Maccabi Haifa in 2017 before time with Russia’s Arsenal Tuda and, since 2022, APOEL in Cyprus.

The Plovdiv-born Petrov caught the eye of CSKA as a youngster and joined their academy as a teenager, spending time on loan at Litex Lovech before breaking through with CSKA’s first team. In 2022 he made his debut in the Europa Conference League against Irish opposition, playing in the 1-0 defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic. VIKTOR POPOV DEFENDER CHERNO MORE AGE 24 CAPS 17 GOALS 0 A one-club man to date, Popov joined the academy of his hometown club Cherno More as a youngster and made his senior debut as a teenager in May 2019. Later that same year came international recognition as he earned his first cap in a 1-0 friendly loss to Paraguay.

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NIR V BUL