Antonio Vutov ( bg, Антонио Вутов; born 6 June 1996) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n 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 le ...

who plays for CSKA 1948 as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

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) ** Sm ...

or winger. Vutov began his career with

Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) 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 b ...

. He joined

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

in January 2014, and had loan spells at

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes ...

and Levski before moving permanently to Botev in 2018. He has also represented Bulgaria internationally at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels.

Club career

Born in

Mezdra Mezdra ( bg, Мездра ) is a town in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Vratsa Province. It is located on the left bank of the Iskar River just north of its gorge through the Balkan Mountains. History Although the area around it has been inhabite ...

, Vutov began his career at his hometown club,

Lokomotiv Mezdra FC Lokomotiv Mezdra (ФК Локомотив Мездра) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Mezdra, which currently playing in the Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. The club's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium ...

. When he was 12 years old he was the captain of the U-15 team of

Levski Sofia

In 2009, he joined

Academy. Vutov made his senior debut for Levski on 8 April 2012, in a 1–1

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

draw against

Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv 1929 ( bg, Локомотив 1929) 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 refou ...

at the age of 15 years and 307 days, making him the youngest player ever to have played for the club. His first start came in a home league game against

Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

on 11 May. Vutov's first goal came in a 7–1 win against Etar 1924 at the

Georgi Asparuhov Stadium Georgi Asparuhov Stadium ( bg, Стадион „Георги Аспарухов“), due to sponsorship currently known as Vivacom Arena – Georgi Asparuhov ( bg, Виваком Арена – Георги Аспарухов), nicknamed Gerena ( ...

, on 28 November 2012. For 2013–14 season, Vutov was handed number 10, last worn by

Hristo Yovov Hristo Georgiev Yovov ( bg, Христо Георгиев Йовов) (born 4 November 1977) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He spent all of his club career in his native Bulgaria with the exc ...

. He started to play more often as a first-team regular and for 6 months he made 24 appearances and scored 3 goals in all competitions. Vutov helped Levski to reach the Quarterfinals of the Bulgarian Cup after a 7-6 penalty win against

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) 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 Sport ...

, he scored one of the penalties for his team.

Udinese

During the winter break club's boss

Todor Batkov Todor Kostadinov Batkov (Bulgarian: Тодор Костадинов Батков) (born 17 October 1958 in Smolyan) is a Bulgarian businessman and lawyer who was president of the Bulgarian football club PFC Levski Sofia until late June 2015. Biog ...

announced that Levski are going to sell Antonio to Italian side

. Vutov signed a four-and-a-half-year contract on 9 January and the transfer was officially announced on 11 January 2014 on Udinese's official website. The transfer fee wasn't officially announced but it is believed that Levski got at least 950 000 euros from the deal. Vutov made his Udinese first-team debut on 18 February, in a 0–3 friendly loss against

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

Stadion Poljud Gradski stadion u Poljudu ( en, City Stadium in Poljud), better known as Stadion Poljud ( en, Poljud Stadium) or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. Th ...

, playing 78 minutes.

Cosenza (loan)

For the 2015-2016 season, Vutov was loaned out to

. He made 22 appearances for the club and scored a goal from the penalty spot.

Lecce (loan)

On 12 July 2016 Vutov was loaned out by Udinese to

. On 30 July he debuted with the ''giallorossi'' and scored his first official goal for the club in a 2-1 win against Alto Vicentino in a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match.

Botev Plovdiv (loan)

In January 2017, Vutov was loaned out to

for the rest of the season. He made an official debut on 18 February during the 0-1 away win over

Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa Lokomotiv ( bg, Локомотив) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Gorna Oryahovitsa, which currently competes in the Third League, the third level of Bulgarian football. Established in 1932 as a sports association of the rai ...

. On 7 April, Vutov scored twice during the 7-1 win over

PFC Montana FC Montana ( bg, ФК Монтана) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Montana, which currently plays in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football league system. Montana plays its home matches at the Ogosta Sta ...

. These were his first goals in any official games as a player of

. Couple of weeks later, on 22 April, Vutov scored a spectacular goal for the 0-3 away win over

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground ...

. On 26 April Vutov scored a header after a magnificent assist provided by

Todor Nedelev Todor Lyubchev Nedelev ( bg, Тодор Любчев Неделев; born 7 February 1993) is a Bulgarian footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Ludogorets Razgrad. Early life Nedelev was born on 7 February 1993, and rai ...

in the 1-1 draw with

FC Vereya Vereya ( bg, Верея) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Stara Zagora, which currently competes in the Southeast Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. Vereya was founded in 2001. The team made a remarkable rise ...

Stara Zagora during the 2nd leg of the semi-finals for the

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) 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 ...

. His goal secured the win for

with 2-1 on aggregate and his team proceeded to the final game. On 19 May Vutov scored an important goal in the playoffs against

and Botev Plovdiv won on aggregate 2-4. On 24 May Vutov scored the second goal for the 2-1 victory over Ludogorets Razgrad helping

to win the

for the third time in the history of the club. During his loan in

Antonio Vutov played 16 games, provided 2 assists and scored 7 goals (2 goals in the

tournament).

Levski Sofia (loan)

On 13 June 2017, Vutov returned to

on a season-long loan.

Lokomotiv Sofia

In July 2022, Vutov joined

as a free agent, signing a two-year contract.

International career

He made his debut for

Bulgaria national football team The Bulgaria national football team ( bg, Български национален отбор по футбол, Bǎlgarski natsionalen otbor po futbol) represents Bulgaria in men's international Association football, football and is administere ...

on 31 March 2021 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against Northern Ireland.

Career statistics

Honours

;Botev Plovdiv *

: 2016–17

Personal life

Vutov is an avid

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

fan and has cited

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most ...

as his favourite player.

References

External links

* *
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vutov, Antonio 1996 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers PFC Levski Sofia players Udinese Calcio players Cosenza Calcio players US Lecce players Botev Plovdiv players Mezőkövesdi SE footballers FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Men's association football midfielders People from Mezdra Sportspeople from Vratsa Province Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers