Asen Nikolov ( bg, Асен Николов; born 5 August 1976 in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

), nicknamed

Bebeto José Roberto Gama de Oliveira (born 16 February 1964), known as Bebeto (), is a Brazilian former professional football player who played as a forward. He entered politics in the 2010 Brazilian General Elections and was elected to the Legi ...

(Бебето), 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 ...

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 ...

playing as an attacking midfielder. For the

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

, Nikolov was capped one time.

Career

After spending the first three years of his career in his home town with

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

in June 1997, signing a five-year contract with Levski, with whom he was Champion of Bulgaria two times (2000, 2001) and won

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 ...

in 1998 and 2000. In January 2002,

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 ...

signed Nikolov to a four-year deal. In Slavia he earned 68 appearances playing in the

A PFG The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

and scored five goals, before moving to

PFC Turan Tovuz , nickname = ''Boz Qurd'' (Gray Wolf) , founded = as ''Spartak Tovuz'' , ground = Tovuz City Stadium, Tovuz, Azerbaijan , capacity = 6,800 , chrtitle = President , chairman = Nadir Nabiyev , manager = Aykhan Abbasov , league = Azerba ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, where he has established himself as one of the best players in the country. In August 2006, Nikolov signed a three-year contract with

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

n club

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...

at the request of the manager,

Miodrag Ješić Miodrag Ješić ( sr-Cyrl, Миодраг Јешић, ; 30 November 1958 – 8 December 2022) was a Serbian football manager and player. Playing career Born in Osečenica, Ješić played for Partizan between 1974 and 1985, taking part in 342 m ...

, who noticed his talent while working in Bulgaria. Yet, on 20 September 2006, just one month after the transfer was made and with only several games played for the club, Nikolov was substituted in the 38th minute of the

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

game against

FK ČSK Pivara FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place ...

, because of "extremely low performance, physical capacity of an aged man and being a bad influence on the team spirit". Ješić has also said that it was "definitely the last game Nikolov had played for Partizan

In the next season he returned to

, signing a contract with

FK Baku FC Baku ( az, "Bakı" Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku that has been an amateur club since 2016. Prior to that, Baku played 18 seasons in the Azerbaijan Premier League, winning the championship twice and earning the Nat ...

. After that played six months and in

FK Qäbälä Gabala SC ( az, Qəbələ İK, ), also spelled Qabala, is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Qabala, which have competed in the Azerbaijan Premier League since 2006. Gabala has been the runner up in the Premier League three times ...

. In January 2009, the 32-year-old Nikolov returned to

and signed with

Honours

;Levski *

Bulgarian A PFG The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02 *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

References

External links

Player website from Levski2000
*
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolov, Asen 1976 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers Association football midfielders First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players FC Maritsa Plovdiv players PFC Levski Sofia players PFC Slavia Sofia players Turan-Tovuz IK players FK Partizan players Serbian SuperLiga players FC Baku players Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Serbia Expatriate footballers in France Gabala FC players US Pontet Grand Avignon 84 players Azerbaijan Premier League players Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan