Chavdar Yankov ( bg, Чавдар Янков; born 29 March 1984) is a Bulgarian retired

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 ...

. He played as a midfielder.

Club career

Yankov began his football career as a youth at

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 ...

. He made his debut in professional football on 7 September 2001, in a 0–1 loss 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 ...

. In the 2001–02 season, Yankov played in seven matches for Slavia. He started to make his name two years later when he scored six goals in 30 league games and was called to the Bulgarian national team by then coach

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...

. In summer 2005, Yankov moved to German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

, initially on a loan, but made permanent in summer 2007 for a fee of around €1.30 million. In summer 2009, he was loaned to

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...

. On 8 January 2010, Yankov joined

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( uk, "Українська Прем'єр-ліга", ''Ukrayinska Premier Liha'') or UPL is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Vyshcha Liha ( uk, Вища ліга, ''Top League'') ...

club

Metalurh Donetsk Football Club Metalurh Donetsk ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Доне́цьк, ) was a Ukrainian professional football club based in Donetsk that went bankrupt in July 2015. History Club predecessor Football ...

on a two-and-a-half-year deal. On 13 August 2010, Yankov was loaned out to

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Rostov FC Rostov (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб Ростов) is a Russian professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast. The club are members of the Russian Premier League, and play at the Rostov Arena. After the 20 ...

. In July 2012, Yankov signed as a free agent for his boyhood club

on a one-year contract. Yankov retired in 2014 at the age of 30, due to an injury.Чавдар Янков: Боли ме, че на 30 спрях с футбола
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International career

Yankov made his debut for

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 ...

in 2004. On 13 October 2004, he scored his first goal for Bulgaria in a 4–1 win against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

as part of the World Cup 2006 qualification campaign. On 12 October 2010, in the absence of

Stilian Petrov Stiliyan Alyoshev Petrov ( Bulgarian: Стилиян Альошев Петров, born 5 July 1979) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Petrov joined Celtic from CSKA Sofia in 1999, and won ten trophies in ...

, he captained the side for the first time in the 2–0 win against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

. From 2004 to 2011, Yankov made a total of 48 appearances for his country, scoring 5 goals.

International goals

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yankov, Chavdar 1984 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Ukrainian Premier League players Russian Premier League players PFC Slavia Sofia players Hannover 96 players MSV Duisburg players FC Metalurh Donetsk players FC Rostov players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Men's association football midfielders