Dani Ayman Kiki ( bg, Дани Айман Кики; born 8 January 1988) 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 Macedo ...

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 ...

currently playing as a

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is of Syrian Kurdish descent, as his father is from Syria.

Career

Early career

Kiki started to play football in the private junior football academy Botev 2002 in Plovdiv. His first coach was

Marin Bakalov Marin Bakalov (born 18 April 1962) is a Bulgarian football coach and former professional player. Career Playing career Bakalov made a total of 454 league appearances in Bulgaria for Botev Plovdiv, CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА С ...

. In 2004, at the age of 16, he went to

Spartak Plovdiv PFC Spartak Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Спартак Пловдив) is a Bulgarian football club based in Plovdiv, which currently plays in the third tier of Bulgarian football, the Third League. The club was established in 1947 and folded its seni ...

Lokomotiv Plovdiv

In 2006, only 18 years old, Dani Kiki signed his first professional contract with

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...

. Kiki made his official debut in the Bulgarian first division in a match 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 ...

on 17 September 2006 as a 77th-minute substitute and played for 13 minutes. The result of the match was a 0:2 loss for The Smurfs. Six days later, Kiki scored his first goal for Lokomotiv Plovdiv against

PFC Chernomorets Burgas Sofia FC Conegliano was a Bulgarian football club based in German. They last played in the South-West Amateur Football Group, the third tier of Bulgarian football, before merging with DIT Academy, into PFC Septemvri Sofia. The club was founded in 2001 ...

. He netted a goal in the 90th minute. The result of the match was a 6:0 win for Loko. On 31 October 2009, he was involved in a brawl, along with several other players, following his team's 0-1 loss to Botev Plovdiv.

Chernomorets Burgas

After a five-year spell at Lauta and some problems with the club, Kiki was released from Lokomotiv Plovdiv. He relocated to

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

, to sign a contract with Chernomorets Burgas. He was released in January 2012.

Return to Lokomotiv Plovdiv

On 29 October 2016 he scored the winning goal for Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the game 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 ...

Cherno More Varna

On 16 January 2018 Kiki joined

Cherno More Varna Cherno More ( bg, Черно Море) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on March 3, 1913, as an asso ...

after he had left

in the end of 2017.

Career statistics

International career

In November 2007 of that time the Bulgarian national under-21 coach Aleksandar Stankov called Kiki up for

Bulgaria national under-21 football team The Bulgaria national under-21 football team ( bg, Mладежки национален отбор на България по футбол) is considered to be the feeder team for the Bulgaria national football team. This team is for Bulgarian pl ...

for a matches with

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

and Ireland U21. On 16 November 2007, on stadium:mk in Milton Keynes he made his official debut for Bulgaria U21 against England U21. For Bulgaria U21, Kiki was capped five times.

References

External links

Profile
at lportala.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiki, Dani 1988 births Living people Bulgarian footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players PFC Chernomorets Burgas players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players PFC Cherno More Varna players Bulgarian people of Syrian descent Syrian Kurdish people Association football midfielders