Dimitar Krasimirov Iliev ( bg, Димитър Красимиров Илиев, born 25 September 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 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 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 ...

for

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 ...

, where he is also club captain, and 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 ...

. He won the

Bulgarian Footballer of the Year Bulgarian Footballer of the Year ( bg, Футболист №1 на България, ''Futbolist №1 na Balgariya'') is an annual title awarded to the best Bulgarian association football player of the year. The award has been given since 1961, an ...

award in 2019 and 2020.

Career

Iliev began his career in the youth ranks of

. After making his way through the various youth levels at the club, he debuted for the senior team in a 4–1 home win over

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 11 September 2004, at age of 15. In November 2004, Iliev had a trial spell with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

In January 2010, Iliev signed for

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 ...

, but struggled to get into the main squad and spent loan spells at

Minyor Pernik FC Minyor ( bg, ФК Миньор) is a football club in Pernik, Bulgaria, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1919 as SC Krakra, the club's home ground since 1954 has been Stadion Minyor. The c ...

and

Pirin Blagoevgrad Futbolen klub Pirin ( bg, Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. Th ...

, before joining

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

on a permanent basis in August 2011. After one season with Montana, Iliev joined

, where he spent two seasons before moving to Poland to sign for

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (''Wisła Płock S.A.''), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national foot ...

in 2014. In 2015–16, his second season with the club, Iliev helped Wisła achieve promotion to the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

. He spent three full seasons with Wisła before moving to

Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała TS Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała () is a football club based in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. They currently compete in the I liga, the second tier of Polish football. History The club was essentially founded on 11 July 1997, although it can trace i ...

in 2017 where he spent one season. On 16 July 2018, Iliev re-joined

, signing a two-year contract. At the end of the season he lifted 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 ...

as a captain of his childhood team. The 1–0 win against local rivals

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 ...

was achieved with the only goal in 73rd minute scored by

Alen Ožbolt Alen Ožbolt (born 24 June 1996) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Hapoel Tel Aviv. He has been capped for Slovenia at all youth levels from under-16 to under-21. Club career Ožbolt began his career at Domžale ...

(assist by

Ante Aralica Ante Aralica (born 23 July 1996) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Polish club Wieczysta Kraków. Club career Aralica started his career at NK Lučko and made his senior debut in August 2014, at the age of 18. I ...

and pre-assist by Iliev himself). It happened to be the first Bulgarian Cup trophy for Lokomotiv as well as the 1st ever trophy in Iliev's career. On 2 August 2020, Iliev scored a

last-minute goal The term "last-minute goal" is used in sport, primarily association football, to describe a goal scored very late in a game, usually one that affects the outcome of the game. The definition of a "last-minute goal" commonly used is one scored either ...

against Ludogorets Razgrad, helping his team to a 1–0 win and a

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup ( bg, Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and ...

triumph.

International career

In November 2019 Iliev received his first call up to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

for the friendly match against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and the

UEFA Euro 2020 Qualification The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europ ...

match against

the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Cz ...

, but remained an unused substitute for both games. He earned his first cap on 26 February 2020, playing the first half of the 0–1 home loss against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

in a friendly game.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Lokomotiv Plovdiv *

: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Individual

: 2019, 2020 *Best forward in the

Bulgarian First League 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 ...

: 2019 *Best youth forward in the

: 2006 *Best Footballer of

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 ...

: 2019, 2020, 2021

References

External links

*
Lokomotiv Plovdiv profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iliev, Dimitar 1988 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers Bulgaria youth international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ekstraklasa players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players PFC CSKA Sofia players PFC Minyor Pernik players OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad players FC Montana players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players Wisła Płock players Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała players Expatriate footballers in Poland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Association football forwards Bulgaria under-21 international footballers Footballers from Plovdiv