Dimitar Ivanov Ivankov (

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

: Димитър Иванов Иванков; born 30 October 1975) is a former Bulgarian 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. However, he is known for his goals, especially from converting penalty kicks. Ivankov is the sixth highest goalscoring goalkeeper of all time with 42 goals, and Number 1 in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

under this indicator.

Club career

Born in

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 h ...

, Ivankov was raised in

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 ...

's youth teams and is a passionate fan of the "bluemen". For nine seasons he played in 275 matches and scored 25 goals. Ivankov was a champion of Bulgaria in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and the national cup winner for 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005. He joined Turkish club

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...

in June 2005. On 7 May 2008 he played a vital role in Kayseri winning the Turkish Cup, saving 3 penalties and scoring two himself. Thus, he became the fourth Bulgarian to win the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

. During three seasons with the club Ivankov earned 94 appearances playing in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

, and scored six goals. On 9 June 2008 he signed a contract with

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In t ...

. He scored a crucial goal against Fenerbahçe in the 95th minute. His goal made the game 2–1 to Bursapor. In 2010, he scored the 42nd senior goal of his career, putting him in third place for the most goals scored by goalkeepers worldwide. He won the Turkish

with

in 2010. On 23 June 2011, Ivankov signed a contract with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

side

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

. The contract with Anorthosis was terminated by mutual agreement on 8 August, after

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

exit.

International career

Ivankov earned his first cap with

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 1998 and has since earned 64 caps for his country. He was part of the

squad at

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

in Portugal, but he did not play any single match in the competition as

Zdravko Zdravkov Zdravko Stoyanov Zdravkov ( bg, Здравко Здравков; born 4 October 1970 in Sofia) is a former Bulgarian football goalkeeper. He ended his career at the end of 2006–07 season. Club career On the club level, Zdravkov has played fo ...

was still at best performances in club and as number one of the Bulgarian national team. After Euro 2004 Ivankov was the first choice for goalkeeper of the Bulgarian team. On 3 March 2010, he played his last match for the national team in a friendly against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Honours

;Levski Sofia * Bulgarian A Group: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02 *

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 ...

: 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05 ;Kayserispor *

: 2007–08 ;Bursaspor *

: 2009–10

References

External links

Profile at LevskiSofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivankov, Dimitar 1975 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian footballers Association football goalkeepers PFC Levski Sofia players Kayserispor footballers Bursaspor footballers Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players Bulgaria international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Association football goalkeeping coaches