Evdokiya Dimitrova Popadiynova ( bg, Евдокия Димитрова Попадинова, born 26 October 1996) is a 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 le ...

who plays as a

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 Italian Serie A club US Sassuolo and the Bulgaria women's national team.

Club career

Early years

London Bees v Bristol City WFC, 24 April 2016 (06)

Popadinova has played for Sportika Blagoevgrad in her home country before moving to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to sign with Bristol Academy. In doing so she is the first Bulgarian to make an appearance in the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. In March 2016, Popadinova signed with

FA WSL 2 The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

team

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. Th ...

College

In 2016, Popadinova enrolled at the

University of Northwestern Ohio The University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) is a private university in Lima, Ohio. It was founded in 1920. As of 2020, the school had an enrollment of approximately 4,500 students on a campus. The university, approved by the Ohio Department of ...

to play for their Division II NAIA program. Following two years with the Racers, Popadinova transferred to play with the

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (also FGCU) refer to the fifteen intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Florida Gulf Coast University, located in Fort Myers, Florida in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

. Ahead of her senior season, Popadinova was named on the MAC Hermann Trophy watchlist, one of only two players from her

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

International career

At age 16, Popadinova made her senior 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 ...

on 20 August 2013, coming on as a substitute to score in the 4–2 away win over Macedonia in a friendly match.

International goals

Awards

Individual

* Bulgarian Women Footballer of the Year (5): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 * WHAC Newcomer of the Year: 2016 * WHAC Offensive Player of the Year: 2017 * NAIA First Team All-American: 2016, 2017 * ASUN Women's Soccer All-Decade Team (2010-19)

References

External links

*
UNOH profile

FGCU profile
1996 births Living people People from Hadzhidimovo Bulgarian women's footballers Women's association football forwards Bristol Academy W.F.C. players London Bees players University of Northwestern Ohio alumni College women's soccer players in the United States Florida Gulf Coast Eagles women's soccer players S.S.D. Napoli Femminile players Women's Super League players Serie A (women's football) players Bulgaria women's international footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate women's footballers in Denmark Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Sportspeople from Blagoevgrad Province {{Bulgaria-footy-forward-stub