Georgi Spirov Naydenov () (21 December 1931 – 28 May 1970) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

and manager. He is considered the greatest Bulgarian goalkeeper of all time. Between 1955 and 1965 he played in 176 matches for

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () 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 Sports Club of the Army'' ...

. He was honoured as Bulgarian Footballer of the Year in 1961. Naydenov won the top Bulgarian league, the

A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

, 8 times (all with CSKA), as well as the

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () 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's format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

, 3 times (all with CSKA). He was respected for his incredible work ethic and his determination during training and matches alike.

International career

For the

Bulgaria national football team The Bulgaria national football team () represents Bulgaria in men's international Association football, football, and is administered by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. Bulgaria's best achievements are reaching the ...

Naydenov featured in 51 games and won a bronze medal at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

. He played for his country at the

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and 1966 World Cups. Even after he had retired from competing he still remained one of the fittest players in Bulgaria and this made his death all the more mysterious. He died in Damascus, Syria and initial reports claimed he had suffered a heart attack although members of his family and people close to him suspected he had been poisoned.

Honours

Player

** Bulgarian League: 8 times – 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962 **

: 3 times – 1955, 1961, 1965

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naydenov, Georgi 1931 births 1970 deaths Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen Bulgaria men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Sofia 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players PFC CSKA Sofia players Footballers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Bulgaria Olympic bronze medalists for Bulgaria Olympic medalists in football First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics