Georgi Velinov Velinov ( bg, Георги Велинов Велинов; born 5 October 1957 in

Ruse Ruse may refer to: Places *Ruse, Bulgaria, a major city of Bulgaria **Ruse Municipality ** Ruse Province ** 19th MMC – Ruse, a constituency *Ruše, a town and municipality in north-eastern Slovenia * Ruše, Žalec, a small settlement in east-ce ...

), nicknamed Johnny, is a former

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 ...

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 ...

and football manager. 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 ...

, he was elected

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 ...

in 1981.

Career

Velinov played for PFC Dunav Rousse (1974–1975, four

A PFG 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 ...

matches) and

PFC 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 assoc ...

(1976–1978, 37 A PFG matches) before joining

PFC 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 ...

, of whom he was part of from 1978 to 1987. During his first stay with CSKA, Velinov won the A PFG in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and 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 ...

in 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1987. Velinov then moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

to play for

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese f ...

(1987–1988),

Atlético Clube de Portugal Atlético Clube de Portugal is a Portuguese club, located in the city of Lisbon, more precisely in the parish of Alcântara. It was founded on 18 September 1942 due to the merger of two clubs of Alcântara (Carcavelinhos Football Club) and Santo ...

(1988–1989) and

Elvas Elvas () is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about east of Lisbon, and about west of the Spanish fortress ...

(1989–1990). He returned to Bulgaria and played one more season with CSKA, 1991–1992, winning the A PFG once more and setting his number of league appearances for CSKA at 285. Velinov continued his career in

PFC Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home ground ...

(1993–1994, 12 A PFG matches),

PFC Sliven FC Sliven (ФК Сливен) is a Bulgarian football club from the town of Sliven, currently playing in the Third League, the third level of Bulgarian football. The club's home ground is the Hadzhi Dimitar Stadium in Sliven with a capacity of 1 ...

(1994) and Botev

Novi Pazar Novi Pazar ( sr-cyr, Нови Пазар, lit. "New Bazaar"; ) is a city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2011 census, the urban area has 66,527 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 100,410 inhabita ...

(1995). His career spanned 338 A PFG matches, 33 senior

Bulgaria national football team The Bulgaria national football team ( bg, Български национален отбор по футбол, Bǎlgarski natsionalen otbor po futbol) represents Bulgaria in men's international Association football, football and is administere ...

appearances, 21 under-21 features and 17 junior international games. He was an awarded a Master of Sports honour in 1980 and won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year prize in 1981. In 1995–1996, Velinov was the manager of FC Lokomotiv Rousse; it was under his management that Lokomotiv first managed to defeat their local rivals Dunav, beating them 1–0. The defeat meant Dunav would be relegated to the amateur

V AFG The Bulgarian Third Amateur Football League ( bg, Трета аматьорска футболна лига, Treta Amat'orska Futbolna Liga), commonly referred to as Third League ( bg, Трета лига) or Treta liga, is the third level of the ...

for the first time ever while Lokomotiv would remain in the

B PFG The Bulgarian Second Professional Football League ( bg, Втора професионална футболна лига, Vtora Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as Second League ( bg, Втора Лига) or Vtora liga, is the second level ...

. He has also worked as a goalkeeper coach and as a coach in CSKA's youth teams. In May 2007, he became a

liver transplant Liver transplantation or hepatic transplantation is the replacement of a Liver disease, diseased liver with the healthy liver from another person (allograft). Liver transplantation is a treatment option for Cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and ...

recipient.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velinov, Georgi 1957 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players FC Dunav Ruse players PFC Cherno More Varna players PFC CSKA Sofia players S.C. Braga players Atlético Clube de Portugal players PFC Slavia Sofia players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriates in Portugal Association football goalkeepers Bulgarian football managers Liver transplant recipients Sportspeople from Ruse, Bulgaria