Ivan Kamenov Ivanov ( bg, Иван Каменов Иванов; born 25 February 1988) is a Bulgarian former 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 centre-back and now a manager of Slavia Sofia II and assistant to

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 Macedo ...

national team. He has been a member of the Bulgarian national team. In 2013, Ivanov was named 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 ...

, becoming the first defender to win this award after

Trifon Ivanov Trifon Marinov Ivanov ( bg, Трифон Маринов Иванов; 27 July 1965 – 13 February 2016) was a Bulgarian professional footballer who played as a defender. Ivanov made his debut for Bulgaria in 1988, earning 76 caps and scoring ...

in 1996.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Zlatitsa Zlatitsa ( bg, Златица ) is a town and the seat of the Zlatitsa Municipality in southern Bulgaria located in the Zlatitsa-Pirdop valley. It lies between Stara Planina to the north and Sredna Gora to the south at above sea level. It is si ...

, Ivanov was inspired to become a footballer after watching the Bulgaria national football team's performance during their

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

campaign. He made his debut with Pirin 1922, before moving to

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 ...

in 2005. With CSKA, he was a

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 tournamen ...

winner in 2006 and

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 an ...

winner in the same year. In August 2007, Ivanov went on loan to

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 ...

. In the winter of 2008, local media reported that he was a target for English side

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

, but problems with the work permit stopped the transfer.

CSKA Sofia

After many departures from the club in the 2008 summer transfer window, Ivanov became an integral part of CSKA's defence, together with Kiril Kotev. He was in the starting line-up against

Litex Lovech Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...

in the

2008 Bulgarian Supercup The 2008 Bulgarian Supercup was the sixth Bulgarian Supercup match, a football match which was contested between the A Group champion, CSKA Sofia, and the winner of Bulgarian Cup, Litex Lovech. The match was held on 3 August 2008 at the Vasil Levs ...

, which they won 2–1. On 19 September 2008, Ivanov scored his first goal for CSKA against

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 ...

, a header after a corner kick in the 67th minute. On 18 March 2009, Ivanov scored against his former club

to secure a 3–1 win for CSKA. He continued his goalscoring run on 21 March 2009, in a 2–0 win against Spartak Varna. In total, Ivanov scored five league goals in the 2008–09 season. On 15 August 2009, Ivanov scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season, in a 3–0 home win against

Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

. On 27 August 2009, Ivanov scored the winning goal against

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

in the

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 ...

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, helping his team to a 2–1 aggregate win and an entry into the group stage of the tournament. On 1 November 2009, he was indefinitely banned from the first team, along with eight other players, following a breach of discipline. On 20 November 2009, Ivanov was reinstated to the first team and a day later came on as a substitute for

Aleksandar Branekov Aleksandar Branekov ( bg, Александър Бранеков; born 31 May 1987) is a former Bulgarian professional footballer who played as a centre back. Career Branekov is a product of the CSKA Sofia Academy. He marked his first-team debut w ...

in a 2–2 away draw with

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 ...

Alania Vladikavkaz

In February 2010, Ivanov signed a four-year contract with Alania Vladikavkaz. He scored two goals in 24 matches of the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

. However, Alania were relegated to the Russian First Division after only one season.

Partizan

On 17 June 2011, Ivanov signed a three-year contract with

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

. He made his competitive debut for the club on 13 July 2011, in a 4–0 home win against Shkëndija in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. On 3 December 2011, he scored his first goal for Partizan, in a 3–0 home win against Radnički Kragujevac. He also scored a header which provided to be the winning goal in their 2–1 away win over

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club'') is a Serbian professional football club based in Belgrade, more precisely in Karaburm ...

on 14 March 2012. In the 2011–12 season, Ivanov played every minute of Partizan's league matches and scored four goals. On 30 August 2012, Ivanov scored a header against

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...

to give Partizan a 1–0 win and thus qualify the team for the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

. In recognition of his contributions, he was voted Partizan's Player of the Year for 2012 by the club's supporters. Ivanov was also named in the

2012–13 Serbian SuperLiga The 2012–13 Serbian SuperLiga (known as the Jelen SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Serbian SuperLiga since its establishment. The season began on 26 August 2012 and ended on 25 May 2013. A total of 16 teams c ...

Team of the Season, alongside four teammates.

Basel

In August 2013, Ivanov signed a three-year contract, with an option for an additional year, with Swiss side

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. He joined Basel's first team for their 2013–14 season under head coach

Murat Yakin Murat Yakin ( tr, Yakın; born 15 September 1974) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He is the manager of the Switzerland national football team. Playing career Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown c ...

. Ivanov played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 11 August as Basel were defeated 1–2 by

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

. He scored his first goal for the club with a header in an away cup match against local amateur club

Old Boys The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils of primary and secondary schools.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are ...

, with an assist coming from Matías Delgado. On 11 December 2013, in the Champions League group stage away match Ivanov was shown the red card and dismissed during Basel's 0–2 feat by

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. On 14 January 2014, Ivanov suffered a knee injury in a friendly match against Eintracht Braunschweig, causing him to miss the rest of the 2013–14 season. At the end of the season, the team won the

2013–14 Swiss Super League The 2013–14 Swiss Super League, was the 117th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. It began on 13 July 2013 and ended on 18 May 2014. Basel successfully defended their title for a record fifth time in a row. A total of 10 teams compete ...

championship. To the start of the 2014/15 season he was still not able to play football due to the injury reoccurring and on 16 September the club announced that Ivanov had to undergo a second suggery (anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction) but the operation had been successful. Ivanov had expected to recover for the start of the Euro 2016 qualifiers, receiving a call-up for the match against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

, but was eventually deemed not fully fit. He was still convalescent at the start of the 2015/16 season. In December 2015 Ivanov's contract with Basel was terminated in mutual consent, in order to be able to cope with his injury at his own pace. During his time with the club Ivanov played a total of 20 games for Basel scoring one goal. 11 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, one in the Swiss Cup, six in the Champions League and two were friendly games. He scored his goal in the above-mentioned cup game.

Lokomotiv Plovdiv

After having trials at

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

, Ivanov was not able to sign because he was still recovering from a 2-year long injury (torn ligaments). Instead he chose to return to his home country and signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with a former team of his,

PFC 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 ...

. He appeared in 9 matches for Lokomotiv during the second half of the season.

Panathinaikos

On 28 June 2016, Ivanov signed a contract with Super League Greece club Panathinaikos until the summer of 2019. He scored his first goal in a 1-1 Europa League game against Danish side Brøndby IF; a game which saw his team secure a place in the group phases of the tournament. Since joining the club, he had been a solid starter for Panathinaikos while manager

Andrea Stramaccioni Andrea Stramaccioni (; born 9 January 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player who last managed Qatari club Al Gharafa. A football coach with experiences as a youth coach of Roma and Inter Milan, he was put in charge of first tea ...

was in charge. However, after Marinos Ouzounidis took over, he was no longer a first-team choice for the club, especially after the defensive mistake that helped Apollon Smyrnis open the scoring in the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

match between the two (Panathinaikos eventually won 4–3); instead, discussions within Panathinaikos were made as to whether Ivanov would remain at the club even as a backup for the first team or would be completely released from his contract. He was released from Panathinaikos on 24 January 2017 by mutual consent.

Arsenal Tula

On 1 February 2017, Ivanov joined

club

FC Arsenal Tula FC Arsenal Tula (russian: ФК Арсенал Тула) is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League. Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League i ...

on a 1.5-year contract. On 11 July 2017, Arsenal announced that Ivanov will be leaving the team.

Altay

In June 2018, Ivanov signed for two years with newly promoted to

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

side Altay.

Vihren Sandanski

In late June 2019, he returned to Bulgaria, signing a contract with Third League club Vihren Sandanski.

Etar

Ivanov was part of the Etar squad during the autumn of 2019.

Retirement

After struggling with injuries during the later stages of his career, on 22 May 2020 Ivanov announced his retirement from football.

International career

Youth

Ivanov represented Bulgaria at all national levels, including U-17, U-19 and U-21 teams. On 10 June 2009, he scored his only goal for the under-21 side in a 4–3 loss against Israel U-21. Ivanov also served as team captain in the absence of Nikolay Mihaylov.

Senior

Ivanov made his debut for the senior national team on 20 August 2008, in a 2–1 win against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, during which he entered the match as a substitute in the 67th minute. He also came on as a substitute for the naturalized

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

Lúcio Wagner Lúcio Wagner Freitas de Souza (born 15 June 1976), known simply as Lúcio Wagner, is a retired Brazilian-born Bulgarian international Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Achiev ...

in a World Cup qualifier against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 10 October 2008. He played the full 90 minutes in another World Cup qualifier against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

five days later, which also ended in a scoreless draw. On 10 October 2009, Ivanov earned his fourth cap in a 4–1 away loss against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, attracting some criticism from the media for defensive mistakes. Nonetheless, he played in the next match against

. On 6 September 2011, Ivanov netted his first national team goal, opening the scoring in a 3–1 away loss against Switzerland in a Euro 2012 qualifier. He became an integral part of the national team in the following years. After missing the qualifiers for

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

due to continued struggles with injuries, Ivanov made his return to the team on 6 September 2016, in the 4:3 win over

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in a

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

qualification match.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

CSKA Sofia *

: 2005–06 *

: 2006,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Partizan *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Basel * Swiss Super League: 2013–14, 2014–15 * Swiss Cup runner-up: 2013–14, 2014–15 Individual *

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...

Player of the Year: 2012 *

Team of the Season: 2012–13 *

: 2013

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanov, Ivan 1988 births Living people People from Zlatitsa Bulgarian footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgaria youth international footballers Bulgaria under-21 international footballers Bulgaria international footballers Association football central defenders PFC Pirin Blagoevgrad players PFC CSKA Sofia players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players FC Spartak Vladikavkaz players FK Partizan players FC Basel players Panathinaikos F.C. players FC Arsenal Tula players PFC Beroe Stara Zagora players Altay S.K. footballers FK Palanga players SFC Etar Veliko Tarnovo players FC Botev Vratsa players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Russian Premier League players Serbian SuperLiga players Swiss Super League players Super League Greece players TFF First League players A Lyga players Expatriate footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Serbia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Greece Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Turkey Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Lithuania Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Lithuania Sportspeople from Sofia Province