Ivan Mokanov ( bg, Иван Моканов; 20 March 1912 – 16 April 1982) was a

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 manager. Ivan Mokanov played 210 matches and scored 14 goals in his career with SC Vladislav and its successor Ticha-Vladislav (1928-1945) in the

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

regional league and the Bulgarian State Competition. He was a Bulgarian champion and cup winner in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

and runner-up in

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. He was capped 4 times for the National team. Mokanov stayed on in the

team as manager until 1960 and for the period 1964-68 when it was already known under its current name Cherno More. He graduated from the National Coaching Academy in 1948 and was awarded an Honours Coaching degree in 1963. With his 52 years of service to Cherno More, Ivan Mokanov is synonymous with club loyalty.

Club career

Ivan Mokanov began his career in the youth team of Vladislav in 1928 and two years later he established himself as a permanent A team defender. In the 2-4-4 system, which was popular at the time, Mokanov was a key pillar of the defense. He was known by the force of his shot, which was very much appreciated at the time, when

long ball In association football, a long ball is an attempt to move the ball a long distance down the field via one long aerial kick from either a goalkeeper or a defender directly to an attacking player, with the ball generally bypassing the midfield. R ...

tactics were widely used. This is why Mokanov also became the regular penalty taker. He was known to have missed only once from the penalty spot. After the championship-winning final of 16 September 1934, Mokanov was rated best player of the match against

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 ...

by the "Sport" newspape

He was Vladislav's captain and playing coach in the pre-war years from 1937 to 1944, and during the transformation of the team to Ticha-Vladislav after the war.

International career

Ivan Mokanov made his debut for the National team on 21 May 1933 in

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against Spain

and made his last appearance for the team on 6 June 1940 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 ha ...

against Slovakia

Coaching career

As senior team coach, Mokanov was known for his talent-spotting ability. He developed players like

Nedko Nedev Nedko Nedev (Bulgarian: Недко Недев) (18 October 1920, Varna – 23 January 2001, Varna) was a Bulgarian football player who played for Vladislav, Ticha-Vladislav, TVP 45, Botev Stalin and VMS, (1938-1952) different names for the same t ...

, Ivan Derventski, Spas Kirov, Stefan Bogomilov,

Bozhil Kolev Bozhil Naydenov Kolev ( bg, Божил Найденов Колев; born 20 May 1949) is a former Bulgarian football player and manager. Kolev made 60 appearances for the Bulgarian national team from 1969 to 1978. Career Born in Tsonevo, Dalg ...

Stefan Yanev Stefan Dinchev Yanev ( bg, Стефан Динчев Янев) is a retired Bulgarian Army Brigade general and a politician. He was from 12 May to 13 December 2021 acting deputy prime minister, acting minister of defense and caretaker government ...

, Damyan Georgiev. Some of them reached the National team formations and some made careers in Sofia teams which was considered a great achievement at the time. He coached the

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team to a Group A third-place finish. With his 4 years as player-coach of SC Vladislav and 17 years as head coach of Cherno More, Ivan Mokanov still is the longest serving coach of any Bulgarian football club. Under his leadership, Cherno More achieved prestigious wins against

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

on 8 June 1966 in Varna (3-1), and on tour in

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the same summer, the team from Varna defeated soon to be First Division runners-up

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

(1-0). Although advancing in age, Ivan Mokanov returned for one final season (1979–80) to lead the team which was then in crisis. For his contribution to the club, plans are being made to erect a bronze statue of him in the Ticha club stadium by grateful fans of FC Cherno More.

References

* http://chernomorepfc.bg/fccm_bg/index_bg.php?link=pages/hisrory_3.html&page_title=%D0%98%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F *

* http://www.afc-ajax.info/nl/wedstrijd/1966-6-8-Cherno-More-Ajax {{DEFAULTSORT:Mokanov, Ivan 1912 births Bulgarian footballers Bulgarian football managers 1982 deaths PFC Cherno More Varna players PFC Cherno More Varna managers Sportspeople from Varna, Bulgaria Association footballers not categorized by position