Karamfil Ilchev ( bg, Карамфил Илчев) (born 7 January 1979) is 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 ...

n former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

Career

His first club was Dobrudzha Dobrich.

Cherno More

Ilchev was enrolled in

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 ...

during the summer 2005-transfer window after he played for

Akademik Svishtov OFC Akademik Svishtov ( bg, ОФК Академик Свищов) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Svishtov who play in the North-West Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. It plays its home matches at Akademik s ...

and Dobrudzha. Fill, as the "sailors" fans call the goalkeeper, had the task to replace the ex-titular goalkeeper Tihomir Todorov. During his first two seasons Ilchev was a stable reserve of Ivaylo Petrov and

Krasimir Kolev Krasimir Kolev ( bg, Красимир Колев) (born 7 November 1971) is a former Bulgarian goalkeeper, who currently works as a goalkeepers coach for Cherno More Varna until 2012. now is a goalkeeper coach for LEVSKI Sofia Kolev previously ...

and played in only four matches, mainly in 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 ...

. The goalkeeper managed to become first choice for the team during the season 2007/2008, when Petrov was already at

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 ...

and Kolev often suffered from injuries. During this season Ilchev played in 28 matches and has a major role for the good performance of "Cherno More" in

the championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

and in the

. From summer 2008 Fill has a very serious competition from the Moldovian national goalkeeper

Evgheni Hmaruc Evgheni Hmaruc (russian: Евгений Хмарук; born 13 June 1977) is a Moldovan former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career He was loaned to Constructorul Cioburciu in March 2002. He joined CSKA Sofia in Febr ...

, who came in Cherno More from the Indonesian

Persija Jakarta Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta'; abbreviated as Persija), is an Indonesian professional football club based in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Persija Jakarta is one of the most suc ...

. In spite of this the Bulgarian was the first choice of the coach

Nikola Spasov Nikola Spasov ( bg, Никола Спасов; 15 December 1958 – 23 November 2020) was a Bulgarian professional footballer and coach. Playing career Born in Sofia, Spasov played for PFC Lokomotiv Sofia, FC Dunav Ruse, PFC Cherno More Varna an ...

for the debut appearance of the Sailors in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. Ilchev played very well in many matches as he was particularly good against the Israeli vice-champion

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי נתניה, ''Football Club Maccabi Netanya'') is an Israeli football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. Afte ...

. During the 2008–09 season, Ilchev earned 20 appearances playing in

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 ...

. He played one match in

, and in the

, he played 5 matches.

Beroe

On 6 July 2010 Ilchev signed a two-year contract with

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 ...

. He earned 11 appearances playing for Beroe in

, before surprisingly retiring at the age of 31, in December 2010. The reason was a move to Canada for business reasons in the near future. He, however, hinted that this may not be the end of his football career, and he may start to play for a Canadian side in the near future. He later signed for

FC Brossard FC Brossard was a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Brossard, Quebec that played for two seasons in the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. History The club was originally formed in 1978 as a youth soccer club. In 2012, the s ...

as an assistant coach and as a goalkeeper for the newly formed PLSQ.

Honours

Club

* Cherno More **

: ***Runner-up (2): 2005–06, 2007-08

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilchev, Karamfil 1979 births Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ligue1 Québec players FC Dobrudzha Dobrich players OFC Akademik Svishtov players FC Chernomorets Burgas players PFC Cherno More Varna players PFC Beroe Stara Zagora players Bulgarian expatriates in Canada FC Brossard players Sportspeople from Dobrich Province