Lyubomir Angelov ( bg, Любомир Ангелов; 4 October 1912 – 24 October 1984) was a Bulgarian

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 Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for the Bulgarian national team. With 26 goals in 44

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Bulgaria, he ranks as the nation's fifth-highest all-time top goalscorer.

Club career

He began to play football in his hometown clubs in Sofia such as Atletik, Sława and Szypce. At the age of 14, he moved to AS-23 Sofia, where he was nicknamed Старото (), which he received from his schoolmates from the gymnasium. He was Champion of Bulgaria in

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

, when on the final matchday, they defeated FK Szypczenski Sokol by

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. In 1941, he won the Tsar Cup, scoring twice in the final against Napredak Ruse to help his side to a 4–2. After the seizure of power by the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

in the

1944 Bulgarian coup d'état The 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état, also known as the 9 September coup d'état ( bg, Деветосептемврийски преврат, Devetoseptemvriyski prevrat), was the forcible change of the government of Kingdom of Bulgaria carried out ...

, AS-23 Sofia was dissolved, while the main activists were subjected to repression for political reasons. Angelov, along with other leading AS-23 players, Spartak Podujane and Szypki Sofia, founded the band Czawdar Sofia, in which he performed until the end of 1947.

International career

He played in 44 matches for the

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 ...

from 1931 to 1940, nine of which as its

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, scoring a then-national record of 26 goals. He was part of the Bulgaria team that won two back-to-back

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. Overview The first edition featured Romania, ...

s in

and in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

, contributing with 1 and 2 goals respectively, but the highlight of his international career came in the 1935 Balkan Cup, where he was the top goal scorer with 6 goals which came in the form of two

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

s against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. With 14 goals in the Balkan Cup, he is the second-best top goal scorer in the competition's history, only behind

Iuliu Bodola Iuliu Bodola ( hu, Bodola Gyula; 26 February 1912 – 12 March 1993) was a Romanian- Hungarian association football striker who played internationally both for Romania and Hungary. His nickname was ''Duduş''/''Dudus''. He is Romania's third ...

of Romania, who has 15. Angelov was also part of Bulgaria's team for their qualification matches for the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beat ...

Managerial career

After completing his competitive career, he became a coach, graduating from the State Coaching School (1948). Angelov took charge of the Bulgaria national team three times, first in 1948, then in 1950, and finally in 1953, leading the nation in 8 games. He also served as the head coach of the Bulgaria B team in 23 games between 1949 and 1959 and the youth (junior) team in 13 games between 1960 and 1962. He was the coach of

Spartak Sofia FC Spartak Sofia ( bg, ФК Спартак София) was a Bulgarian football club based in Sofia, Bulgaria. The club was officially founded in 1947. The team plays in the Bulgarian Regional Division. The club's home colours are blue and white ...

twice (1949–1956, 1966–1968) and again twice with Łokomotiv Sofia (1957, 1964), and was also employed in the training staff of Spartak-Levski Sofia, where he was assistant to

Rudolf Vytlačil Rudolf Vytlačil (; german: Rudolf "Rudi" Vytlacil) (9 February 1912, Schwechat – 1 June 1977) was an Czechoslovak football player and manager. Born in Schwechat on outskirts of Vienna, Vytlačil started his career at the local club Phönix ...

and Yoncho Arsov. Between 1964 and 1966, he worked in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, creating the structures of the local football league and the player training system.

International goals

:''Bulgaria score listed first, score column indicates score after each Angelov goal.

Honours

Club

; AS-23 Sofia

Bulgarian State Football Championship The State Football Championship was the first national football competition in Bulgaria. It was organised between 1924 and 1944 by the Bulgarian National Sport Federation. The championship did not finish in years 1924, 1927 and 1944 because of ...

: *Champions (1):

International

;Bulgaria

: *Champions (2):

and

*Runners-up (2):

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

and

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

Individual

*Top goalscorer of the 1935 Balkan Cup with 6 goals

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Angelov, Ljubomir 1912 births 1984 deaths Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers Association football forwards Bulgarian football managers Bulgaria national football team managers