Martin Lukov ( bg, Мартин Луков; born 5 July 1993) 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 Macedo ...

n 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 plays as 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 ...

for Cypriot club Karmiotissa.

Career

Dunav Ruse

Lukov joined

Dunav Ruse FC Dunav ( bg, Дунав, officially named ''"Дунав от Русе"'') is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Ruse, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. Part o ...

in the summer of 2015, while the team was competing in the second division. He became a first choice goalkeeper immediately and played a crucial role during the season, as his team won the league and were promoted to the

Bulgarian First League 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 ...

for the first time after a twenty-five year absence. After the very first fixtures of the 2016-17 season, Lukov contributed heavily under the goalpost for Dunav's surprising five wins and two draws in the first seven rounds. In the match 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 18 September 2016, he became Dunav's goalkeeper with the most minutes without conceding a goal, with 456 minutes, a record previously held by Ivan Ivanov during the club's tenure in the 1963-64 A Group season. On 13 April 2017 it was confirmed that Lukov had sustained a serious injury and would be out of action for at least 6 months, thus missing the remainder of the 2016-17 season. On 13 October 2017 it was announced that Lukov will rejoin the team trainings, being completely ready to return to action. Lukov left the club in June 2018.

Lokomotiv Plovdiv

On 12 June 2018, Lukov signed with

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 ...

for three years.

International career

In 2013 Lukov played for the Bulgarian Amateur national team - South-East Bulgaria, in the

UEFA Regions' Cup The UEFA Regions' Cup is a football competition for amateur teams in Europe, run by UEFA. It was held for the first time in 1999 and has been played biennially since. The 2019 champions are the Lower Silesia team from Poland. The competition was ...

. In the beginning of 2017 he received a call up for Bulgaria, but didn't join the team due to injury. Lukov earned his first cap on 11 October 2020, in the 0–2 away loss against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

match.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

;Lokomotiv Plovdiv *

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 ...

(2): 2018–19, 2019–20 *

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 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

References

External links

* * 1993 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgaria international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Saudi Professional League players FC Vitosha Bistritsa players FC Pirin Razlog players FC Oborishte players FC Dunav Ruse players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players Al-Tai FC players FC Arda Kardzhali players Association football goalkeepers Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia {{Bulgaria-footy-goalkeeper-stub