Nikola Iliyanov Iliev ( bg, Никола Илиянов Илиев; born 6 June 2004) is 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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

and

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

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

and the Bulgaria national team. He was included in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' "Next Generation" list for 2021.

Career

Born in Yudelnik,

Slivo Pole Municipality Slivo Pole Municipality ( bg, Община Сливо поле) is a municipality ('' obshtina'') in Ruse Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, located along the right bank of Danube river in the Danubian Plain. It is named after its administrative c ...

, Iliev began his football career at

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv ( bg, „Ботев“ Пловдив, ) or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, that competes ...

. He made his professional debut for the team in a league 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 ...

on 29 September 2019. In June 2020, he completed his move to

, signing a 4-year contract. On 31 May 2022, Iliev scored the winning goal for Inter U19 against Roma U19, making Inter Serie A Primavera champions. On 26 October 2022, he scored all 4 goals in Inter's 4–2 win against

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

. On 5 February 2023, he was announced as Bulgarian Youth Footballer of 2022.

International career

Iliev received his first call-up for the

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 ...

senior national team on 5 September 2022, for the

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 ...

games against

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

on 23 and 26 September 2022. He made his debut in the match against Gibraltar, won 5–1 by Bulgaria.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

International

Honours

Individual

* Bulgarian Youth Footballer of the Year: 2022

References

2004 births Living people People from Rousse Province Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Botev Plovdiv players Inter Milan players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy {{Bulgaria-footy-forward-stub