Nikola Spasov ( bg, Никола Спасов; 15 December 1958 – 23 November 2020) 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 ...

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 le ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Playing career

Born 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 ...

, Spasov played for

PFC Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv 1929 ( bg, Локомотив 1929) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at th ...

FC 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 of ...

PFC 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 ...

and PFC Spartak Varna in his country. With the first club, he won the Bulgarian League in his first professional season. Spasov moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in December 1986, and remained in the nation for the following seven years, representing five teams. In the 1989–90 campaign he scored a career-best 34 goals for

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

, which however failed to promote them from the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

; in the

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

he played with

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

and Paços. In June 1994, after one season in his homeland with former team Cherno More, Spasov retired from football at nearly 36 years of age.

Coaching career

Spasov started managing in Portugal and Spain, in both countries at amateur level. In 2003, he was appointed at

PFC Marek Dupnitsa FC Marek ( bg, ФК Марек) is a Bulgarian football club based in Dupnitsa, currently playing in the Third League, the third level of the Bulgarian football league system. It was founded in 1947 following the unification of four local clubs. ...

in his country, switching to the

Republic of 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 Yugoslavia. It ...

and

FK Bregalnica Štip FK Bregalnica Štip ( mk, ФК Брегалница Штип) is a football club based in Štip, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian First League. History FK Bregalnica was formed in 1921 and currently plays in the Mace ...

the following season. From 2006 and during four years, Spasov worked with former club Cherno More, as assistant, head coach and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

. In 2011, he returned to Bregalnica. On 3 January 2018, he was announced as the new manager of the

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

team Kyzylzhar. Spasov has managed Tsarsko Selo on two occasions – during 2016/2017 as well as between June 2018 and April 2020.

Honours

Player

;Lokomotiv Sofia * Bulgarian League: 1977–78

Manager

;Cherno More *

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 ...

: 2014–15 *

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 and ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

;Tsarsko Selo *

Bulgarian Second League The Bulgarian Second Professional Football League ( bg, Втора професионална футболна лига, Vtora Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as Second League ( bg, Втора Лига) or Vtora liga, is the second level ...

: 2018–19

Personal life

Spasov's younger brother, Yulian (born 1963), was also a footballer. A

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he too represented Spartak and Cherno More Varna, and also spent several years as a professional in Portugal (nine seasons, including eight with Paços de Ferreira). On 23 November 2020, Spasov died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria The COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bulgaria when the country's first ca ...

.Трагедия! Никола Спасов почина след битка с COVID-19
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spasov, Nikola 1958 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Association football forwards First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players PFC Cherno More Varna players PFC Spartak Varna players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players S.C. Farense players S.C. Salgueiros players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players S.C. Beira-Mar players Rio Ave F.C. players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Bulgarian football managers FK Bregalnica Štip managers PFC Cherno More Varna managers PFC Svetkavitsa managers Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in North Macedonia FC Dunav Ruse players FC Kyzylzhar managers Expatriate football managers in Kazakhstan Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria S.C. Freamunde players