Nikolay Stefanov Iliev ( bg, Николай Стефанов Илиев; born 31 March 1964) is a Bulgarian former 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 ...
who played as a
defender. He was part of the
Bulgarian national team
The Bulgaria national football team ( bg, Български национален отбор по футбол, Bǎlgarski natsionalen otbor po futbol) represents Bulgaria in men's international football and is administered by the Bulgarian Foo ...
that reached the semi-finals of the
1994 World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...
. Iliev's spent most of his career with
Levski Sofia, managing 196 appearances and 25 goals in the
A PFG as well as participating in 19 matches and netting 2 goals in European tournaments. He also had a spell with
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
in
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 ...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s, becoming the first Bulgarian footballer to ply his trade in the top Italian league.
International goals
:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Iliev goal''.
Honours
Club
Levski Sofia
*
Champion of Bulgaria: 1984, 1985, 1988, 1993
*
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 ...
: 1982, 1984, 1986, 1992
*
Cup of the Soviet Army: 1984, 1987, 1988
International
Bulgaria
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
: fourth place
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
Individual
*
Bulgarian Footballer of the Year: 1987
References
External links
*
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
1964 births
Living people
Footballers from Sofia
Bulgarian men's footballers
Men's association football defenders
Bulgaria men's international footballers
PFC Levski Sofia players
Hertha BSC players
Stade Rennais F.C. players
Bologna FC 1909 players
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
Serie A players
2. Bundesliga players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Expatriate men's footballers in Germany
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in France
Expatriate men's footballers in France
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