Nikolay Kolev, nicknamed Michmana ( bg, Николай Колев - Мичмана) was a Bulgarian TV sports journalist. He will be remembered as a symbol of Bulgarian national sports journalism, being a pioneer in the profession.

Biography and career

Michmana was born on 20 February 1932 in the village of

Toros Toros may refer to: Sports *Rio Grande Valley FC Toros, an American soccer team in Edinburg, Texas * Austin Toros (2005-2014) a minor league basketball team from Austin, Texas *Western District Toros, a soccer club from Adelaide, South Australia ...

Lukovit Municipality Lukovit Municipality ( bg, Община Луковит) is a municipality ('' obshtina'') in Lovech Province, Central-North Bulgaria, located from the Fore-Balkan area to the southern parts of Danubian Plain. It is named after its administrative ...

Lovech Province Lovech Province ( bg, Област Ловеч, translit=Oblast Lovech, former name Lovech okrug) is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city - Lovech. As of December 200 ...

. He graduated from

Sofia University Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

with a specialty in Geography. Nikolay Kolev started working with the

Bulgarian National Television The Bulgarian National Television ( Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, ''Balgarska natsionalna televizia'') or BNT (БНТ), stylized as ·Б·Н·Т· since 2018, is a public television broadcaster of Bulgaria ...

(BNT) in 1965 and from 1974 he was an editor-in-chief in the sports department. specializing in

Football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

commentary, Michmana was an accredited commentator on eight of the

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 ...

competitions, seven of the

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

s and nine of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. The UEFA Club competitions, such as the old format of the Champions League and

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

, were also broadcast in Kolev's well-known mellow, slightly nasal voice. Due to his popularity as a commentator he was usually associated with the

Bulgarian football championship 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 ...

especially when it comes to the traditional derby between Levski FC and CSKA. During his years in BNT, Kolev built up his own distinguishable style of commenting. His colourful expressions were embraced throughout the country of

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 ...

and people frequently adopted quotes from some of his commentaries in daily speech. Memorable quotes of his are:
"...''the colleague

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

next to me''..." (when the famous Brazilian footballer commented for some television in the booth next to the Kolev's)
and "...''God is Bulgarian''..." (when Kostadinov scored a crucial goal in the last minute of the match between France and Bulgaria that qualified the Bulgarian team for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

). After leaving Bulgarian National Television, in the mid 1990s, Michmana worked for a while with

Diema DIEMA ( bg, Диема) is a Bulgarian television channel, part of Nova Broadcasting Group, owned by United Group. The channel airs mainly films, action series. Along with Nova Sport and Diema Sport airs sports, including matches from the Englis ...

vision. In honor of Kolev, Diema established an annual award for journalism, named after him. The first prize winner is Kalin Katev, another popular Bulgarian sports journalist who worked for the

Bulgarian National Radio Bulgarian National Radio ( bg, Българско национално радио, ''Bulgarsko natsionalno radio''; abbreviated to БНР, BNR) is Bulgaria's national radio broadcasting organisation. It operates two national and nine regional cha ...

.http://media.actualno.com/news_34652.html Nikolay Kolev - Michmana Award Nikolay Kolev died in 2004 at the age of 72.

Notes

References

BG news site

External links

Fokus Agency

Sport Portal Michmana Award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolev, Nikolay Bulgarian journalists 1932 births 2004 deaths Bulgarian television personalities People from Lukovit 20th-century Bulgarian people 20th-century journalists