Nikolay Todorov ( bg, Николай Тодоров; born 24 August 1996) 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

. Todorov is a Bulgaria U21 international. Known for his physical presence, good in either box in defence or attack; a powerful player and very good in the air; good with both feet. At the age of 7, Todorov started his career with Spartak Pleven's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

before winning a scholarship in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 2014, he joined

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in their Under-21s academy, loan spells followed at

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

and Worcester City in

. Todorov joined Heart of Midlothian in 2016, loan spells followed at

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

and Livingston where he was part of the 2017–18 promotion winning team finishing as champions. He spent the first half of the 2017–18 season back on loan at Livingston, before spending the second half of the season at Queen of the South. He subsequently had a short spell in Italy with Rieti, before returning to Scotland with Falkirk and then

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

Career

Born in Pleven, Todorov joined FC Pleven's Academy at seven years old. In 2011, he joined Brooke House College and played three years for the college's football team, Brooke House College Football Academy under manager Ben Watts. In 2014, Todorov joined

at Under-21 level. On 10 January 2015, he signed his second professional contract with the club. Although he played for the Under-21s, he failed to feature for the first team and was officially released in May 2016. Todorov had already joined up with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club Heart of Midlothian in April 2016, to try earn himself a contract. After a successful two-month trial period, he then signed a one-year contract in June 2016. In July 2016, Todorov had a six-month loan spell at

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was e ...

club

. He made his debut on the opening day of the 2016–17 season in a 1–0 home defeat to

Elgin City Elgin City Football Club (also known as City or The Black and Whites) is a professional senior football club based in Elgin, Moray. Elgin was founded in 1893 and originally played their football in the Highland Football League. The club was g ...

on 6 August 2016. The following week, Todorov scored his first ever league goal in a 4–3 away loss at Forfar Athletic, with a header from a cross six yards out in the 59th minute. Todorov was mainly played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

due to an injury crisis, before being recalled by Hearts in January 2017. Todorov then went on loan to Livingston in January 2017, helping Livingston win the 2016–17 Scottish League One title. He signed a new one-year contract with Hearts at the end of the 2016–17 season. Todorov spent the first half of the 2017–18 season back on loan at Livingston. On 31 January 2018, Todorov joined Queen of the South on loan for the remainder of the 2017–18 season. On 14 August 2018, Todorov signed a two-year contract with Italian

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

club Rieti. He then returned to Scottish football in January 2019, signing for Falkirk. Following Falkirk's relegation to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, he left and signed for Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

International career

Todorov has represented Bulgaria on U15, U16 and U21 level. On 30 May 2017, he received his first call-up for Bulgaria U21 for the friendly matches against Georgia U21 and Greece U21 on 8 and 12 June 2017.

Style of play

Todorov is primarily a centre forward, he can however be utilised as a

; two-footed, he has the ability to score with his right foot, as well as his left foot, he is a big, powerful strong player and good in the air.

Personal life

His father is also called Nikolay Todorov (born 1964), who was also a professional footballer and playing for the national team of Bulgaria. On 1 February 2019 he married his Scottish girlfriend Jennifer Clark in a small ceremony.Nikolay Todorov passed under marriage
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Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Livingston *

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was ...

: 2016–17

Club

;Inverness Caledonian Thisle * Scottish Challenge Cup: 2019-20

Individual

* PFA Scotland Team of the Year: 2020–21 Scottish Championship

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Todorov, Nikolay 1996 births Sportspeople from Pleven Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria youth international footballers Association football forwards Nottingham Forest F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Hemel Hempstead Town F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Queen of the South F.C. players F.C. Rieti players Falkirk F.C. players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Serie C players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Italy