Petar Aleksandrov Aleksandrov ( bg, Петър Александров Александров; born 7 December 1962) is a Bulgarian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player. As a footballer Aleksandrov played for various clubs in Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland during the 1980s and 1990s. He was a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, noted for his goal-scoring ability. Aleksandrov was capped 25 times for the Bulgaria national team, scoring 5 goals, and played in 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Karlovo Karlovo ( bg, Карлово ) is a historically important town in central Bulgaria located in a fertile valley along the river Stryama at the southern foot of the Balkan Mountains. It is administratively part of Plovdiv Province and has a p ...

, Aleksandrov started playing professionally with home-town club Levski Karlovo in 1981 before moving to

PFC 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 ...

a year later. He played at Slavia for seven years and helped the club win the

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being t ...

in 1986 and 1988, and secure third-placed finishes in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. For Slavia Aleksandrov played in 173 matches and scored 100 goals. In 1989, he signed for the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

's K.V. Kortrijk where his form earned him a move to

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons in ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

in 1990. He struggled there, however, and moved on to

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local ...

in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

after just one season. He was a major success at Aarau before he made his way back to Bulgaria to play for

PFC Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 b ...

. Despite his excellent goal record, he played at Levski for just one and a half seasons as he returned to Switzerland with

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France ...

in January 1995. The following January, he signed for

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

and he went on to play over fifty league matches for the club before going to FC Aarau for a second spell in 1998. In 2000, he played for

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

for a short while before dropping down to the Swiss lower leagues where he continued to play for another two years with Kickers Luzern and Blue Star Zürich.

International career

Aleksandrov was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

25 times by the Bulgaria national team and was part of the squad 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 ...

. His international debut came in a 0–0 draw with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 10 September 1987 and he went on to score five international goals. Aleksandrov came on as a substitute for the last ten minutes in the memorable 2–1 away win over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 17 November 1993, which secured Bulgaria's qualification for the 1994 World Cup.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aleksandrov goal.''

Coaching career

After his retirement from playing, Aleksandrov stayed in Switzerland and managed the reserve squad of

from 2002 until 2004 when he became the assistant manager of Greek side

PAOK F.C. P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athlet ...

In 2006, he was appointed as fellow countryman

Krasimir Balakov Krasimir Genchev Balakov ( bg, Красимир Генчев Балъков, ; born 29 March 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who last served as the head coach of Bulgarian club CSKA 1948. A former attacking ...

's assistant at

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

but he left after a few months to join the coaching staff at

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

. In 2008,

Plamen Markov Plamen Markov (born 11 September 1957) is a Bulgarian retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder for clubs in Bulgaria and France. He represented the Bulgaria national team at international level. Playing career Markov was born ...

named him as his assistant at the Bulgaria national team.

Honours

Slavia Sofia *

: 1986, 1988 FC Aarau * Swiss Nationalliga A: 1992–93 Levski Sofia *

A Group 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 ...

: 1993–94 *

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 ...

: 1993–94 Individual * Swiss Nationalliga A top scorer: 1994–95 (24 goals), 1995–96 (19 goals) * Foreigner of the Year in Switzerland: 1994–95

References

External links

*
Profile at Levskisofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksandrov, Petar Living people 1962 births People from Karlovo Men's association football forwards Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players FC Levski Karlovo players PFC Slavia Sofia players K.V. Kortrijk players FC Energie Cottbus players FC Aarau players PFC Levski Sofia players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players FC Luzern players FC Baden players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Swiss Super League players DDR-Oberliga players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in East Germany Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Bulgarian football managers Bulgarian expatriate football managers