Petko Rosenov Hristov ( bg, Петко Росенов Христов; born 1 March 1999) is a Bulgarian 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 ...

who plays as a centre-back for club

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

, on loan from

Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest cit ...

. He represents the Bulgaria national team.

Career

Slavia Sofia

Hristov started his career in

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 ...

, before relocating to

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 groun ...

in 2013. He made his senior debut for Slavia in a match of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

against Polish club

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ' ...

on 30 June 2016, coming on as a substitute for Georgi Yomov. A month later he made his

Bulgarian First League 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 ...

debut in the opening game of the season against

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

. He scored his first goal on 10 September in a 5–2 home win over

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...

. On 1 October Petko was joined by his twin brother Andrea Hristov in the central defense for the very first time against

Vereya Vereya (russian: Верея) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Vereya, Naro-Fominsky District, Moscow Oblast, a town in Naro-Fominsky District of Moscow Oblast ;Rural localities * Vereya, Orekhovo-Zuyevsky ...

in the starting line-up. On 3 April 2017, Hristov signed his first professional contract with the club until 31 July 2020.

Fiorentina

On 17 July 2017,

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

confirmed they had signed Hristov on a five-year contract after Firenze Viola, Fiorentina owner, himself liked the player after seeing him in action at the European Under-19 Championship. On 20 August 2017, he was on the bench for the first time in the

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 Cop ...

match against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

. He made his unofficial debut for the club against Real Madrid on 24 August coming on as a substitute in added time for the Trofeo Bernabeu game.

Ternana (loan)

On 16 August 2018, Hristov joined to

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

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

on loan until 30 June 2019. He scored his first goal for the club on 4 December 2018 in a league match against

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

won by Ternana by 3:0.

Bisceglie (loan)

On 9 August 2019, Hristov joined

club

Bisceglie Bisceglie (; nap, label= Biscegliese, Vescégghie) is a city and municipality of 55,251 inhabitants in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, in the Apulia region (''Italian'': ''Puglia''), in southern Italy. The municipality has the fourth hi ...

on loan until 30 June 2020.

Pro Vercelli (loan)

On 18 September 2020, Hristov joined

club

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven natio ...

on loan until 30 June 2021.

Spezia

After his good performance for

, on 5 July 2021 Hristov moved to

team

, signing a contract until 2025. He made his debut for the team on 13 August in a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match against Pordenone and compleated his

debut on 23 August in a match against Cagliari.

Venezia (loan)

On 26 January 2023, Hristov was loaned to

for the rest of the 2022–23 season.

International career

Youth levels

Hristov was called up for the Bulgaria U19 team for the 2017 European Under-19 Championship qualification from 22 to 27 March 2017. After a draw and 2 wins the team qualified for the

knockout phase A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

which was held in July 2017. Petkov played in the all 3 matches from the group stage when Bulgaria were eliminated. On 5 September 2017, he made his debut for the Bulgaria U21 in a match against Luxembourg U21.

Senior team

He made his debut for Bulgaria national football team on 31 March 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland. His twin brother Andrea made his debut in the same game as well.

Personal life

Petko Hristov has a twin brother, Andrea, who is also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

Club

Style of play

Hristov was described from the Italian media as a physically strong defender with great air abilities and being able to read the game which has led him to be compared to legendary Brazilian defender

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional Association Football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Chelsea F.C., Chelsea and captains the Brazil national football team, Brazil national team. Con ...

Awards

Individual

* Bulgarian Youth Footballer of the Year (1): 2016 Талант №1 Петко Христов: Мечтая да играя в чужбина
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hristov, Petko 1999 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria under-21 international footballers Bulgaria youth international footballers Association football defenders PFC Slavia Sofia players ACF Fiorentina players Ternana Calcio players A.S. Bisceglie Calcio 1913 players F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 players Spezia Calcio players Venezia F.C. players Serie A players Serie C players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian twins Twin sportspeople Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Bulgaria international footballers