Stefan Dimitrov (born October 8, 1984, in

Veliko Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

) is a

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 ...

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 ...

Career

Early career in Bulgaria

Dimitrov spent his early career in his native Bulgaria. Raise in the youth teams of his hometown club,

Etar Veliko Tarnovo Etar ( bg, Етър) is a Bulgarian sports football club based in Veliko Tarnovo, that plays in the Second League, the second level of Bulgarian football. Etar is the official successor of Etar 1924, which was dissolved for financial reasons ...

, he made his debut with Etar's first team at the age of 16. Dimitrov subsequently played four seasons with Etar in the Bulgarian B Group prior to his move to the United States. He played sparingly for Etar, appearing in 4 league matches during the 2003–04 season and three league matches during the 2004–05 season.

College

When Dimitrov's father won the

green card lottery The Diversity Immigrant Visa program, also known as the green card lottery, is a United States government lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card. The Immigration Act of 1990 established the current and permanent ...

, the family relocated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Dimitrov played with an amateur Bulgarian team in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

before enrolling in and playing

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

for Concordia College. Dimitrov was the leading scorer in the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer 2008 regular season with 23 goals in 17 games. He was also named to the 2008 Daktronics NCAA Division II Men's Soccer All-America Second Team and named the 2008 East Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year.

Professional

Dimitrov was signed by Chicago Fire in March 2009, after being invited to try out with the team by head coach Denis Hamlett. He made his MLS debut on 13 June 2009, as a late substitute in a game against

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...

. Dimitrov was released by Chicago on August 27, 2010. He played for the

New York Pancyprian-Freedoms New York Pancyprian-Freedoms is an American amateur soccer team based in Astoria, New York, United States. Founded in 1974, the team plays in the Eastern Premier Soccer League, a league at the fifth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The tea ...

in the US Open Cup in 2011, before signing for New York Cosmos U-23 in 2011 and was selected as one of the U-23 players to participate in the

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...

testimonial match between New York Cosmos and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. On January 31, 2013, Dimitrov signed with the Cosmos for their inaugural season in the NASL. Two months later, he was loaned out to

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profes ...

for the Spring season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrov, Stefan 1984 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgarian emigrants to the United States FC Etar Veliko Tarnovo players Chicago Fire FC players Brooklyn Knights players New York Cosmos (2010) players Fort Lauderdale Strikers players New York Pancyprian-Freedoms players Soccer players from New York City People from Veliko Tarnovo Expatriate soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players USL League Two players North American Soccer League players Cosmopolitan Soccer League players Association football forwards