Stefan Ivov Velkov ( bg, Стефан Ивов Велков; born 12 December 1996) 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 le ...

who plays as a defender for Danish club

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality ('' kommune'') and the R ...

Career

Slavia Sofia

Born in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Velkov began his football career with

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 ...

in 2005. He made his first-team debut on 27 July 2013, at 16 years 227 days, coming on as a substitute for Hristo Yanev in a 0–0 away league draw against Cherno More Varna. On 18 December 2013, it was reported that Velkov was on trial with

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 ...

. After the great debut season and a few trials in big European teams, Velkov got a serious injury, which took him out of football for a minimum of six months. In March 2015, Velkov extended his contract with Slavia for a further three years. He returned to training in April, but he did not take part in any further matches, so he missed the entire 2014–15 season. Velkov returned to play in the first match of the 2015–16 season against

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 ...

as a substitute in the 88th minute. Velkov scored his debut goal for Slavia in the league on 17 September 2016 in a match against Ludogorets Razgrad, lost by his team with 3–1.

Den Bosch

On 10 August 2018, Velkov signed for the Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

team Den Bosch. He made his debut a week later, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 away win over

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional Association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 25 September, in a 2–1 loss against

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

in the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

MSV Duisburg

After a short stint at

KFC Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History The ...

he moved to

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...

in January 2021. He signed a new one-year contract on 27 May 2021. In the summer of 2022, he left Duisburg.

Vejle

On 17 June 2022, Velkov signed with newly relegated

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

side Vejle Boldklub, penning a deal until June 2024.

International career

Youth levels

Velkov represented Bulgaria at the under-16, under-17 and under-19 levels. On 1 June 2013, he made his debut for the Bulgaria under-21 side at the age of 16 years, 5 months and 22 days, making him the second-youngest player to debut for the team after

Nikolay Mihaylov Nikolay Borislavov Mihaylov ( bg, Николай Бориславов Михайлов; born 28 June 1988) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Levski Sofia, where he is also the captain, and the Bulgarian natio ...

. On 25 March 2016 Velkov was in the starting lineup for the goalless draw with Wales U21. He served as the team captain.

Senior level

On 14 March 2017, he received his first call-up for Bulgaria senior team for the match against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 25 March 2017, in which he was an unused substitute. Velkov earned his first cap on 26 February 2020, playing the first 75 minutes of the 1–0 home loss against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

in a friendly game.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Slavia Sofia *

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 ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velkov, Stefan 1996 births Living people Men's association football defenders Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers PFC Slavia Sofia players FC Den Bosch players RKC Waalwijk players KFC Uerdingen 05 players MSV Duisburg players Vejle Boldklub players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Eerste Divisie players 3. Liga players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark