Juan Diego Molina Martínez (born 5 November 1993), commonly known as Stoichkov, is a Spanish 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 for

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He made over 130

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

appearances and scored over 50 goals for

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

Alcorcón Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384. Geography The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental and its joint capital (co-capital), on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona. Sabadell is located above sea level. Sabadell pioneered the Ind ...

and Eibar, having played at lower levels until nearly aged 25.

Club career

Early career

Born in

San Roque, Cádiz San Roque is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, which in turn is part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is also part of the of Campo de Gibraltar. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, San Roqu ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, Stoichkov received his nickname after

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

's 1990s forward

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association ...

. His father, who met the

Bulgarian international The Bulgarian Open Championship is an annual international badminton championships held in Bulgaria since 1985, by then known as Bulgarian International. It was halted between 1996 and 1998, and in 2000. The tournament belongs to the Badminton Europ ...

while working at a bar in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, wanted to legally name his son Stoichkov; this decision was vetoed by his mother. Stoichkov finished his formation with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

, also in the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

capital. On 20 July 2012 he joined

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

side

CP Cacereño Club Polideportivo Cacereño is a Spanish football team based in Cáceres, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1919, the club plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 5, and holds home games at ''Estadio Príncipe Felipe'', ...

, but spent the vast majority of his spell with the reserves. On 5 September 2013 Stoichkov signed for

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

side

CD San Roque Club Deportivo San Roque is a Spanish football team based in San Roque, Cádiz, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1966, it plays in Tercera División – Group 10, holding home matches at '' Estadio Manolo Mesa'', with a 500- ...

, club he already represented as a youth. Ahead of the 2014–15 campaign, he moved abroad for the first time in his career and joined Gibraltarian side

Europa FC Europa FC is a football club from Gibraltar which plays in the Gibraltar National League. As with all other clubs in the territory, Europa FC currently shares the Victoria Stadium on Winston Churchill Avenue. The club also operates a women's ...

, playing in the

UEFA 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 ...

qualifying stages before rejoining San Roque in December 2014. On 28 January 2016, Stoichkov moved to Real Balompédica Linense in the third level. He immediately became a starter for the side, and scored ten goals for them in the 2017–18 campaign.

Mallorca

On 6 July 2018, Stoichkov signed a four-year contract with

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

, newly promoted to

. He made his professional debut on 7 September, coming on as a second-half substitute for Carlos Castro in a 1–0 home win against

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

. Stoichkov scored his first professional goal on 27 October 2018, netting the equaliser in a 2–2 home draw against

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

. He contributed with three league goals during the campaign as his side achieved promotion to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

. On 20 July 2019, Stoichkov joined AD Alcorcón in the second division on a one-year loan deal. In

his year His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

with the team from the Community of Madrid, he finished joint fourth in the league's top scorers with 16 goals. On 5 October 2020, Stoichkov joined CE Sabadell FC on loan for the 2020–21 campaign. He scored 11 goals, including both of a 2–2 home draw with neighbours

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

, but the Catalans were relegated.

Eibar

On 21 July 2021, Stoichkov moved to fellow second division side

on a three-year deal. He opened his account with two goals in a 3–2 win at Basque neighbours

Real Sociedad B Real Sociedad de Fútbol "B" (also known as Sanse) is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1955, it is the reserve team of Real Sociedad and plays in Primera Federación ...

on 11 September, adding a further brace to win at home to

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

by the same score eight days later. He was October's

Segunda División Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second profes ...

for three goals in five games. Stoichkov was sent off for the first time in his career on 6 March 2022, at the end of a 4–1 loss at FC Cartagena in which he opened the scoring. His suspension was overturned on appeal when the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation ( es, Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. It was founded on 14 October 1909 ...

ruled that he did not deny his opponent a clear goalscoring chance. He finished the campaign with 21 goals, behind joint top scorers

Borja Bastón Borja González Tomás (born 25 August 1992), known as Borja Bastón, is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Segunda División club Real Oviedo. Trained at At ...

and

Cristhian Stuani Cristhian Ricardo Stuani Curbelo (; born 12 October 1986) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for La Liga club Girona FC, Girona. He started out at Danubio F.C., Danubio, being b ...

, while his team made the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

in third.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stoichkov 1993 births Living people Footballers from San Roque, Cádiz Spanish footballers Association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players CP Cacereño players CD San Roque footballers Real Balompédica Linense footballers RCD Mallorca players AD Alcorcón footballers CE Sabadell FC footballers SD Eibar footballers Europa F.C. players Spanish expatriate footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar Expatriate footballers in Gibraltar