Stoycho Stoilov ( bg, Стойчо Стоилов, born 15 October 1971) is a Bulgarian former

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 ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is currently employed in an official capacity with

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 ...

Club career

Stoilov was born in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centre ...

. In his career he played for

Pirin Blagoevgrad Futbolen klub Pirin ( bg, Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. Th ...

, Dobrudzha Dobrich and

Litex Lovech Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...

, making a name for himself with the latter when they won their first two domestic titles in the late 1990s. He reached a Bulgarian Cup final with his hometown club, finishing as runner-up. Stoilov also had a spell with 1. FC Nürnberg in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. On 14 November 2002, Stoilov (who was at the time the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and was suffering from a broken foot, which had occurred after being subjected to a tackle in a game against

), was seriously wounded, sustaining life-threatening injuries, after being shot by former army serviceman Simeon Mechev, following a traffic dispute. Stoilov managed to recover after extensive treatment, but the incident effectively spelt the end of his playing career. The culprit was originally to spend 10 years in prison, but his sentence was eventually reduced to 6 years. Mechev was released from jail in August 2011 after remaining behind bars for approximately four years.

International career

Stoilov earned his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

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 ...

on 25 March 1998, in the 0:1 away loss against Macedonia in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, substituting

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 ...

in the 73rd minute. He was in the

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

squad at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, although he did not play in any games.

International goal

:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first.''

Administrative work

Following his retirement, Stoilov became part of the organizational management of Litex Lovech, continuing in this role with

since 2016.

Personal life

He has distant Greek roots and Litex Lovech helped him obtain a

Greek passport Greek passports are issued to Greek citizens for the purpose of international travel. Biometric passports have been issued since 26 August 2006, with old-style passports being declared invalid as of 1 January 2007. Since June 2009, the passport' ...

under the name Stoykas Stoilas, so that Stoilov could be issued a work visa as a citizen of a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

member state A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

, potentially making it easier for him in the case of a transfer to a British club. In June 1999 Stoilov entered

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with the document when he joined 1. FC Nürnberg. However, in 2001, a German court declared that the passport had been invalid and imposed an 8-month conditional sentence.

Honours

Club

CSKA Sofia * Bulgarian A Group: 1991–92 Litex Lovech * Bulgarian A Group: 1997–98, 1998–99 1. FC Nürnberg * 2. Bundesliga: 2000–01

References

External links

* Living people 1971 births Sportspeople from Blagoevgrad Association football midfielders Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad players PFC CSKA Sofia players PFC Dobrudzha Dobrich players PFC Litex Lovech players 1. FC Nürnberg players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany 1998 FIFA World Cup players Macedonian Bulgarians {{Bulgaria-footy-midfielder-stub