Svetoslav Svetlozarov Kovachev ( bg, Светослав Светлозаров Ковачев; born 14 March 1998) 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 winger for Russian club

Akhmat Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat ( ce, футболан клуб Ахмат Соьлжа-ГӀала; russian: Республиканский футбольный клуб Ахмат Грозный), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, is a Russian ...

on loan from Arda Kardzhali. His younger brother Lachezar is also a footballer, currently playing for

Spartak Pleven OFK Spartak ( bg, ОФК Спартак) is a Bulgarian municipal association football club from the city of Pleven founded on 10 September 1919. It currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. The team's grea ...

Career

Ludogorets Razgrad

Born in

Pleven Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...

, Kovachev started his career in Svoboda Milkovitsa. He joined Ludogorets in 2011 recruited by the Bulgarian legend

Plamen Getov Plamen Tsvetanov Getov ( bg, Пламен Цветанов Гетов; born 4 March 1959) is a Bulgarian retired Association footballer, footballer who played as either an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder or a Forward (associ ...

. In 2014, he played for Ludogorets U19 in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

, being a starter in all of the 6 matches. He made his debut for Ludogorets Razgrad II on 6 December 2015 in a match against

FC Pirin Razlog Football Club Pirin Razlog ( bg, Пирин Разлог) is a Bulgarian football club based in Razlog, that competes in the South-West Third League. History The club was founded as Pirin in 2002. In their second season, they were promoted to ...

. On 22 May 2016 he made his complete debut in

A Group 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 ...

for Ludogorets in a match against

Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

. Kovachev started the 2017-18 season in Ludogorets II by scoring a goal in the first match of the season against Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia. On 29 July 2017 he played for the main team in the 0-0 draw 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 ...

coming as a substitute in the First League match. Kovachev was on the bench for the Europa League group stage match against

İstanbul Başakşehir ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

, but stayed as an unused substitute. On 21 September 2017 he made his debut for the

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 ...

in the first round against Oborishte. Kovachev was named captain for the Ludogorets U19 team in the

in the first match from the Domestic Champions Path against Željezničar U19 on 27 September 2017. On 15 February 2018 Kovachev was named on bench for the Europa League Round of 32 match against

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and made his debut as a substitute in the 81st minute.

Loan to Dunav

In June 2018, Kovachev was loaned to

Dunav Ruse FC Dunav ( bg, Дунав, officially named ''"Дунав от Русе"'') is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Ruse, which currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of the Bulgarian football league system. Part o ...

, although he spend the pre-season camp with Ludogorets first team. He made his debut for the team in the first league match of the season against Vitosha Bistritsa on 20 July 2018, assisting for the only goal for Dunav. On 4 November 2018 he scored his first goal for the team in First League, netting the second goal for the 3:0 win over Vitosha Bistritsa.

Arda Kardzhali

Kovachev joined Arda Kardzhali on a year long loan on 6 January 2020. He returned to Ludogorets team in end of December 2020, having a contract with Razgrad team until July 2021, which he didn't extend. In February 2021 he signed a 3 year pre-contract with Arda, from July 2021, leaving him out of Ludogorets team until end of the season.

Loan to Akhmat Grozny

On 3 August 2023, Kovachev joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

on a season-long loan with an option to buy.

International career

Youth levels

Kovachev 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 will be held in July 2017. Kovachev made his debut for Bulgaria U21 on 27 March 2018 in a European Undr-21 qualification match against Kazakhstan U21, keeping a clean sheet for the 3:0 win.

Senior

Kovachev received his first call-up for senior

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 on 29 August 2018 for the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

matches against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

on 6 and 9 September. He earned his first cap on 26 February 2020, coming on as a substitute for

Ismail Isa Ismail Isa Mustafa ( bg, Исмаил Иса Мустафа; born 26 June 1989) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Cherno More Varna. Career Born in Targovishte, Isa started playing football at PFC Svetkavitsa's y ...

during the second half of the 0:1 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

National team

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovachev, Svetoslav 1998 births Footballers from Pleven Living people Bulgarian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Bulgaria men's international footballers Bulgaria men's youth international footballers Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Russian Premier League players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad II players PFC Ludogorets Razgrad players FC Dunav Ruse players SFC Etar Veliko Tarnovo players FC Arda Kardzhali players FC Akhmat Grozny players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia