Tsanko Nikolaev Tsvetanov ( bg, Цанко Hиколaeв Цветанов; born 6 January 1970) is a Bulgarian former 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 played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. After ending his playing career he began coaching.

Club career

Tsvetanov was born in

Svishtov Svishtov ( bg, Свищов ) is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipalit ...

, Bulgaria. His professional career began in 1987 by playing one season for

Akademik Svishtov OFC Akademik Svishtov ( bg, ОФК Академик Свищов) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Svishtov who play in the North-West Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. It plays its home matches at Akademik s ...

. Soon he was noticed by Etar Veliko Tarnovo, a team that was a powerhouse in Bulgarian football at the time. He played five seasons and over 140 league matches for the Bolyars. In 1993, he was transferred to

Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 b ...

, the champions of Bulgaria for the previous season. After leaving Levski he had a brief stay at

Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of over ...

. He signed for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in the summer of 1996 and returned in Germany to play three seasons for

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons in ...

. He ended his career at Etar Veliko Tarnovo.

International career

Tsvetanov made 40 appearances for the Bulgaria national team. He was part of the squad that reached the semi-finals of the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

, which remains the biggest success in the history of Bulgarian football. He also played at

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, appearing in all three group stage matches.

Honours

Etar Veliko Tarnovo *

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 ...

: 1990–91 Levski Sofia *

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 2001–02 *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 2001–02 Bulgaria *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

fourth place:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

References

External links

* *
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
Living people 1970 births Sportspeople from Veliko Tarnovo Province Men's association football defenders Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players OFC Akademik Svishtov players FC Etar (Veliko Tarnovo) players PFC Levski Sofia players SV Waldhof Mannheim players Aberdeen F.C. players FC Energie Cottbus players FC Etar 1924 Veliko Tarnovo players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bundesliga players Scottish Football League players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland {{Bulgaria-footy-defender-stub