Yordan Letchkov Yankov (also transliterated Jordan, Iordan, Lechkov) ( bg, Йордан Лечков Янков; born 9 July 1967) 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 ...
. He is generally regarded as one of the best players to come out of Bulgaria and was a key member of the squad which reached the semi-finals of the
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...
. Known to many as "The Magician", Letchkov was a gifted player who could play as a
central 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 ...
or on the
left side of midfield, and he was easily recognizable for his baldness. He was best known for his
dribbling
In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score.
A ...
ability. However, his career was often adversely affected by his moody nature and the numerous arguments and fallings-out he had with fellow players and managers. He was the mayor of his home town for eight years, but was removed from duty due to corruption.
Club career
Born in
Sliven
Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace.
Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turk ...
, Letchkov began his career as a youngster with
Sliven
Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace.
Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turk ...
football club (Bulgaria), after breaking into the first team at a young age he secured a transfer to Bulgaria's top side
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 ...
(Bulgaria, 1991–92 season) and soon after he made the move to Germany with
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...
(Germany, from the 1992–93 season to the 1995–96 season). After that he secured a move to
Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...
(France, 1996–97 season), at this point one of the top clubs in Europe. However a difficult relationship with the club's management led to his departure after one season.
His next stop took him to Turkey with
Beşiktaş
Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...
(Turkey, from the 1997–98 season). However, just after six months with the club, he returned late from holidays and fell into a dispute with the manager
John Toshack
John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager.
He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...
. After being fined by the club, he refused to pay, stated that he has quit football and subsequently returned to Bulgaria. He has been variously quoted since as saying the Istanbul club owes him money, that he was unable to get on with its coach Toshack and that his wife could not settle in Turkey. However he soon started training with a Bulgarian club. Beşiktaş appealed to FIFA which declared Letchkov in breach of contract and ordered him to pay 200.000 DM in compensation. Beşiktaş renewed its appeals to UEFA and FIFA when Letchkov turned out without club permission for Bulgaria in a friendly against Argentina. FIFA subsequently ruled that Letchkov was ineligible to play for any other team without clearance from Beşiktaş, and that included his national side. Despite helping Bulgaria to reach 1998 World Cup, he could not play due to his dispute with Beşiktaş.
After about three years away from football, Letchkov returned to the game in the 2001–02 season with CSKA Sofia. Between 2002 and 2004 he became player-coach of OFC Sliven, a club in the second division of Bulgarian football. Letchkov is often referred to as being part of the "Golden Generation" of Bulgarian football, who along with
Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Стоичков) is a Bulgarian surname. It may refer to:
*Zdravko Stoichkov (born 1964), Bulgarian weightlifter
*Hristo Stoichkov
Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 Febru ...
,
Kostadinov and
Balakov led the national side to the semifinals of the 1994 World Cup.
International career
Letchkov played 45 matches and scored five goals 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 ...
; however his international career was limited by a series of disagreements with coaches and the Bulgarian Football Federation.
He is perhaps best remembered for scoring the winner against
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 ...
in the quarter-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 ...
, as Bulgaria reached the semi-finals where they were beaten by
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. Above all thanks to his very good matches in that World Cup, he was placed in the 13th position of the
1994 Ballon d'Or
The 1994 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to Hristo Stoichkov on 20 December 1994.
Stoichkov was the first Bulgarian national to win the awa ...
.
Letchkov went on to shine in the 1996 European Championships in England despite the failure of Bulgaria to reach the quarter finals: he played very well against Spain and Romania, and producing a man-of-the-match performance in the group B last match, against a strong French side. He went on to contribute greatly to his nation's successful qualification campaign for the 1998 World Cup championships. However his chance to play in the tournament was blocked by FIFA due to a little publicised contractual dispute with Beşiktaş (see also above in "Club").
Post-football
Letchkov took part in a TV series called ''Golden Boots'' in 1998 with various other footballers, and in 2012 in the sport documentary called ''Stoichkov''. After his retirement from football he has successfully started a career as a businessman (owning luxury hotels and a football academy) and politician. He was elected Mayor of his home town, Sliven, in 2003 and reelected in 2007.
Since 2005, he has also been vice president of the Bulgarian Football Union. In April 2010 he was removed from the mayorship by the Sliven district court after he was charged with
official misconduct
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...
, but the Burgas appellate court restored him to his position on 28 June 2010. Letchkov was replaced by the new mayor of Sliven Kolyo Milev in the 2011 local elections, who outran him with 56,72% vs. 43,28% of the votes. Many citizens stated that they had voted for a member of the opposing party to the ones they support only to remove Letchkov from his post. Many of the major boulevards in the city were left dug up and in deep pot-holes for nearly two years due to "controversy" and a lawsuit between the company working on restructuring the city's water supply and the city council. In contrast, while he was still mayor, the streets that lead to Letchkov's hotels in the city were reconstructed and refreshed with the addition of gardens and aesthetic sidewalks and street lighting.
Other scandals constantly accompanied him during his time as mayor, including the disrespecting of journalists and police officers (showing the middle finger) because he was wanted by the police after fleeing from a traffic stop after throwing his documents at them.
Career statistics
International
:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Letchkov goal.''
Honours
CSKA Sofia
*
Bulgarian Championship
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 ...
:
1991–92
OFC Sliven
*
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 ...
:
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
Beşiktaş
*
Turkish Cup
The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...
: 1998
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
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letchkov, Yordan
1967 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Sliven
Bulgarian footballers
Association football midfielders
Bulgaria international footballers
1994 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 1996 players
First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
Ligue 1 players
Bundesliga players
Süper Lig players
OFC Sliven 2000 players
PFC CSKA Sofia players
Hamburger SV players
Olympique de Marseille players
Beşiktaş J.K. footballers
Bulgarian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Germany
Expatriate footballers in France
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in France
Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Mayors of places in Bulgaria
Bulgarian sportsperson-politicians