Zhivko Milanov ( bg, Живко Миланов; born 15 July 1984) 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 is currently an assistant manager of

Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv 1929 ( bg, Локомотив 1929) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refou ...

. He was primarily deployed as a

right 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 ...

, but when needed he could also operate on the left side. Milanov was capped 28 times for the Bulgarian national team. Milanov spent the majority of his playing career at

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 ...

, but he also had several stints abroad at

Vaslui Vaslui (), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu, and Viișoara. History Archaeological surveys indicate ...

Tom Tomsk FC Tom Tomsk (russian: Футбольный клуб Томь Томск) is a Russian professional football club, based in the Siberian city of Tomsk. The team plays in Trud Stadium (Tomsk). History The team was previously named ''Burevestnik'' ...

and

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. After ending his playing career, in 2021 he became an assistant manager of Levski, later also spending some time as head coach of the club.

Career

Levski Sofia

Milanov made his league debut in 2003. With Levski Sofia he reached the quarter finals of

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

in 2005–06. Next season, Levski Sofia reached the group-stage of

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, becoming the first Bulgarian team to do so. He became a Champion of Bulgaria in 2009.

Vaslui

Milanov joined

on 14 January 2010 on a -year contract. The deal was reported by media to be worth $350,000. He was seen as the perfect substitute for Vaslui's captain Buhuș, whose long-term injury would keep him out from the field for the rest of the season. He made his league debut against Gaz Metan Mediaş, wearing the number 20 for Vaslui. He did not missed a single match for his new team, and helped Vaslui finishing third in

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

, and reaching the Romanian Cup final, eventually lost at the penalty shootout. After Buhuș's departure, he established himself as Vaslui's first-choice right back. On 23 July 2010, in

's opening match, Milanov received his first red card since his arrival in Vaslui. Following

Luz Luz ( ''Lūz'') is the name of two places in the Bible. Mentioned in Genesis Luz is the ancient name of a royal Canaanite city, connected with Bethel (Genesis 28:19; 35:6). It is debated among scholarsRashi on 28:17 whether Luz and Bethel repres ...

's long term-injury and Bălace's bad shape, Milanov was sent to play on the left side. However, because of

Papp Papp is a Hungary, Hungarian surname. It can refer to: *Daniel S. Papp, President of Kennesaw State University *George Papp, American comic book artist. *Gustáv Papp (1919–1997), Slovak operatic tenor *Josef Papp (c. 1933 – 1989), Hungar ...

's unsuccessful try out on the right side, Milanov was sent back on his favourite position. In his second season in Vaslui, he ended third in

, after a long battle, between Oţelul Galaţi, Poli Timişoara and SC Vaslui, for their first championship. On 23 July 2011, Milanov received his second red card, in Vaslui's opening match against

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

. On 19 August, he scored his first goal for Vaslui, against

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

helping his team qualify for the first time to the UEFA Europa League's Group Stages.

Tom Tomsk

After his contract with

expired, Milanov 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 free transfer on 24 June 2013. He signed a two-year contract.

Return to Levski Sofia

Milanov returned to

in early September 2015 and played for the Blues during the autumn part of the 2015–16 A Group, receiving praise for his performance.

APOEL

On 30 December 2015, Milanov signed an 18-month contract with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

champions

. He made his debut on 10 January 2016, playing the full 90 minutes in APOEL's 2–1 away victory against

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadiu ...

for the

. A few months after joining APOEL, he crowned champion as his team managed to win the

title for a fourth time in the row. On 2 March 2017, Milanov signed a two-year contract extension with APOEL, running until 31 May 2019.

Third stint at Levski Sofia and retirement

After agreeing with APOEL to rescind his contract, Milanov returned again to

. On 11 February 2019 he signed a 1,5-year contract with the club. On 23 June 2020, Milanov played his last professional match 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 ...

in a semi-final

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

tie, finishing 0-0. After the match, he stated that a lung disease made him retire on the age of 34.

International career

Milanov started playing for the Bulgarian national team in 2006, and has been capped 28 times during his international career. He announced his retirement from the national team on 21 March 2017, at the age of 32.Живко Миланов разкри каква е причината да се откаже от националния
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Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Levski Sofia *

A PFG 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 ...

(3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09 *

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 ...

(3): 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07 *

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup ( bg, Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match and ...

(3):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

APOEL *

(4): 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

*
APOEL official profile

Profile at LevskiSofia.info
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milanov, Zhivko 1984 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers Association football defenders First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Liga I players Russian Premier League players Cypriot First Division players PFC Levski Sofia players FC Vaslui players FC Tom Tomsk players APOEL FC players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus