Zdravko Lazarov ( bg, Здравко Лазаров; born 20 February 1976) is a

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 Macedo ...

n professional football coach and a former player. Lazarov's professional playing career as a winger spanned nearly 30 years, during which he played for 15 different clubs in Bulgaria, Turkey and Russia. Lazarov was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

31 times for the Bulgarian national team, scoring 3 times. He appeared in the

2004 UEFA European Championship The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

Career

Lazarov started his career in his home town Septemvri in the local team FC Locomotiv Septemvri. After that, Lazarov played for Chardafon Gabrovo (now

FC Yantra FC Yantra ( bg, ФК Янтра) is a Bulgarian football club based in Gabrovo, which plays in Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. The club was originally founded in 1919 and home matches are played at Stadion Hristo Botev. ...

). After two very good seasons, he signed with Bulgarian grand

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 ...

. He did not impress with his performance and was sold to

Minyor Pernik FC Minyor ( bg, ФК Миньор) is a football club in Pernik, Bulgaria, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1919 as SC Krakra, the club's home ground since 1954 has been Stadion Minyor. The ...

. In June 1998, Lazarov signed with the other Bulgarian grand

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 ...

. Between 1999 and 2001 he played for

Slavia Sofia PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home groun ...

. After that, he went in the Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

where he played for

Kocaelispor Kocaelispor is a Turkish football club based in İzmit. They were founded in 1966 and played in the top level between 1980–1988 and 1992–2003. Their best finish was in 1992–93 season, where they finished fourth. They have won the Turkish C ...

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

and

Kayseri Erciyesspor Kayseri Erciyesspor was a Turkish sports club based in Kayseri. History In 1965, Orhan Şefik Apak, then president of the Turkish Football Federation, asked cities in Turkey to combine their amateur football clubs into one singular club that wo ...

. For six seasons in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

he played in 202 games and scored 76 goals. In July 2007, Zdravko returned in

and signed with

. After spending half a season with Slavia and participating in 11 games, in which he scored 8 goals, in December 2007, he signed with the Russian side Shinnik Yaroslavl. In 2008, he returned to Bulgaria, playing for

once more. He scored 2 goals in 15 games before getting sidelined for six months due to an injury in the game against

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 ...

. On 11 June 2009 he terminated his contract with CSKA with immediate effect after a meeting with the club's bosses. On 15 June 2009, Lazarov signed with

Cherno More Varna Cherno More ( bg, Черно Море) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in the city of Varna, which currently competes in Bulgaria's primary football competition, the First League. Founded on March 3, 1913, as an asso ...

for two years. He took number 11, which at that time was worn by Georgi Kakalov, but Kakalov stepped it back to Lazarov. He made his team début on 7 July, in a friendly game against

. In January 2010, Lazarov completed his move to

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 ...

on a free transfer. He made his league debut for Lokomotiv on 27 February in a 3–2 away loss against

, scoring a two penalties. Lazarov was promoted to club captain at the start of the 2010–11 season. During the entire season, he scored 14 goals in the league. On 15 March 2012, Lazarov scored the winning goal against

(in the extra time) in a 1/4 final match of 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 tournamen ...

. On 7 August 2012, his contract was terminated. Two days later, Lazarov joined

for the third time in his career. Lazarov player for

Hebar Pazardzhik FC Hebar ( bg, Футболен клуб Хебър) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Pazardzhik. The club currently competes in the First League, the first tier of the Bulgarian football league system. Founded in 1918, Hebar ...

for one season but left the club in June 2017.

Managerial career

In 2016–17 season, Lazarov was the playing assistant manager of Bulgarian Third League side

. On 27 August 2018, Lazarov was appointed manager of Bulgarian Third League club Vihren Sandanski. In his first season, he led the club to third place in the South-West Third League.

Career statistics

Club

National team

International goals

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

Honours

Club

; Kocaelispor *

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 Kupas� ...

(1): 2001–02 ; Kayseri Erciyesspor *

Runner-up: 2006–07

References

External links

* *
Zdravko Lazarov
at LevskiSofia.info * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarov, Zdravko 1976 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers FC Yantra Gabrovo players PFC CSKA Sofia players PFC Minyor Pernik players PFC Levski Sofia players PFC Slavia Sofia players Kocaelispor footballers Gaziantepspor footballers Kayseri Erciyesspor footballers FC Shinnik Yaroslavl players Russian Premier League players PFC Cherno More Varna players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players FC Montana players FC Hebar Pazardzhik players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players UEFA Euro 2004 players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Russia Association football forwards Bulgarian football managers OFC Vihren Sandanski managers