Zdravko Stoyanov Zdravkov ( bg, Здравко Здравков; born 4 October 1970 in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

) is a former

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He ended his career at the end of 2006–07 season.

Club career

On the club level, Zdravkov has played for

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 ...

(1989–1995), Istanbulspor (1997–1999 and 2000–2002),

Adanaspor Adanaspor is a Turkish professional football club based in Adana, currently performing at the TFF First League. The club is founded in 1954 by the middle-class merchants and artisans in response to the alienation within city's then most popular c ...

(1999–2000), Cherno More (2002–2003),

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 ...

(2003–2004) and

Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Rize. The club play in the TFF First League. The club was founded on May 19, 1953, with green-yellow as club colours, but later changed to blue-green. Since 1990, the team ...

(2004–2007). December 2002 until January 2003, Zdravkov spent a trial period with Arsenal F.C., but did not eventually sign with the then-reigning

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

champions.

International career

For

, Zdravkov has been capped 70 times. He made his debut on 24 April 1996, against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trna ...

. He was the starting goalkeeper for his country at the

Euro 1996 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 ...

, 1998 World Cup and

Euro 2004 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 ...

, succeeding Borislav Mihaylov as the custodian of the Bulgarian team. Halfway through the France World Cup in 1998, with Bulgaria having played two games (0–0 against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and a 0–1 loss to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

), Zdravkov was ranked as the 2nd best goalkeeper in form. Although he went on to concede 6 goals in Bulgaria's loss to Spain in the next game, Zdravkov was an exceptional performer at the World Cup. Six years later, at

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

, Zdravkov's age began to show, Bulgaria lost 0–5 to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, 0–2 to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and 1–2 to

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 ...

, and this was to be Zdravkov's final tournament as national team goalkeeper.

Personal

Zdravkov participated in the third season of

Survivor BG Survivor(s) may refer to: Actual survivors * *Last survivors of historical events Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Found ...

, in Panama, but was evacuated due to serious health problems. He is married to Irena and they have three sons - Ivan, Yoan and Pavel.

Honours

Club

;Levski Sofia *

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 ...

(2): 1992–93, 1994–95 *

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 ...

(2): 1990–91, 1991–92 ;Slavia Sofia *

: 1995–96 *

: 1995–96 ;Litex Lovech *

: 2003–04

References

External links

Profile at LevskiSofia.info
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zdravkov, Zdravko 1970 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players Association football goalkeepers Çaykur Rizespor footballers İstanbulspor footballers Adanaspor footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey PFC Levski Sofia players PFC Litex Lovech players PFC Slavia Sofia players UEFA Euro 2004 players UEFA Euro 1996 players PFC Cherno More Varna players Bulgarian expatriate footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players Expatriate football managers in China Bulgarian football managers