Andrey Zhelyazkov ( bg, Андрей Желязков; born 9 July 1952 in

Radnevo Radnevo ( bg, Раднево ) is a town in southern Bulgaria, part of Stara Zagora Province, located in the eastern Upper Thracian Lowlands. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Radnevo Municipality. As of December 2009, the town h ...

) 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 Macedo ...

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, rugb ...

who played as a forward. He spent 12 years of his career playing 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 ...

and is the club's all-time top goalscorer in the

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 ...

with 136 goals. Zhelyazkov is also the most capped player in the history of the club with 338 league appearances. He participated in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

Career

Zhelyazkov played in his home country for Minyor Radnevo and

, in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

, in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

for Beerschot, and for the

Bulgaria national football team The Bulgaria national football team ( bg, Български национален отбор по футбол, Bǎlgarski natsionalen otbor po futbol) represents Bulgaria in men's international Association football, football and is administere ...

. With Slavia he won 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 tournament ...

in 1975 and 1980 and reached the final twice more in 1972 and 1981. He hold Slavia's record for both most caps with 338 and most goals 136.

Feyenoord

In 1981, Zhelyazkov joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side

. During 1983–84 season he formed a successful partnership with

Johan Cruijff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a pr ...

and

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

, which led

to the first league title since 1974. They contributed a total of 34 goals in the campaign.

Honours

Club

;Slavia Sofia *

(2):

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

;Feyenoord *

: 1983–84 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 1983–84

Individual

Bulgarian Footballer of the Year Bulgarian Footballer of the Year ( bg, Футболист №1 на България, ''Futbolist №1 na Balgariya'') is an annual title awarded to the best Bulgarian association football player of the year. The award has been given since 1961, an ...

: 1980

References

External links

1952 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers Association football forwards PFC Slavia Sofia players Feyenoord players RC Strasbourg Alsace players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Ligue 1 players Eredivisie players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in France Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Belgium Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Bulgarian football managers PFC Levski Sofia managers People from Radnevo {{Bulgaria-footy-forward-stub