Georgi Apostolov Sokolov ( bg, Георги Апостолов Соколов; 19 June 1942 - 27 June 2002) was 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 Macedon ...

n international

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 ...

. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

with remarkable ball control, imagination, dribbling skills and feints, Sokolov is regarded as one of the most talented Bulgarian footballers of all time. His father was the great Bulgarian

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 ...

Apostol Sokolov who was known as the first one to leave the goal line like modern keepers and was an inspiration for

Lev Yashin Lev Ivanovich Yashin (russian: Лев Иванович Яшин; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990), nicknamed the "Black Spider" or the "Black Panther", was a Soviet professional footballer regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper in the hi ...

. Sokolov spent the majority of his playing career with

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 ...

, winning two

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 ...

titles and two

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 ...

s. At international level, he represented

at the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

Career

Club career

Sokolov started his career with

Spartak Plovdiv PFC Spartak Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Спартак Пловдив) is a Bulgarian football club based in Plovdiv, which currently plays in the third tier of Bulgarian football, the Third League. The club was established in 1947 and folded its seni ...

(under his father's Apostol Sokolov management). On 1 December 1957, he made his debut against

Spartak Pleven OFK Spartak ( bg, ОФК Спартак) is a Bulgarian municipal association football club from the city of Pleven founded on 10 September 1919. It currently competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. The team's grea ...

to become the

's youngest ever player at the age of 15 years, 5 months and 12 days old. In early 1958, Sokolov joined

. He made his debut for the club in a friendly against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

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 ...

on 17 August 1958. Two weeks later, he made his league debut for Levski in a 0–0 draw against Spartak Varna at the age of 16 years, 2 months and 12 days old. Sokolov spent 11 seasons with Levski, scoring 83 goals in 239 matches in all competitions. On 12 September 1965, he scored the club's first ever goal in the

European Cup 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 ...

in a 2–1 away loss against

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

. In the second leg game, Levski eliminated the Swedish champions.

International career

Sokolov played a key role in Bulgaria winning the 1959 UEFA European Under-18 Championship on home soil. He scored goal in the team's opening group stage match against the Netherlands. Bulgaria won the match 3–1. Sokolov also scored against East Germany in the semi-finals. One month later, Sokolov received his first call-up to the senior Bulgaria squad. On 13 May 1959, he became Bulgaria's youngest ever senior player by appearing in a 3–2 friendly win over

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 ...

Vasil Levski National Stadium Vasil Levski National Stadium ( bg, Национален стадион „Васил Левски“), named after Bulgarian national hero and revolutionary Vasil Levski (1837–1873), is the country's second largest stadium. The stadium has 43,2 ...

aged 16 years, 10 months and 27 days. He participated in the

, and scored Bulgaria's first ever World Cup goal, in a 6–1 loss against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Legacy

On 25th of June 2022

played a game against Macedonian club

Akademija Pandev Fudbalska Akademija Pandev ( mk, Фудбалска Академија Пандев), commonly known as Akademija Pandev ( mk, Академија Пандев), is a football club based in Strumica, North Macedonia which competes in the Macedonia ...

, which Levski won 3-1 to win a trophy in Sokolov's honor, named after him.

Honours

Club

;Levski Sofia *

(2): 1964–65, 1967–68 *

(2):

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

References

External links

Player Profile
at levskisofia.info 1942 births 2002 deaths Footballers from Sofia Bulgaria international footballers Bulgarian footballers FC Spartak Plovdiv players PFC Levski Sofia players FC Dunav Ruse players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players 1962 FIFA World Cup players {{Bulgaria-footy-forward-stub Association football forwards