Ilian Dimov Iliev ( bg, Илиан Димов Илиев; born 2 July 1968) is a Bulgarian professional football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player. He is the head coach at Bulgarian First League club Cherno More. He is best known for having played for Portuguese club Benfica and Bulgarian sides Cherno More and

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 ...

. In his professional career as a footballer, he received 34 international caps for the Bulgaria national team.

Club career

Iliev was born in Varna and started to play football at his hometown club Cherno More. In his youth he was also a talented

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

, but chose to dedicate himself to football. After his good performances in the Cherno More youth teams were caught, he was promoted into the first team in 1986. For five seasons, between 1986 and 1991, Iliev made 123 appearances and scored 31 goals for the club. He was transferred to

in the 1991–92 season, winning three times the Bulgarian A PFG and one

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 ...

in five years with the club. In 1995, Iliev moved to Benfica and won the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

in the 1995–96 season. In his career he also 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 ...

, Turkish

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In t ...

, Greek

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

as well as for the Portuguese clubs Marítimo and Salgueiros. He finished his career at his first club Cherno More Varna in 2004.

International career

Iliev earned his first cap with

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 ...

in a friendly match against

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 ...

on 21 August 1991 in Stara Zagora. He registered 34 caps for his country, scoring three goals. Iliev was part of the Bulgarian squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, where he played in three games.

Coaching career

After retiring in 2004, Iliev pursued a career as a coach. In June 2004, he was appointed as a manager in his first club Cherno More Varna. However, on 3 March 2006, after a two years spell at the Sailors, he resigned after a home 0–1 loss against Rodopa Smolyan. Since 2006, he serves as the manager of Beroe Stara Zagora, making him one of the longest serving coach in a Bulgarian football club. Under his management in the 2009–10 season, Beroe won a historical first Bulgarian Cup and consequently achieved a participation in the UEFA Europa League qualification stages. Iliev has been voted best coach in the Bulgarian championship for the season 2009–10 by the association of Bulgarian football players. On 6 April 2012 it was announced that Iliev will be the new manager of

. He was to complete the season with Beroe and then start his new job at the beginning of the 2012–13 season. His contract will be until June 2015. On 12 April 2013, he was fired by Levski Sofia and was replaced by Nikolay Mitov. In mid May 2014, Iliev held final talks to become the manager of

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

n club

Inter Luanda Grupo Desportivo Interclube, usually known as Interclube or Inter de Luanda, is an Angolan football club based in Luanda. The club is attached to the Angolan police force. Interclube is one of the two clubs based in Luanda (the other one is 1º d ...

. Compatriot Petar Kostadinov was announced as his assistant. He returned to his country in 2016, being appointed as manager of Loko Plovdiv. Iliev came close to securing European club football for the team, as the "smurfs" finished in 5th place in the standings during the 2015/2016 A PFG. On 17 October 2016, following a 1–2 defeat by Lokomotiv GO, Iliev announced that he is leaving

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 early 2017, Iliev signed a contract to manage newly promoted Altai Semey from the

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League ( kk, Қазақстан Премьер Лигасы, ''Qazaqstan Premer Ligasy''), commonly referred to as Kazakh Premier League or simply Premier League, is the top division of football in Kazakhstan ...

, but stepped down in February 2017, as the club eventually did not receive a license for the top division. On 9 June 2017, Iliev was appointed as manager of First League club

Vereya Vereya (russian: Верея) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Vereya, Naro-Fominsky District, Moscow Oblast, a town in Naro-Fominsky District of Moscow Oblast ;Rural localities * Vereya, Orekhovo-Zuyevsky ...

. Following a successful stint with Vereya, in December 2017 he returned as head coach to his hometown club Cherno More.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Player

;Levski Sofia * Bulgarian League:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1993–94, 1994–95 *

: 1991–92, 1993–94 ;Benfica *

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: 1995–96

Manager

;Beroe *

: 2009–10 *Bulgarian League Coach of the Season: 2009–10 ;Individual Manager of the Year in Bulgarian football (2021)

References

External links

* *
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iliev, Ilian 1968 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Sportspeople from Varna, Bulgaria PFC Cherno More Varna players PFC Levski Sofia players Altay S.K. footballers S.L. Benfica footballers PFC Slavia Sofia players Bursaspor footballers AEK Athens F.C. players C.S. Marítimo players S.C. Salgueiros players Bulgarian football managers PFC Beroe Stara Zagora managers PFC Cherno More Varna managers PFC Levski Sofia managers PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv managers 1998 FIFA World Cup players Bulgaria international footballers First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Primeira Liga players Süper Lig players Super League Greece players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Greece Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgarian expatriate football managers Association football midfielders Expatriate football managers in Angola