Iliyan Ivanov Kiryakov ( bg, Илиян Иванов Киряков; born 4 August 1967) is a Bulgarian former professional

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 ...

who played as a right or left back. During a professional career which spanned nearly 20 years, he played for nine different clubs, including three in Scotland. Kiryakov won more than 50

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

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 ...

, and represented the nation at the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

and

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 ...

Club career

Kiryakov was born in the small town of Lesicheri. In his country, he represented Etar Veliko Tarnovo and

PFC 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 ...

. In 1991, he moved abroad, signing with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

. In his first season, he was first-choice (only missed three

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

matches) but the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance la ...

barely avoided relegation, as 17th; subsequently, as ''Super Depor'' came to fruition, he became a fringe player and left. Kiryakov continued in Spain for 1993–94, playing in the Segunda División with CP Mérida. He then returned to his country for one more year, with

, signing in the 1995 summer with Cyprus club

Anorthosis Famagusta FC Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

. Kiryakov spent the following five years in Scotland, playing for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

(scoring once against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

), Airdrieonians (only five months) and

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

. He finished his career in June 2003 at nearly 36: after a brief spell with lowly

Akademik Svishtov OFC Akademik Svishtov ( bg, ОФК Академик Свищов) is a Bulgarian association football club based in Svishtov who play in the North-West Third League, the third tier of Bulgarian football. It plays its home matches at Akademik s ...

, he retired at Etar, his first club. A year later he returned to play for the amateur club Chumerna Elena. Same year he joined his birth city club CSKA Lesicheri in the regional divisions, then moved to other regional club Rositsa Polikraishte, before retiring again in Yantra 2002.

International career

During eight years, Kiryakov played 53 times for

, scoring five goals. He appeared in six matches in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

(four complete) as the national side finished in fourth position, and was also picked for the squad at

UEFA 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 ...

, where he played in the group stage 1–1 draw against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Honours

Etar Veliko Tarnovo *

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 ...

1990–91 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 ...

Bulgaria *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

fourth place: 1994

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiryakov, Iliyan 1967 births Living people Bulgarian footballers Association football defenders First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players FC Etar Veliko Tarnovo players FC Etar 1924 Veliko Tarnovo players PFC CSKA Sofia players La Liga players Segunda División players Deportivo de La Coruña players CP Mérida footballers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Aberdeen F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Raith Rovers F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players PFC Akademik Svishtov players Bulgaria youth international footballers Bulgaria international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland