Ivan Georgiev Bandalovski ( bg, Иван Бандаловски; born 23 November 1986) is a former Bulgarian 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 defender.

Club career

Early career

Bandalovski started playing football in the youth team of

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 ...

at the age of six. He was not offered a professional contract with the club and in the summer of 2004, at the age of 17, signed with

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 ...

. He earned his first professional cap against Lokomotiv Plovdiv for

Bulgarian Supercup The Bulgarian Supercup ( bg, Суперкупа на България) is the trophy won in a football match held between the football club that has won the Bulgarian first football division in the season that ended in the year of the match an ...

in Burgas on 31 July 2004 at the age of 17. In

Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast from the capital city of Sofia. Near ...

Bandalovski played several championship matches and was noticed by Feyenoord Rotterdam. In January 2005 the player went on loan to the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

team for 18 months. In June 2006 he returned to

Litex 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 ...

Lokomotiv Sofia

In January 2008 Bandalovski signed for

Lokomotiv Sofia Lokomotiv 1929 ( bg, Локомотив 1929) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently plays in the First League, the top tier of Bulgarian football. Founded as Railway Sports Club in 1929, and refou ...

. Performing as a solid back, it didn't last long until he gained head coach

Dragan Okuka Dragomir "Dragan" Okuka (; born 2 April 1954) is a Serbian football coach and former player. As a player, he was predominantly associated with his time with Velež Mostar where he won the 1981 Yugoslav Cup before joining Swedish club Örebro SK, ...

's trust and became a starter. Sometimes credited as having a bad temper, he maintained the status of one of the most trustworthy defenders in the league, and soon was called up to the

Bulgarian 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 football and is administered by the Bulgarian F ...

CSKA Sofia

In the fall of 2010 he signed with

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 ...

. He made his competitive debut for CSKA Sofia on 13 November 2010, in a 1–0 home league win against

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 ...

. He has won a

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 ...

and

in 2011. In 2012, he won the prize best defender in

Bulgarian A Football 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 ...

. On 4 March 2012, Bandalovski has first time played for CSKA Sofia as captain in the match against Chernomorets Burgas. He was followed by some clubs in Europe like

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, S.S. Lazio,

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministr ...

. On 22 March 2012, Bandalovski has scored his first goal for CSKA, against his former club, Lokomotiv Sofia in 1–0 home win. In 2012, he became the captain of the team. Due to its financial difficulties the club wasn't able to offer him a new contract, instead it had to release him as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Oud-Heverlee Leuven

On 25 July 2013, Bandalovski signed a three-year contract with

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

. Because he was a

, the player was brought in without a

transfer fee Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

. On 10 August 2013, Bandalovski made his

debut, playing the full 90 minutes in the 1–1 away draw with

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, a ...

. After facing relegation with Oud-Heverlee Leuven, Bandalovski left the team in the summer of 2014.

Partizan

On 30 January 2015, Bandalovski signed a contract with Serbian team

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

to replace the injured

Miroslav Vulićević Miroslav Vulićević (; born 29 May 1985) is a retired Serbian professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Early years Vulićević began playing football at Kosmet Leposavić, before moving to Bane. He made his debut for their ...

. He was given the number 2 jersey upon promotion to the club, and it was revealed that Bandalovski had been recruited by coach Marko Nikolić. For Partizan made his debut on 21 February 2015 against

Voždovac Voždovac ( sr-cyr, Вождовац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 158,213 inhabitants. The municipality is located in the south-central part of the urban ...

. Throughout the spring part of the championship, Bandalovski was played all matches in

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup (Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup f ...

and

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

. During all 18 matches (including the Serbian league and cup of Serbia) he got only one yellow card. During the first part of the 2015–16 season, after an injury of

Gregor Balažic Gregor Balažic (born 12 February 1988) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Slovenian PrvaLiga club Mura. In Slovenia, he played for Mura and Gorica. He had spells abroad in Spain, Ukraine, Serbia, Russi ...

, Bandalovski began to play in the starting lineup as centre defender. On 21 November 2015, he has first time played as centre back against

Novi Pazar Novi Pazar ( sr-cyr, Нови Пазар, lit. "New Bazaar"; ) is a city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2011 census, the urban area has 66,527 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 100,410 inhabit ...

in 3–0 home league win. Five days later, Bandalovski has played full match against

club

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and host ...

AFAS Stadion AFAS Stadion is a stadium in Alkmaar, Netherlands. It is used for football matches and is the home stadium of AZ Alkmaar. The stadium is able to hold 19.478 people and bears the name of a Dutch software company. Due to UEFA's sponsorship regulatio ...

in 1–2 away win in 2015–16 UEFA Europa League group stage. On 20 April 2016, Bandalovski scored his first goal for Partizan against Spartak Subotica in the second leg of Semi-finals of

in 3–0 away win.

Vereya

On 2 March 2017, Bandalovski signed with

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 ...

until the end of the season. He left the team in June after his contract expired.

Anorthosis

On 6 June 2017, Bandalovski signed with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club

Anorthosis Famagusta 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 ...

Beroe

On 16 January 2018, Bandalovski signed with First League of Bulgaria club

Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

International career

Since 2004 Bandalovski has been playing for Bulgaria's under-21 team. However, in October 2009, he earned his first call-up to the Bulgaria national football team against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. On 14 October 2009, he made his debut against Georgia in

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

the 6–2 win. On 12 October 2012, Bandalovski was sent off against

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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

after a foul on

Daniel Wass Daniel Wass (born 31 May 1989) is a Danish professional association football, footballer who plays for Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF, Brøndby and the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team. He is capable of playing as a midfie ...

in 2014 FIFA World Cup

. His solid performances with Partizan earned him a return to the national team in the friendly game 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 ...

played on 8 June 2015. He also played the full 90 minutes in the 0:1 loss against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in a Euro 2016 qualifier held on 3 September 2015.

Career statistics

Club

International matches

Honours

;Litex *

(1) :* 2007–08 ;CSKA Sofia *

(1) :*

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

(1) :* 2011 ;Partizan *

(1) :* 2014–15 *

(1) :* 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bandalovski, Ivan 1986 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers Bulgarian expatriate footballers Association football defenders PFC Litex Lovech players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players PFC CSKA Sofia players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Belgian Pro League players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium FK Partizan players Serbian SuperLiga players Expatriate footballers in Serbia Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia FC Vereya players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players PFC Beroe Stara Zagora players Botev Plovdiv players FC Tsarsko Selo Sofia players Cypriot First Division players Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Bulgarian people of Russian descent