Mihail Lozanov ( bg, Михаил Лозанов; 15 June 1911 – 3 December 1994), nicknamed The Tank (Танка, ''Tanka'') 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 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 ...

. A

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, Lozanov was a long-time player of PFC Levski Sofia in the 1930s and captained

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in 1937–39, which makes him the only Bulgarian who was captain of the largest German club.

Club career

Born in the village of Tsarnel (today Lyulin) near

Pernik Pernik ( bg, Перник ) is a town in western Bulgaria (about south-west of Sofia) with a population of 70,285 . Pernik is the most populated town in western Bulgaria after Sofia. It is the main town of Pernik Province and lies on both bank ...

in 1911, Lozanov started playing football at SC Krakra Pernik at age nine. The club had been newly co-founded by his brother Todor Lozanov. When he moved to the capital

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 h ...

to attend high school, he transferred to powerhouse PFC Levski Sofia in 1930, where he spent most of his career. At Levski, Lozanov formed a formidable attacking trio with teammates

Asen Panchev Asen Panchev ( bg, Асен Панчев) (1 October 1906 – 17 December 1989) was а Bulgarian footballer who played as a left wing. Early life He was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. He started his career in the local club Asparuh Sofia. Later moved ...

and Asen Peshev and scored 43 goals in 79 league games. Lozanov's attacking prowess earned him the nickname The Tank; reportedly, he once shattered the crossbar with a powerful shot. With Levski, Lozanov won the

Bulgarian State Football Championship The State Football Championship was the first national football competition in Bulgaria. It was organised between 1924 and 1944 by the Bulgarian National Sport Federation. The championship did not finish in years 1924, 1927 and 1944 because of ...

twice, in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

and

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into ...

. These were Levski's first two championship titles. As a student in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1935, Lozanov played for local side SK Moravská Slavia. Then, Lozanov moved to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

to continue his education as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

at the Munich Polytechnic School. In Munich, Lozanov represented and captained FC Bayern Munich, the most successful club in German history. Lozanov was a regular first team player in the

Gauliga Bayern The Gauliga Bayern was the highest association football league in the German state of Bavaria from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the five ''Gaue'' ''Bayre ...

between 1937 and 1939, featuring for Bayern Munich alongside German internationals

Ludwig Goldbrunner Ludwig Goldbrunner (5 March 1908 – 26 September 1981) was a German footballer. He began playing for his home club Bayern Munich in 1927, with whom he won the German championship in 1932. Career Goldbrunner played as a centre half 39 times for ...

Jakob Streitle Jakob Streitle (11 December 1916 – 24 June 1982) was a German footballer. During the course of his career, he played as a defender for Bayern Munich. He was capped by the Germany national team a total of 15 times between 1938 and 1952. Stre ...

and

Wilhelm Simetsreiter Wilhelm "Willy" Simetsreiter (16 March 1915 – 17 July 2001), popularly known as ''Schimmy'', was a German footballer. A native of Munich, Simetsreiter played his career along the left wing for his club Bayern Munich. He is usually considered the ...

. Returning to Bulgaria, Lozanov continued his career at Levski Sofia for two more years until retiring from football in 1941 at age 30. In his later years, he was a mining engineer in Pernik.

International career

Mihail Lozanov was among the stars of 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 football and is administered by the Bulgarian F ...

in the 1930s. He debuted against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

in a 0–1 loss in 1931 and played his last game against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in a 1–2 loss in 1939. In between, Lozanov won the

Balkan Cup The Balkan Cup was an international association football competition contested on and off from 1929 to 1980 by countries from the Balkans region. The most successful team was Romania with four titles. Overview The first edition featured Roman ...

twice with Bulgaria, in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hir ...

and

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

. He also took part in the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934. The 1934 World Cup was the first in w ...

qualification cycle. For the national team, Lozanov recorded a total of 38 caps and 10 goals.

Honours

: 2 **

Bulgarian Olympic Committee The Bulgarian Olympic Committee ( bg, Български олимпийски комитет, ''Balgarski olimpiyski komitet''; abbreviated as БОК, BOC) is a non-profit organization serving as the National Olympic Committee of Bulgaria and a pa ...

Cup: 1 **

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

References

External links

Profile at LevskiSofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lozanov, Mihail 1911 births 1994 deaths Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers FC Bayern Munich footballers PFC Levski Sofia players Sportspeople from Pernik Province Technical University of Munich alumni Men's association football forwards