Petar Sotirov Mihtarski ( bg, Петър Сотиров Михтарски; born 15 July 1966) is a Bulgarian retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager, who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He amassed

First Professional Football League 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 ...

totals of 303 games and 158 goals during 14 seasons, representing mainly

Pirin Blagoevgrad Futbolen klub Pirin ( bg, Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. Th ...

(nine years) 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 b ...

(three). He also competed professionally in Portugal and Spain. Mihtarski was part of the Bulgaria national team's squad at the

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

. In 2002, he started working as a coach.

Club career

Born in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centre ...

, Mihtarski spent the first 13 years of his career (youth years included) with local OFC Pirin, making his first-team – and

– debuts in 1982–83, appearing in eight games and scoring four goals in an eventual relegation. He went on to score in double digits in five of the following six seasons. In the summer of 1989, Mihtarski signed for

PFC 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 ...

, netting 24 times in his debut campaign and winning 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 tournament ...

during his two-year spell. Subsequently, he joined

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

in Portugal, being barred by countryman

Emil Kostadinov Emil Lubtchov Kostadinov ( bg, Емил Любчов Костадинов; born 12 August 1967) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a forward and represented the Bulgaria national team at two World Cups. Club career B ...

for most of his stay and also being loaned twice to fellow

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

side

F.C. Famalicão Futebol Clube de Famalicão, commonly known as Famalicão, is a Portuguese association football, football club from Vila Nova de Famalicão. Founded on 21 August 1931, its senior team currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top tier of Portugu ...

; in his first year, however, he did manage five goals in only 11 games as the northerners won the national championship for the third time in five years. In February 1994, Mihtarski was released by Porto and rejoined Pirin, netting five times in three months to help the club retain its top flight status. He then joined

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 ...

, equalling a career-best 24 goals in the 1994–95, best in the competition but not good enough for the national title, as former team Levski won the championship with CSKA ranking only fifth. On 23 September 1994, Mihtarksi scored the only goal for CSKA in their record-breaking 7–1 loss against Levski. During that year's

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

he added two to help the hosts defeat

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

3–2, but he was subsequently found to have been ineligible for the match and the opposition were awarded a 3–0 win; he also found the net in the second leg, a 5–1 loss in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. Mihtarski moved abroad again in January 1996, going on to spend the bulk of the following two seasons without scoring, including for both

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

in Spain and

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

, with both teams in their respective countries' second division. After two more years with Pirin, he retired from the game at the age of 35

winning Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * '' Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Foot Pole, 2022 ...

the first and only Bulgarian championship of his career, with Levski, albeit appearing sparingly. Mihtarski coached several clubs after retiring, including Pirin,

Vihren Vihren ( ) is the highest peak of Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains. Reaching , it is Bulgaria's second and the Balkans' third highest, after Musala and Mount Olympus. Although due to the karst topography Vihren is deprived of lakes and streams, a numbe ...

Belasitsa Belasica ( Macedonian and Bulgarian: , also translit. ''Belasitsa'' or ''Belasitza'', Ottoman Turkish: بلش Turkish: ''Beleş''), Belles ( el, Μπέλλες, ''Bélles'') or Kerkini (, ''Kerkíni'';), is a mountain range in the region of M ...

, and Pirin 1922. Between 2014 and 2018 he was assistant manager of the Bulgaria U21 team.

International career

Mihtarski is the most

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

player in the history of the Bulgaria U21 team, making 51 appearances and scoring 21 goals. Barred by the likes of Kostadinov,

Luboslav Penev Lyuboslav Mladenov Penev ( bg, Любослав Младенов Пенев; born 31 August 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player. Penev played as a forward for several clubs in Bulgaria and Spain. He started h ...

Nasko Sirakov Nasko Petkov Sirakov ( bg, Наско Петков Сираков; born 26 April 1962) is a Bulgarian retired professional footballer who played mainly as a striker. He is the major shareholder of Levski Sofia. Part of the Bulgaria national t ...

and

Hristo Stoitchkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov ( bg, Христо Стоичков Стоичков, ; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who is a football commentator for TUDN. A prolific forward, he is regarded as one of the bes ...

, Mihtarski only earned eight caps for Bulgaria national team in six years (no goals), his debut coming on 28 April 1988 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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. He was part of the team that reached the semi-finals of 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 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but his input in the competition consisted of one minute in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

win against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the round-of-16.

Personal life

Mihtarski was only the second Bulgarian footballer whose surname did not end with a "V" to play in the

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 ...

finals. The first was

Milko Gaydarski Milko Trilov Gaydarski ( bg, Милко Трилов Гайдарски; 18 March 1946 – 23 December 1989) was a Bulgarian football defender who played for Bulgaria in the 1970 FIFA World Cup 1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Honours

Pirin *

: runner-up 1993–94 Levski Sofia *

First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) 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 ...

: 2000–01 *

: 1990–91 Porto *

: 1991–92 Bulgaria *

: fourth place

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Individual *

top scorer: 1994–95 (24 goals)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mihtarski, Petar 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Blagoevgrad Macedonian Bulgarians Bulgarian footballers Association football forwards First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad players PFC Levski Sofia players PFC CSKA Sofia players Primeira Liga players FC Porto players F.C. Famalicão players Segunda División players RCD Mallorca players 2. Bundesliga players VfL Wolfsburg players Bulgaria youth international footballers Bulgaria international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Bulgarian football managers