Hristo Georgiev Yovov ( bg, Христо Георгиев Йовов) (born 4 November 1977) 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent all of his club career in his native Bulgaria with the exception of his three shorter stays abroad with German club

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members ...

and Cypriot sides Aris Limassol and

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Div ...

. He made 29 appearances scoring 5 goals for the Bulgaria national team between 1998 and 2007. Yovov started his career with

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 1998, he moved to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

club 1860 Munich. After playing little in one season and a half, he returned to Bulgaria joining Lokomotiv Sofia on loan for the second half of the 1998–99 season. He 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 ...

where he scored 47 goals in 96 matches over four-and-a-half seasons. Halfway through the 2004–05 season he began a second, three-year stint at Levski Sofia. He spent the second half of the 2007–08 season and the first half of the 2008–09 seasons in Cyprus, with Aris Limassol and Apollon Limassol. In 2009 he returned to Levski Sofia once more playing three-and-a-half seasons before retiring in summer 2013.

Career

Early career

During the 1994–95 season, before his 18th birthday, Yovov made his senior debut for

. His first match for Levski in European tournament competitions was on 22 August 1995, in the 1–1 draw (after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

) against Romanian team Dinamo București in a

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

match. He scored 19 goals in 56 matches, before he moved to

in January 1998. Yovov spent most of his time with the German side on the substitutes' bench, making for the year only nine

appearances in the 1997–98 season. He made his debut in a 3–0 defeat to Hansa Rostock on 31 January 1998, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for Horst Heldt and scored his first – and only – goal for 1860 in a 5–1 away win over 1. FC Nürnberg on 3 October 1998. In January 1999, Yovov joined Lokomotiv Sofia on loan and quickly became part of the main team. He made his league debut for Lokomotiv against

on 26 February 1999, in a 1–0 home win. He scored his first competitive goal in a Lokomotiv shirt against

Minyor Pernik FC Minyor ( bg, ФК Миньор) is a football club in Pernik, Bulgaria, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1919 as SC Krakra, the club's home ground since 1954 has been Stadion Minyor. The ...

on 6 March in a 5–1 away win.

Litex Lovech

In January 2000, Yovov joined Litex Lovech. On 4 March, he made his league debut in a 4–1 home win against

Dobrudzha Dobrich FC Dobrudzha ( bg, ФК Добруджа) is a Bulgarian football club based in Dobrich, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. It plays its home matches at Stadion Druzhba with a capacity of 12,500 seats, ...

. Two weeks later, Yovov scored his first goal for Litex in a 1–1 draw against

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. T ...

. He scored 9 goals in 12 games for Litex in his first season. In the following 2000–01 season, Yovov formed an impressive partnership with Zoran Janković, contributing 20 goals in all competitions. Litex won the

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 tourname ...

, with he scoring three goals in the tournament. On 15 August 2002, Yovov scored his first-ever

goals, scoring twice in a 5–0 home win over Atlantas in their qualifying round first leg tie.

Levski Sofia

On 2 December 2005, Yovov scored a brilliant winning goal in a 1–0 home win over

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

, after which he was called "The Jeweler" by fans and journalists. With Levski, he reached quarter-finals of UEFA Cup in 2005–06. The next season, Levski reached the group-stage of

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, becoming the first Bulgarian team to do so.

Aris Limassol

On 4 January 2008, Yovov joined Cypriot club Aris Limassol for a transfer fee of around €100,000. He was transferred because he no longer featured in the coach's plans. Yovov made his

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 official ...

debut for Aris in a 1–0 home loss against Ethnikos Achna on 12 January, coming on as a 17th-minute substitute for Laurențiu Diniță. He played 14 games for the club, scoring once in a 2–1 home win over Enosis Neon Paralimni, but Aris were relegated at the end of the season and his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Apollon Limassol

On 3 June 2008, Yovov signed a two-year contract with

and scored his first goal in a 2–1 home loss against

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 f ...

on 23 November 2008.

Return to Levski Sofia

On 2 February 2009, he officially joinеd Levski Sofia, taking the number 10 shirt. He made his second debut for Levski came on 4 March in a 2–0 win over Vihren Sandanski. Yovov holds the record of the fastest goal ever scored in

A PFG 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 ...

, scoring in the 19th second of the match against Lokomotiv Plovdiv. Yovov became a Champion of Bulgaria in 2009. On 21 July 2009, Yovov opened his goal account for the new 2009–10 season in the second match of the second qualifying round of the Champions League, where Levski beat Sant Julià away, 5–0. On 18 December 2009, Yovov scored the winning goal in a game against

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

match. In the 2009–10 season, Levski achieved qualification for the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

by finishing third in the final league table. During the season, Yovov finished as topscorer for Levski with 13 goals in all competitions. Levski started the 2010–11 season with a match against

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is hal ...

in a second qualifying round for

. Levski won the first match and the result was 6–0, with Yovov scoring in the 11th minute, Levski's first goal. During the 2011–12 season, Yovov continued to be first choice for Levski, managing 8 goals in 23 A PFG appearances, but was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

on two occasions – on 15 March 2012, in a

match against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and on 2 April in a championship game against Ludogorets Razgrad. On 19 July 2012, Yovov played for Levski in the 1–0 home win over

FK Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Sarajevo (; English language, English: Sarajevo Football Club) is a professional Association football, football club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is one of the most successful clubs in the count ...

in a Europa League match and thus became the player with the most appearances for Bulgarian teams in European competitions, surpassing the record set by former Levski teammate

Elin Topuzakov Elin Kalinov Topuzakov ( bg, Елин Калинов Топузаков; born 5 February 1977 in Dimitrovgrad) is a Bulgarian former football defender and now manager. He is nicknamed ''Balls'' ( bg, Топчо / Topcho) because of his last n ...

. Yovov has participated in 66 matches for Bulgarian teams in European club tournaments (50 with Levski and 16 with Litex Lovech). His milestone was itself eclipsed on 4 October 2018 when both

Svetoslav Dyakov Svetoslav Dyakov ( bg, Светослав Дяков; born 31 May 1984) is a Bulgarian professional retired footballer who played as a midfielder. He was the club captain of Ludogorets Razgrad and, between 2015 and 2017, was the captain of the ...

and

Cosmin Moți Cosmin Iosif Moți (born 3 December 1984) is a Romanian retired professional footballer who played as a central defender and currently the technical director of Ludogorets Razgrad. Moți began his career at Universitatea Craiova before moving ...

played in Ludogorets' 0:1 away loss against

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles ...

in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. On 6 May 2013, in the 2–1 home win over Minyor Pernik, Yovov made his 300th A PFG appearance.

International career

Yovov earned his first cap for the Bulgaria national team on 10 March 1998, in the 2–0 away loss against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, coming on as a late second half substitute for

Marian Hristov Marian Georgiev Hristov ( bg, Мариян Христов) (born 29 July 1973) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Since his retirement from playing, he has worked as an assistant manager. Career Hristov's ...

Political career

During the 2011 local elections in Bulgaria, Yovov was a mayoral candidate for his home town of Svoge, finishing in third place after the first election round.ЦИК - Резултати за община Своге

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yovov goal.''

Awards

* Champion of Bulgaria: 1995, 2006, 2007, 2009 *

: 2005, 2007 *

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 and ...

: 2005, 2007, 2009

References

External links

*
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yovov, Hristo 1977 births Living people People from Svoge Association football forwards Bulgarian footballers Bulgaria international footballers PFC Levski Sofia players TSV 1860 Munich players FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia players PFC Litex Lovech players Aris Limassol FC players Apollon Limassol FC players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bundesliga players Cypriot First Division players Bulgarian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Sportspeople from Sofia Province