Nikolay Stefanov Iliev (; born 31 March 1964) 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 lea ...

who played as a defender. He was part of the Bulgarian national team that reached the semi-finals of 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 ...

. Iliev's spent most of his career with

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () 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 by a group of high sc ...

, managing 196 appearances and 25 goals in the

A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

as well as participating in 19 matches and netting 2 goals in European tournaments. He also had a spell with

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

in the late 1980s and early 1990s, becoming the first Bulgarian footballer to ply his trade in the top Italian league.

International goals

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

Honours

Club

Levski Sofia * Champion of Bulgaria: 1984, 1985, 1988, 1993 *

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () 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's format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

: 1982, 1984, 1986, 1992 * Cup of the Soviet Army: 1984, 1987, 1988

International

Bulgaria *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

: fourth place

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Individual

Bulgarian Footballer of the Year Bulgarian Footballer of the Year (, ''Futbolist №1 na Balgariya'') is an annual title awarded to the best Bulgarian association football player of the year. The award has been given since 1961, and the winner is elected by authorized journalists ...

: 1987

References

External links

*
Profile at LevskiSofia.info
1964 births Living people Footballers from Sofia Bulgarian men's footballers 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen Men's association football defenders Bulgaria men's international footballers PFC Levski Sofia players Hertha BSC players Stade Rennais FC players Bologna FC 1909 players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Serie A players 2. Bundesliga players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France {{Bulgaria-footy-defender-stub