Hristo Stoichkov
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| Hristo Stoichkov | ||
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| Personal information | ||
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| Full name | Hristo Stoichkov | |
| Date of birth | February 8, 1966 | |
| Place of birth | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | |
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | |
| Position | Manager (former Striker) |
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| Club information | ||
| Current club | Bulgaria | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1976-1983 1983 1983-1984 |
Maritsa Yuri Gagarin Hebros |
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| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
| 1984-1990 1990-1995 1995-1996 1996-1998 1998 1998 1998-1999 2000-2002 2003 |
CSKA Sofia FC Barcelona Parma AC FC Barcelona Al-Nasr CSKA Sofia Kashiwa Reysol Chicago Fire D.C. United Total |
119 (81) 151 (76) 23 (5) 24 (7) 4 (1) 2 (1) 28 (13) 51 (17) 21 (5) 423 (201) |
| National team** | ||
| 1987-1999 | Bulgaria | 83 (37) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 2004- | Bulgaria | |
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* Professional club appearances and goals |
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Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgarian: Христо Стоичков) (born February 8, 1966, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a football manager and former striker who was a member of the Bulgaria national team that finished fourth at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Apart from his footballing talent, he was notable for his strong on-pitch temper.
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[edit] Playing style
Stoichkov played as a left attacker/winger. He was known for his explosive acceleration and speed dribbling,[citation needed] and for taking unpredictable shots on goal. He was also notable at taking free kicks and penalties. He gained much popularity because of his aggressive temper on the pitch. He could often be seen arguing enphatically with the referee, or with his opponents.
[edit] Club career
Stoichkov began his career in his hometown, moving to Hebros(Harmanli) in 1984. The next year he went to CSKA Sofia, before moving on to the more prestigious Barcelona, Parma, and finally finishing his career in Japan with Kashiwa Reysol and the United States with the Chicago Fire and D.C. United.
[edit] National team
At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Stoichkov was awarded the Golden Boot as the joint top goal scorer of the tournament (with Oleg Salenko) at six goals as he led Bulgaria to the semifinals.
He was the only player to score from a free kick in Euro 96, but Bulgaria lost that match 3-1 to France and was eliminated in the group stage.
He was also part of the squad that was eliminated in the first round of the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
Stoichkov ended his international career with 37 goals in 84 appearances.
[edit] Honours
In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Football Union as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [1]
| Preceded by: Roberto Baggio |
European Footballer of the Year 1994 |
Succeeded by: George Weah |
| Preceded by: Salvatore Schillaci |
FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe 1994 Shared with: Oleg Salenko |
Succeeded by: Davor Šuker |
[edit] Coaching career
In the 2003-04 season, Stoichkov started a coaching career, serving as a forwards coach at Barça. After Bulgarian national team coach Plamen Markov resigned in the wake of the team's first-round exit from Euro 2004, the Bulgarian Football Union named him as the new national team coach on 15 July.
Stoichkov's coaching career got off to a bad start with him failing to qualify the Bulgarian national team for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He brought his bad temper from his career as a player to the coaching bench. His first couple of seasons will be remembered with several scandals. A couple of proven players quit the team due to personal differences with Stoichkov. The most notable scandal was at the 03/09/05 game against Sweden, where he was sent-off for insulting the referee.
The biggest blow to Hristo Stoichkov as a coach of the national team of Bulgaria came on 12/10/2006, when Stiliyan Petrov, the captain of the team, announced he will not play for the team as long as Stoichkov is the coach [2]. Petrov is the third player and the second captain in two years to leave the team because of differences with Stoichkov.
[edit] External links
- The Official Site of Hristo Stoichkov
- Stoichkov Profile, stats and news
- A photo album dedicated to Hristo Stoichkov
- UEFA.com - Golden Player of Bulgaria
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Bulgaria squad - 1994 World Cup Fourth Place | |
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1 Mikhailov | 2 Kremenliev | 3 Ivanov | 4 Tsvetanov | 5 Houbchev | 6 Yankov | 7 Kostadinov | 8 Stoichkov | 9 Letchkov | 10 Sirakov | 11 Borimirov | 12 Nikolov | 13 Yordanov | 14 Guentchev | 15 Iliev | 16 Kiriakov | 17 Mihtarski | 18 Aleksandrov | 19 Georgiev | 20 Balakov | 21 Yotov | 22 Andonov | Coach: Penev |
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Bulgaria squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup | |
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1 Zdravkov | 2 Kishishev | 3 T. Ivanov | 4 I. Petkov | 5 Yordanov | 6 Yankov | 7 Kostadinov | 8 Stoichkov | 9 Penev | 10 Balakov | 11 Iliev | 12 Mikhailov | 13 Ginchev | 14 Hristov | 15 Zafirov | 16 Nankov | 17 Stoilov | 18 Borimirov | 19 Bachev | 20 G. Ivanov | 21 Kirilov | 22 M. Petkov | Coach: Bonev |
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Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | Articles with sections needing expansion | 1966 births | Living people | Bulgarian footballers | European Footballers of the Year | FIFA World Cup 1994 players | UEFA Euro 1996 players | FIFA World Cup 1998 players | FIFA World Cup goalscorers | UEFA European Football Championship goalscorers | FIFA 100 | Golden Shoe winners | Bulgarian football managers | La Liga footballers | FC Barcelona footballers | Parma F.C. players | Chicago Fire players | D.C. United players | People from Plovdiv | PFC CSKA Sofia players | Kashiwa Reysol players | Non-Japanese footballers in Japan
