Lyuboslav Penev

Lyuboslav Penev

Personal information
Full name	Lyuboslav Mladenov Penev
Date of birth	August 31, 1966 (1966-08-31)
Place of birth	Dobrich, Bulgaria
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Centre forward (retired)
Club information
Current club	Bulgaria (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1984–1989	CSKA Sofia	101	(80)
1989–1995	Valencia	167	(67)
1995–1996	Atlético Madrid	44	(32)
1996–1998	Compostela	69	(32)
1998–1999	Celta Vigo	32	(14)
2000–2001	CSKA Sofia	22	(8)
2002	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	4	(0)
Total		432	(217)
National team
1987–1998	Bulgaria	62	(13)
Teams managed
2009–2010	CSKA Sofia
2010–2011	Litex Lovech
2011–	Bulgaria
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Lyuboslav Mladenov Penev (Bulgarian: Любослав Пенев) (born August 31, 1966) is a former Bulgarian footballer serving as national manager.

Career

Penev's first professional team was CSKA Sofia of the Bulgarian capital. He made his first team debut in 1984, when he was only 18 years old. CSKA of the late 1980s was the football "alma mater" to several Bulgarian players like Hristo Stoichkov who made it to the international top in the 1990s. During those days Lubo's teammates included defender Trifon Ivanov, winger Emil Kostadinov, and striker Hristo Stoichkov. With CSKA Penev won the Bulgarian League twice; in 1987 and 1989) and the Bulgarian Cup three times in 1987, 1988 and 1989. He was also voted as the Bulgarian footballer of 1988.

In 1989, after reaching stardom in the Bulgarian game, he took an important step in his career by moving to the Spanish League. In Primera Penev played for four different clubs: Valencia CF, Atlético Madrid, SD Compostela and Celta Vigo. The highlight of the Spanish years was the 1995-1996 season with Atlético, when the club conquered both the league championship and the Spanish Cup. Penev was the most efficient player of the "double squad" by scoring 32 goals in 44 games (including both league and cup matches).

Position

Penev's favourite position on the pitch was centre forward. With an impressive stature of 188 cm, he roamed as a target man dominating in air battles. In addition to his abilities as a goalscorer, Penev was also known for his fighting spirit both on and off the pitch.

International career

Penev represented Bulgaria in Euro '96 in England and in the 1998 World Cup in France. He could not take part in the 1994 World Cup, as he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer since the beginning of 1994. For the same reason he was replaced by Nasko Sirakov during the match Bulgaria vs Romania at UEFA Euro 1996 in England.

CSKA Sofia

• Bulgarian Championship (2) 1987, 1989
• Bulgarian Cup (4) 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989
• Cup of the Soviet Army (3) 1985, 1986, 1989
• Bulgarian Super Cup (1) 1989

Valencia CF

• La Liga 1989-90 Runners-up

Atlético Madrid

• La Liga(1) 1995-96
• Copa del Rey (1) 1995-96

Coaching career

In March 2009, he succeeded his uncle Dimitar Penev as manager of CSKA Sofia and under his guidance the team qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Europa League, defeating FC Dynamo Moscow - 2:1 on aggregate. On 6 November 2009, he gave his resignation, after a 1:3 loss to Swiss side FC Basel due to a conflict with the club's owners. CSKA finished 4th in the group behind AS Roma, FC Basel and Fulham FC. CSKA won its single point in the opening game against the future finalist Fulham (1:1 after a good strike from Michel Platini and a mistake from CSKA's goalie Ivan Karadzhov). However, Penevs resignation was not accepted, because the CSKA fans wanted him to stay.

The club was leader in the Bulgarian championship before the last round, when Litex Lovech took the leadership. On 13 January 2010, after another clash with the owners, he was fired. After the lost game against Minyor Pernik he withdrew nine players from training sessions for breaking the club's rules, this led to the conflict with the owners.

During the summer many rumours connected him with a transfer to a Spanish clubs (mainly from Liga Adelante, but from Liga BBVA sides too), but he remained a free agent. Currently he is the head coach of the current champions Litex Lovech (having replaced Petko Petkov) and his first match was against his old team CSKA, the match ended in a 1:1 tie. His team would become the leader in the 2010-2011 championship.

Manager

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %	F	A	Goal +/-
CSKA Sofia		March 2009	January 2010	25	18	4	3	72.00	49	13	+36
Litex Lovech		September 2010	October 2011	41	28	7	6	68.29	72	25	+47

As of 4 August 2011, includes all official matches - Bulgarian League, Bulgarian Cup (+ overtime) and international tournament games.

Personal life

Lubo Penev was born on August 31, 1966 in Dobrich, Bulgaria, the only son of Mladen Penev and Mrs. Peneva, a qualified nurse. He is the nephew of former footballer and coach Dimitar Penev. During the 1990s, Lubo Penev was in a relationship with supermodel Daniela Serdanova from whom he has one son. He has also been in an affair with weather girl Desi Banova. Since 2006, he has been living with Christina, from whom he has a second son and they are living in Sofia, the capital of the country.

External links

• Player profile at BDFutbol.com

Awards
Preceded by Nikolay Iliev	Bulgarian Footballer of the Year 1988	Succeeded by Hristo Stoichkov