Nikolay Mihaylov

Nikolay Mihaylov

Personal information
Full name	Nikolay Borislavov Mihaylov
Date of birth	28 June 1988 (1988-06-28)
Place of birth	Sofia, Bulgaria
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Twente
Number	13
Youth career
	Levski Sofia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2007	Levski Sofia	12	(0)
2007–2010	Liverpool	0	(0)
2007–2010	→ Twente (loan)	6	(0)
2010–	Twente	45	(0)
National team‡
2004–2008	Bulgaria U21	22	(1)
2006–	Bulgaria	15	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 May 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 27 March 2011

Nikolay Mihaylov (Bulgarian: Николай Михайлов, sometimes anglicised as Nikolay Mikhailov) (born 28 June 1988 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian footballer. He is currently playing as a goalkeeper for Twente and the Bulgarian national team.

Family

Mihaylov's father is Borislav Mihaylov, the player with the most international appearances for Bulgaria (after Stilyan Petrov) and head of the Bulgarian Football Union, and his grandfather was Biser Mihaylov, who also played in goal for Levski in the 1960s.

Career

Talented Mikhaylov started as a youngster with home country topteam Levski Sofia, making his full 90 minutes debut at the age of just 17 years old in the UEFA cup match against Auxerre. He nevertheless wasn't popular with their fans. Mikhaylov's poor performances in some matches, particularly his blunder in the Champions League game against Werder Bremen on 31 October 2006, provoked a negative campaign among Levski supporters who associated his career with protection from his influential father. In June 2007, he almost joined ACF Fiorentina, but instead transferred to Liverpool on a three year contract, with an option for a further two years.

Mihaylov at Sofia airport.

Mihaylov was acquired by Liverpool as a talent, whom might become their first team keeper in the future. As at that time Liverpool's first choice keeper was José Reina with Charles Itandje as back up. And by the 14th of July it became clear that the transfer had hit a problem; Mihaylov wouldn't qualify for a British work permit. As a consequence the Bulgarian U-21 International joined FC Twente on a one year loan. At FC Twente is the 19 year old Mihaylov to compete with Sander Boschker and Cees Paauwe for first team action. Although not playing any matches for the first team, Twente did recognize his talent and in 2008 they extended his loan with a year to August 2009.

On 27 August 2008 finally made his debut for FC Twente in their 4–0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the second leg of the third qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League and went on to make his Eredivisie debut in a 1–1 draw at Roda on 30 August 2008. On 14 March 2009, Mihaylov made his second appearance for Twente in the Dutch league against Willem II, playing the full 90 minutes and earning himself a booking, managing to keep a clean sheet in Twente's 2:0 away win. On 29 July 2009, Mihaylov came on as a substitute for midfielder Kenneth Perez, following the dismissal of starting keeper Sander Boschker in the 27th minute of Twente's away game against Sporting CP in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. He stopped the penalty taken by João Moutinho and made a number of key saves to keep the scores level at 0:0. Mihaylov played the full 90 minutes in the return leg and was not at fault for the Portuguese side's last-minute equalizing goal, which allowed Sporting CP to advance on the away goals rule.

Mihaylov playing for FC Twente.

FC Twente had become impressed with Michaylov, not only his talent, but also his progress did convince them. And after several year of being loaned out to FC Twente, on 5 February 2010 he officially was transferred for a fee of €1.8m from Liverpool F.C. to FC Twente. The 21 year old Bulgarian keeper signed a contract for three years with the Dutch club.

At the 2010/2011 season, he has established himself as the starting goalkeeper for FC Twente. Having played in the Champions League, Mihaylov impressed with great appearances in the competition that season, among others by stopping a penalty-shot. In the Champions League did FC Twente draw to play against his "nightmare" club Werder, as it were mentioned by the Bulgarian media. He only conceded one goal in the two matches played against Werder. With further Tottenham Hotspur and last year's Champions League winner FC Internazionale Milano in the poule?, FC Twente managed on their debut in the Champions League nevertheless to end at third place, allowing continuation in the UEFA Europa League. In which FC Twente was defeated in the quarterfinals by Villareal, after having defeated Rubin Kazan and Zenit.

Mihaylov was recently quoted saying that Liverpool now have retained an option to buy him back from Twente, as he has played enough games for his native country's national team to qualify for a work permit.

On 23 December 2011, Mihaylov attended a ceremony in Sofia, where he was honoured with the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award (Stiliyan Petrov and Dimitar Berbatov came second and third respectively). The last Bulgarian goalkeeper to have received this distinction is his father Borislav Mihailov.

International

Mihaylov made his senior international debut in the 5–1 defeat by Scotland in the Kirin Cup in Japan in May 2006. On 12 August 2009, he earned his second cap, playing the full 90 minutes in a friendly match against Latvia, which Bulgaria won 1:0. Mihaylov did well to parry a dangerous Vitālijs Astafjevs shot in the second half, but was hardly tested during the game. He earned his third cap on 10 October 2009, after replacing injured Dimitar Ivankov in the 1:4 away loss to Cyprus in a World Cup qualifier. Mihaylov was the starting goalkeeper for Bulgaria during the country's first two reasonably unsuccessful Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Career

All-Time Club Performance

Club	Season	League		Cups		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Levski Sofia	2004–05	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
	2005–06	6	0	0	0	1	0	7	0
	2006–07	5	0	0	0	1	0	6	0
Total		12	0	1	0	2	0	15	0
Liverpool	2007–08	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Twente (loan)	2007–08	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Twente (loan)	2008–09	6	0	0	0	1	0	7	0
Twente (loan)	2009-10	0	0	3	0	2	0	5	0
Twente	2010-11	31	0	1	0	10	0	42	0
Total		37	0	4	0	13	0	54	0

Honours

Club

PFC Levski Sofia

• Bulgarian A PFG : 2 times 2005-06, 2006-07,
• Bulgarian Cup: 1 time 2004-05
• Bulgarian Supercup: 1 time 2005
  • Runners-up :
• Bulgarian A PFG: 1 time 2004-05
• Bulgarian Supercup : 1 time 2006

FC Twente

• Johan Cruijff Shield 2010, 2011
• Eredivisie 2009–10
• KNVB Cup 2011

Individual

• Bulgarian Footballer of the Year 2011
• Dutch Football Goalkeeper of the Year 2011

References

Np==External links==

• (Bulgarian)(English) Official website
• Nikolay Mihaylov career stats at Soccerbase
• (Dutch) Player profile at Voetbal International
• Profile @ Levski.bg
• Profile @ LevskiSofia.info
• National Football Teams