Stiliyan Petrov

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Stiliyan Petrov

Personal information
Full name	Stiliyan Alyoshev Petrov-Stenly
Date of birth	5 July 1979 (1979-07-05) (age 30)
Place of birth	Montana, Bulgaria
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Aston Villa
Number	19
Youth career
	PFC Montana
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–1999	CSKA Sofia	38	(3)
1999–2006	Celtic	228	(55)
2006–	Aston Villa	106	(4)
National team‡
1998–	Bulgaria	91	(8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:49, 17 October 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 09:59, September 6, 2009 (UTC)

Stiliyan 'Stan' Petrov (sometimes transliterated 'Stilian') (Bulgarian: Стилиян Петров) (born 5 July 1979 in Montana, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian football player who currently captains^[1] Aston Villa in the Premier League and the Bulgarian national team. He has won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award one time in 2003 when he was playing for Celtic.

Petrov had become known for his solid performances in midfield for both Celtic and Aston Villa and also the Bulgaria. He captained the national team at Euro 2004 where he was sent off during a match against Denmark. He has appeared over 80 times for his country.

In 2005 Petrov wrote his autobiography with the assistance of Sunday Mail sports journalist Mark Guidi entitled You Can Call Me Stan, in reference to his nickname "Stan", a shortened form of his given name. In the book, he describes how "Stiliyan" is the correct spelling, rather than "Stilian", as it is sometimes spelled in the press.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Born in Montana, Petrov started to play football with the local team PFC Montana. At the age of 18 he was spotted by legendary scout and coach Dimitar Penev and signed with CSKA Sofia for fee of €30,000. With CSKA Petrov won the national cup in 1999.

[edit] Celtic

It was at Celtic that he first made his name in football. When he first arrived in Glasgow, he felt homesick and was unable to adapt to life in Scotland. However, after a year he was to find first team places much more regularly. On 26 October 2005, he was able to score his first hat-trick against Motherwell, in which Celtic won 5–0.

As of 2009, he is the tenth most prolific goal-scorer in SPL history (with 55 goals).

[edit] Aston Villa

In April 2006 Celtic rejected a written transfer request submitted by Petrov, he was then linked with a transfer to move to Aston Villa who are managed by former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill. On 30 August, Petrov completed his move to Villa Park on a four-year deal worth £6.5million, a fee which could rise to £8million in the future. His debut was against West Ham United on 10 September. The game finished 1-1. In 2007,Petrov changed his shirt number from 11 to 19.

Petrov scored his first Villa goal in a 2-2 draw against Sheffield United on 11 December 2006, but suffered patchy form throughout his first two seasons at the club.

He scored a magnificent volley from the halfway line against already relegated Derby County on 12 April 2008. This was his first goal of the season and Villa won 6-0. This goal was marked as a possible candidate for "goal of the season". It was also confirmed to be the furthest out recorded goal by an Aston Villa player since the club was formed.

The 2008–09 season saw Petrov's form improved considerably as he became a first team regular, starting Villa's six Premier League games in a row. He was named captain for the first time in the UEFA Cup game against the Bulgarian Litex Lovech on 2 October 2008 and also scored one of the goals in the game.

In May 2009, Petrov was named both Aston Villas' supporters' "Player of the year" and players' "Player of the year" for the 2008/09 season, after his notable consistency in midfield throughout the season. ^[2] On the 20 May 2009 he signed a new four-year deal that is set to keep him at the club until 2013.^[3]

Following the departure of captain Martin Laursen and his successor Gareth Barry, Petrov has been hinted as a leading candidate to become the next captain of Aston Villa. Speaking to the Sunday Mercury regarding the matter, Petrov stated that leading a "great club with a long tradition and history" would be "a great honour".^[4] He later captained Aston Villa in the Peace Cup against Málaga on 25 July 2009, further hinting that he may be the next player to wear the armband.^[5]

Petrov once again captained the side during Aston Villa's opening fixture of the 2009-10 season (a 2-0 loss to Wigan Athletic at Villa Park). Following the game, in an online match report, he was referred to as "the skipper", therefore implying his appointment as captain of Aston Villa.^[6]

[edit] International career

Stilyan Petrov made his debut for Bulgaria on December 23rd, 1998 in a friendly against Morocco. The match was played in Agadir, Morocco and finished with a 4-1 win for the Bulgarians. He scored his first goal for the national side in another friendly match against Belarus (4-1) on March 29th, 2000. On 12 October 2006 Petrov, then captain of Bulgaria, announced his decision to retire from international football at the age of 27 as long as Hristo Stoichkov manages the Bulgaria national team. ^[7] However, on 20 March 2007 he made amends with Stoichkov and made himself available for selection again. ^[8] However, he did not recover his position as national captain because it was decided that Dimitar Berbatov would retain the captain's armband.

[edit] Career statistics

^[9]

Stats accurate as at 16:40, 7 November 2009

[edit] International goals

Updated to games played 14 October 2009. ^[10]

Stilyan Petrov: International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	March 29, 2000	Sofia, Bulgaria	Belarus	4-1	Win	Friendly
2.	January 24, 2001	Morelia, Mexico	Mexico	2-0	Win	Friendly
3.	February 28, 2001	Amman, Jordan	Jordan	2-0	Win	Friendly
4.	September 7, 2002	Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	2-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 Qualification
5.	October 12, 2002	Sofia, Bulgaria	Croatia	2-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 Qualification
6.	March 27, 2003	Kruševac, Serbia	Serbia	2-1	Win	Friendly
7.	March 30, 2005	Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	1-1	Draw	FIFA World Cup 2006 Qualification
8.	September 6, 2008	Podgorica, Montenegro	Montenegro	2-2	Draw	FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualification

[edit] Honours

Club

[edit] Celtic

• Scottish Premier League: 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006.
• Scottish Cup: 2001, 2004, 2005.
• Scottish League Cup: 2000, 2001, 2006.
• UEFA Cup Runner-up: 2003

[edit] Aston Villa

• Peace Cup: 2009

[edit] Individual

• SPFA Young Player of the Year: 2001
• Celtic Player of The Year: 2005
• Aston Villa Player's Player of the Year: 2009
• Aston Villa Supporters's Player of the Year: 2009
• SPL Player of the Month: (3)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stiliyan Petrov career stats at Soccerbase
• Aston Villa Official Website Profile
• FootballDatabase provides Stilian Petrov's profile and stats
• Stilian Petrov Player Profile from Carling

Stilian Petrov - Navigation boxes and awards Sporting positions Preceded by Krassimir Balakov Bulgaria Captain 2003–2006 Succeeded by Dimitar Berbatov Preceded by Martin Laursen Aston Villa Captain 2009–present Succeeded by Incumbent v • d • e Bulgarian Footballer of the Year 1961: Naydenov | 1962: Kolev | 1963: Shalamanov | 1964: Kotkov | 1965: Asparuhov | 1966: Shalamanov | 1967: Penev | 1968: Simeonov | 1969: Bonev | 1970: Aladzhov | 1971: Penev | 1972: Bonev | 1973: Bonev | 1974: Ivkov | 1975: Ivkov | 1976: Grigorov | 1977: Panov | 1978: Goranov | 1979: Mihaylov | 1980: Zhelyazkov | 1981: Velinov | 1982: Zdravkov | 1983: Mladenov | 1984: Nikolov | 1985: Dimitrov | 1986: Mihaylov | 1987: Iliev | 1988: Penev | 1989: Stoichkov | 1990: Stoichkov | 1991: Stoichkov | 1992: Stoichkov | 1993: Kostadinov | 1994: Stoichkov | 1995: Balakov | 1996: Ivanov | 1997: Balakov | 1998: Yordanov | 1999: Aleksandrov | 2000: Ivanov | 2001: Ivanov | 2002: Berbatov | 2003: S. Petrov | 2004: Berbatov | 2005: Berbatov | 2006: M. Petrov | 2007: Berbatov | 2008: Berbatov v • d • e SPFA Young Player of the Year 1978: Payne · 1979: Stewart · 1980: MacDonald · 1981: Nicholas · 1982: McAvennie · 1983: McStay · 1984: Robertson · 1985: Levein · 1986: Levein · 1987: Fleck · 1988: Collins · 1989: McKinlay · 1990: Crabbe · 1991: Jess · 1992: O'Donnell · 1993: Jess · 1994: O'Donnell · 1995: C. Miller · 1996: McNamara · 1997: Winters · 1998: Naysmith · 1999: Ferguson · 2000: K. Miller · 2001: Petrov · 2002: McNaughton · 2003: McFadden · 2004: Pearson · 2005: Riordan · 2006: Maloney · 2007: Naismith · 2008: McGeady · 2009: McCarthy v • d • e Bulgaria squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Zdravkov • 2 Ivanov • 3 Kirilov • 4 Ivaylo Petkov • 5 Zagorčić • 6 Kotev • 7 Borimirov • 8 Milen Petkov • 9 Berbatov • 10 Dimitrov • 11 Lazarov • 12 Kolev • 13 Peev • 14 Chilikov • 15 Hristov • 16 Manchev • 17 M. Petrov • 18 Pažin • 19 S. Petrov • 20 Bojinov • 21 Janković • 22 Stoyanov • 23 Ivankov • Coach: Markov