Hristo Stoichkov

Hristo Stoichkov

Hristo Stoitchkov © Unknown
Personal information
Full name	Hristo Stoichkov
Height	1.78 m ( ft in)
Position(s)	Manager (former Striker)
Team information
Current team	Bulgaria
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 4 2006

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. He was honoured as European Footballer of the Year in 1994. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony in 2004.

Playing style

Stoichkov played as a left attacker/winger. He was known for his explosive acceleration and speed dribbling, 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 emphatically with the referee, or with his opponents.

Club career

Stoichkov began his career in his hometown, moving to Hebros(Harmanli) in 1984. The next year he went to CSKA Sofia. There he was involved in the brutal fight during the final of Bulgarian Cup which resulted in his suspension. After he was brought back to football, he manager to win the European Golden Boot with CSKA. He then moved on to Barcelona, Parma, and finally finishing his career in Japan with Kashiwa Reysol and the United States with the Chicago Fire and D.C. United, as a coach.

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, where they lost 1-2 against Italy. At the end of that tournament, Bulgaria got an historical 4° final place.

He played also at Euro 96. The bulgarians were stronger than '94 but the misfortune stopped them. Bulgaria lost 1-3 the last decisive group stage match against a very strong France (future World Champion in '98); at the same time, in the other match, Spain won 2-1 in the last minutes against a strange and already eliminated Romania and so the bulgarians went out. In that tournament he scored 3 goals in 3 matches, and moreover a fantastic Stoitchkov's goal against Spain was unjustly cancelled. Stoitchkov was the only player to score from a free kick (against France) in this tournament.

He was also part of the squad that was eliminated in the first round of the 1998 FIFA World Cup: Bulgaria wasn't as strong as the last years.

Stoichkov ended his international career with 37 goals in 83 appearances. Now he is the coach of the Bulgarian national team.

Honours

Club

• CSKA Sofia
  • Bulgarian League: 1987, 1989, 1990
  • Bulgarian Cup: 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989
  • Bulgarian Supercup: 1989

• FC Barcelona
  • Spanish League: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
  • Spanish Super Cup: 1991, 1992, 1994
  • European Cup (now called: UEFA Champions League): 1992
  • European Super Cup: 1992, 1997
  • Copa del Rey: 1997
  • UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1997

Individual

• Bulgarian League Top Scorer: 1989, 1990
• European Golden Boot: 1989
• European Footballer of the Year (Golden Ball trophy): 1994
• FIFA World Cup 1994 Golden Shoe - Top scorer

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]

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.

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