Stoitchkov Biography

1966-1985 Youth
Hristo Stoichkov was born in Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria. He is the son of a goalkeeper who played for the local side Spartak. In 1976, at the age of ten Stoichkov joined the youth academy of Maritza in his hometown and remained there until 1984. One of his coaches later described him as mild and somewhat worried about keeping his spot in the club.
After "graduating" from the youth program at Maritza, Stoichkov received no offers from professional clubs and was forced to sign with a lower division team called Hebros Harmanli. A year later, he was spotted by Manol Manolov the general manager of the top Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia.

1986-1989 CSKA
CSKA as a club was linked to the Bulgarian army since at that time professional sports were not legally allowed in communist Bulgaria. The team coach Dimitar Penev, is said to have been instrumental in introducing Stoichkov to big football.
In Hristo's first season with the club, CSKA wins the Bulgarian league as well as the Cup of Bulgaria. The following year in the Bulgarian Cup final, a fight breaks out on the pitch between CSKA and rival side Levski. Stoichkov along with all of his teammates are banned for life from playing football. About a year later, the Bulgarian Football Union drops the punishment and allows the players to return to professional football. Stoichkov is back in CSKA as a defensive midfielder, and plays a major role as his team wins the league in 1987. The same year, he started for the national team, but his debut was of little help as Bulgaria failed to qualify for Euro 1988.

In 1988 Stoichkov's club team, CSKA, finished second in the league and wins the Cup of Bulgaria. The next year (1989) Stoichkov becomes the top goal scorer of the league (23 goals) and was shaping up as the star of the club. CSKA's coach Dimitar Penev favored a 4-3-3 system, which worked well with the available squad. At the time, the team's legendary offensive trio of Stoichkov, Luboslav Penev and Emil Kostadinov had no match in Bulgaria. In the 1988/1989 season, CSKA entered the European Cup Winners Cup. Astonishingly, the team reached the semi-finals where they are defeated by Barcelona. Stoichkov showed brilliance, scoring in both legs and stealing the attention of Barça's head coach, Johan Cruyff. The legendary Dutchman was anxious to sign Hristo, but CSKA refused to let him go until his contract ran out.
In the same year, after a double with CSKA, Stoichkov is awarded the Golden Boot as the top scorer (38 goals) of Bulgaria and in Europe as well.

1990-1994 Barcelona
After his CSKA contract runs out, Hristo signs a five year contract with Barcelona for a record sum at that time. In his first season with Barcelona, Stoichkov's rambunctious character asserted itself as he was banned for 6 months after stomping a referee who gave him a red card.
After his return he led the team to an incredible four Spanish Primera Division titles in a row (1991-1994)! In 1992, he also brought the European Champions League trophy to Barça after beating Italy's Sampdoria in the final.

1991-1994 National glory
Between 1991-1993 Stoichkov came to be an integral part of Bulgarian national team.
On the 17-th of November 1993, Bulgaria met France in Paris for their last World Cup qualifying match. In the case of a draw, Bulgaria would be eliminated, because of France's superior scoring record. By halftime the French team controlled most of the plays and were deservedly winning 1-0. Bulgaria's right forward Emil Kostadinov scored an equalizer, early in the second half, but that had little effect on the French as they focused on possession. In the 89th minute, Luboslav Penev lofted a pass over the French defense where Emil Kostadinov managed to outrun the recovering French defenders. After controlling the ball with his thigh and at exactly 89:59, Kostadinov shot at the French goal hitting the crossbar. All 60,000 spectators on Parc des Princes watched in stunned disbelief as the ball went in and their World Cup dreams crumbled.

Bulgaria's 1994 World Cup squad was managed by Dimitar Penev, Hristo's former coach at CSKA. In the first round, the team started off with a disappointing 0-3 loss against Nigeria. The next match was against Greece, a team that had even less World Cup experience than the Bulgarians. Stoichkov netting two goals to form the final 4-0 result, the first Bulgarian victory in the World Cup. In the last group match, Bulgaria was about the face Argentina. The Argintines were having internal problems, topped by the ejection of Diego Maradona from the tournament. Much hope was put on midfielder Ariel Otrega, who was supposed to assume Maradona's position. Ortega flopped, while Stoichkov inspired the Bulgarians to a spectacular 2-0 win over Argentina.
At the 1/8 finals, Bulgaria defeated the promising squad of Mexico on penalties after finishing 1-1 in the regular time. In the sixth minute, Stoichkov netted a beautiful opening goal on the helpless Jorge Campos. World Champion Germany was the next victim of the Bulgarian sensation. In the exciting quarterfinal, the Germans were first to open the score, from an arguable penalty. Later in the game Stoichkov shined again, scoring from a superbly executed free kick. Yordan Lechkov finished off the Germans with a diving header and probably the most beautiful goal in the tournament.
Click here to read London Times' response to this match.

After upsetting the returning world champion Germany (2-1) and the returning finalist Argentina (2-0) the Bulgarians were supposed to face Italy. The Bulgarian team, which up to 1994 had no World Cup victories was now a step away from the final of the biggest sporting even in the world. After a close semi-final match, Italy defeated Bulgaria. Stoichkov still performed admirably scoring from a penalty for the final score of 1-2. Hristo was substituted in the second half and later admitted that he played with an ankle injury throughout the whole tournament.

There were many talented players on the Bulgarian squad, such as Trifon Ivanov, Yordan Lechkov, Krasimir Balakov and Emil Kostadinov. But it was obvious that the man behind most offensive actions was Hristo Stoichkov. Stoichkov became the top scorer of the 1994 World Cup. He was also included in the dream team of the tournament along with midfielder Balakov.

1995-1996 Golden years with the National Team
After the "Bulgarian summer" of 1994, Bulgaria's national team set their sights on qualification for the 1996 Euro. Striker Luboslav Penev rejoined the team after a serious battle with cancer. Other than Penev's return, the squad remained unchanged since the World Cup. The Bulgarians showed creative style of play, persistency and a lot of scoring. The revived Stoichkov-Penev-Kostadinov trio stormed during qualification. Most notable was an upset over the future European champion Germany, a 3-2 victory at Bulgaria's home stadium "Vasil Levski". It was no problem for the Bulgarians to qualify for the 1996 European Championship in England.
Bulgaria was placed in the same group with France, Spain and Romania. The team was eliminated after the first round with a 1-1-1 record losing only to future world champion France. Stoichkov displayed class and scored in all three games. He was featured in the dream team of the tournament, regardless of his country's early exit.

1996-1998 Back in Barça
Right after the European Championship of 1996, Stoichkov proved the World that he is still a force to be reckoned with. Many teams were trying to get hold of the experienced but still capable striker. It came down to the European giants Newcastle and Barcelona. Stoichkov preferred his former team, where he was already adored by the fans.
During the following two years, Stoichkov slowly subsided as Barcelona's coach Luis Van Gaal started using him as a substitute more and more frequently. The Dutch tactician had to make way for the upcoming stars, including the young "Fenomeno" Ronaldo.

1997-1998 Boycott and Return
Right after the European Championship, Bulgaria's head coach Dimitar Penev was fired from his position leaving many national players furious. Dimitar Penev was enforcing a system that relied heavily on his old club players from CSKA, including his controversial nephew Lubo Penev. At about the same time, Lubo Penev who scored an unfortunate own goal at Euro 96, cursed out his "critics" during a nationally broadcast interview. Because of this he was banned from the national team. As both of his friends Lubo and Dimitar Penev were ejected from the national team, Stoichkov declared a boycott, supported by Ilian Kiriakov, another teammate and close friend of his.
After a lot of talk and speculation, Stoichkov finally returned to the national team followed by some of the other 1994 veterans. That process limited the introduction of new players to the starting lineup in Bulgaria's national squad. A couple of exceptions were Radostin Kishihsev, who had a delightful performance at Euro 96, and Anatoly Nankov, a rising star in the Bulgarian "A" Group and a major part of CSKA's 1996/7 championship title. The ageless national goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov and captain of the team was replaced by the young and promising Zdravko Zdravkov. The strategy of the Bulgarian national team had changed a lot since the last World Cup while most players remained. An end was put to the Stoichkov-Penev-Kostadinov trio. The newly hired coach Hristo Bonev focused on the safer 4-4-2 system.
The team's goal scoring suffered, but they still managed to qualify for the upcoming World Cup in France. On the road to the Cup, Bulgaria looked a lot weaker in offense, struggling, but getting the job done agaist relatively weak teams such as Israel (1-0), Russia (1-0) and even Luxembourg (2-1).

1998 World Cup Nightmare
The end of Stoichkov's boycott and his return nearly replicated Bulgaria's former squad from World Cup 1998. The new coach Bonev was the main difference but he failed to generate rapport between his players.
Stoichkov was welcomed back in the Bulgarian national team quite willingly by fans and coaching staff. Meanwhile, Stoichkov and Trifon Ivanov's relationship was decaying because the later was selected as captain since Hristo's boycott. On top of all the drama, rummors were spreading of a personal conflict between Hristo and Balakov. Krasimir Balakov was the team's engine, and had been feeding Stoichkov with a large amount of quality passes. Bala was supposedly dissatisfied with the prompt re-acceptance and controveraial popularity of Hristo while Krasi tacitly stuck with the team throughout his boycott.

On top of the internal issues, the bulgarian team was put in the "group of death" with Spain, Nigeria and Paraguay. In its first game, Bulgaria faced Paraguay in a match that revealed that the overall offensive quickness and creativity of the Balkan Lions was gone. Stoichkov was the only player who looked dangerous upfront. Defensively, the team was physically unprepared. Hristo showed that he still has hunger and blasted a habitual bomb from about 25 meters (20 yards) which hit the post of stunned Paraguayan keeper Jose Luis Chilavert. The game finished in a scoreless draw leaving both sides unsatisfied.
In the next match, the Bulgarian team played against Olympic Champion Nigeria, built by a very young and talented team. The physical form of the Bulgarian defense was tested again, cracking under the pressure of the agile Nigerian forwards, led by Nwankwo Kanu. In the second half of the match, Bulgaria reorganized and tried to come back but there was little left in the veterans from USA '94. Nearly at the end of the match, Emil Kostadinov had a hard shot at the enemy goal, just as he did five years ago on the very same stadium against France. The ball rebounded off the upper post, but this time without going in. At the end, Nigeria won over Bulgaria 0-1.
In its last game of the 98 World Cup Bulgaria played against Spain. Bulgaria's defense was completely off, leaving Spain with almost no effort to net four goals (and a fifth from a questionable penalty.) The only goal for Bulgaria came by Emil Kostadinov, the same player who stared the entire "Golden Era" or "The Stoichkov Era." This time he was putting an end to it!
Bulgaria's hopes for another World Cup success were destroyed and even Stoichkov began fading in the last two matches. Statistics showed that very few passes were exchanged between Stoichkov and Balakov during the whole three games played. Speculations still persist that the two's conflict might have caused Bulgaria's failure.

1997-1999 Traveling years
After two seasons with Barcelona, Stoichkov decided to make way for the youngsters and move onto something more exotic. He was bought temporarily by a rich Saudi Arabian team Al Knassar. There he won the Cup of Asia, scoring in one of the two final matches. Right after, Stoichkov returned to Bulgaria and rejoined his former club CSKA Sofia. CSKA fans were delighted to have the international star on their club once more, but his help was of little significance. The team finished third and was humiliated at the Bulgarian Cup final with 5-0 by local rivals Levski. After playing in only four league matches, Stoichkov was quickly attracted by the Japanese Kashiwa Reysol. In the Far East he remained until 1999 and scored a total of 13 goals in 28 matches.

2000-2003 Settling in USA
In the late 1990's, teams from the infant Major League Soccer desperately tried to boost fan interest in the States. That led to the attraction of many aging stars including Lothar Matthaeus, Carlos Valderrama, and of course, Hristo Stoichkov. Chicago Fire was the club which demanded the Bulgarian superstar. With his instrumental know-how, they quickly rose to the top of their conference. Two seasons later Stoichkov moved to DC United where he signed as an assistant coach. Stoichkov's ability and status were cherished in the mediocre Major League Soccer. The MLS is a place where he could play up to old age while still influencing the new generation of upcoming footballers. Stoichkov officially retired from his active playing career in December of 2003.

2004- Coaching career
Soon after his retirement, Stoichkov tried his luck as a coach, initially with the Bulgarian national team. Failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, he resigned and moved back to Spain. He was hired as a head coach for Celta Vigo. In the same season, his club was relegated from Primera Division.