The Bulgaria national football team is the national football team of Bulgaria and is controlled by the Bulgarian Football Union. Bulgaria's best World Cup performance was in the 1994 World Cup in USA, where they beat Germany to reach the semi-finals, losing to Italy, and finishing in fourth place after a 4-0 defeat to Sweden in the third place play-off.

Bulgaria first participated in the 1962 World Cup in Chile, but failed to progress to the knockout stages. The same thing happened in England in 1966, Mexico in 1970, and West Germany in 1974. They qualified from the first round in Mexico 1986 but they were beaten in the round of 16 by the hosts.

Probably the most important date for Bulgarian football is November 17 1993, when Emil Kostadinov scored two goals against France in Paris, allowing Bulgaria to qualify for the World Cup in the USA in 1994. Under the management of Dimitar Penev, the Bulgarians made a great impression, eliminating the defending world champions, Germany, with a surprise 2-1 win. Huge numbers of people celebrated this win in Sofia, Bourgas and other Bulgarian cities. Having reached the semi-finals, Bulgaria played Italy, but they were knocked out in a controversial match. Hristo Stoichkov won the Golden Boot for top scorer in the tournament, shared with Oleg Salenko: both scored six goals.

In 1996, the team qualified for the European Football Championship for the first time, although they did not manage to progress beyond the group stage: a disappointment repeated in the 1998 World Cup. Bulgaria failed to qualify for Euro 2000 or the 2002 World Cup, but did reach Euro 2004. However, they lost all their matches and once again were eliminated before the knockout stage.

World Cup record

• 1930 - Did not enter
• 1934 - Withdrew during qualifying
• 1938 - Did not qualify
• 1950 - Did not enter
• 1954 - Did not qualify
• 1958 - Did not qualify
• 1962 - Round 1
• 1966 - Round 1
• 1970 - Round 1
• 1974 - Round 1
• 1978 - Did not qualify
• 1982 - Did not qualify
• 1986 - Round 2
• 1990 - Did not qualify
• 1994 - Fourth place
• 1998 - Round 1
• 2002 - Did not qualify
• 2006 - Did not qualify

European Championship record

• 1960 to 1992 - Did not qualify
• 1996 - Round 1
• 2000 - Did not qualify
• 2004 - Round 1

Current Team

Famous players

• Georgi Asparuhov
• Hristo Bonev (coach)
• Dimitar Yakimov
• Nikola Kotkov
• Petar Zhekov
• Bozhidar Iskrenov
• Nikolay Iliev
• Kiril Ivkov
• Pavel Panov
• Stoycho Mladenov
• Tzvetan Yonchev
• Dimitar Penev

The Golden Bulgarian Football Generation

• Hristo Stoichkov (current coach of the Bulgarian national football team)
• Krassimir Balakov (current coach of Grasshopers)
• Yordan Letchkov (current mayor of Sliven)
• Nasko Sirakov
• Trifon Ivanov
• Borislav Mikhailov (current president of the Bulgarian Football Union)
• Emil Kostadinov
• Luboslav Penev
• Daniel Borimirov
• Petar Hubchev
• Zlatko Yankov
• Ivaylo Yordanov

• Dimitar Berbatov
• Valeri Bojinov
• Martin Petrov
• Stilian Petrov
• Georgi Ivanov
• Radostin Kishishev
• Marian Hristov
• Chavdar Yankov

External links

• Bulgarian football - history, teams, stadiums, fan clubs
• RSSSF archive of results 1924-
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• Bulgarian football legends
• Planet World Cup archive of results in the World Cup
• Planet World Cup archive of squads in the World Cup
• Planet World Cup archive of results in the World Cup qualifiers

European national football teams | Football in Bulgaria

Национален отбор по футбол на България | Bulgarische Fußballnationalmannschaft | Bulgaaria jalgpallikoondis | Selección nacional de fútbol de Bulgaria | Équipe de Bulgarie de football | Nazionale di calcio della Bulgaria | נבחרת בולגריה בכדורגל | Bulgārijas futbola izlase | Bolgár labdarúgó-válogatott | Bulgaars voetbalelftal | サッカーブルガリア代表 | Reprezentacja Bułgarii w piłce nożnej | Seleção Búlgara de Futebol | Bulgariens herrlandslag i fotboll | 保加利亞國家足球隊