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Bulgaria National Football Team

Head coach: Stanimir Stoilov
Captain: Dimitar Berbatov
Top scorer: Hristo Bonev
FIFA ranking: 33

Bulgaria's first appearance in a World Cup was the 1962 World Cup in Chile, but failed to progress to the knockout stages. The same happened in England in 1966, Mexico in 1970, and West Germany in 1974. They progressed from the first round in Mexico 1986 but were beaten by the hosts in the round of 16.

Certainly one of the most important dates in Bulgarian football history 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, led by stars like Hristo Stoitchkov, Iordan Letchkov and Krassimir Balakov (along with a multitude of other talented players remembered in Bulgaria as "The Golden Generation"), made a strong impression, sensationally eliminating the then defending world champions, Germany in the quarter-finals, with a 2-1 win. Millions of Bulgarians celebrated this win in Sofia and other Bulgarian cities. Having reached the semi-finals, Bulgaria played Italy, but they were knocked out in a controversial match. Hristo Stoitchkov won the Golden Boot as top scorer in the tournament with six goals. The award was shared with Oleg Salenko of Russia who too 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. It was believed the 1996 squad was stronger than the one in 1994, and that they did not progress to the quarter-finals due to misfortune. The Bulgarians, after a 1-1 draw against Spain (a fantastic Stoitchkov goal was controversially cancelled) and a 1-0 victory against Romania, played well but lost the third and decisive match to a very strong France (the future world champion), 1-3. At the same time Spain defeated a weak and already eliminated Romania 2-1 with the winner coming in the 84th minute.

The Bulgarians did not progress to the quarter-finals in the 1998 World Cup, despite the good form they were in. However, The "Golden Generation" was history. They earned a goalless draw against Paraguay and lost to both Nigeria and Spain.

Bulgaria failed to qualify for the Euro 2000 and for the 2002 World Cup, but did reach the Euro 2004. However, they disappointingly lost all their group matches and were once again sent home without reaching the knockout round. However, there has been great improvement in the Bulgarian game, as they remain undefeated and in second place in their group for qualifying for the Euro 2008

Bulgaria Team
No.	NAME	POS	H(M)	W(Kg)	Age
1	Georgi Petkov	G	1.87	75	31
27	Dimitar Ivankov	G	1.88	80	31
3	Aleksandar Tunchev	D	-	-	25
4	Igor Tomasic	D	1.82	78	30
5	Petar Zanev	D	-	-	-
16	Zahari Sirakov	D	1.81	73	29
21	Elin Topuzakov	D	1.80	73	30
2	Radostin Kishishev	M	1.80	78	32
6	Stanislav Angelov	M	1.78	64	29
8	Chavdar Yankov	M	1.74	65	22
13	Georgi Peev	M	1.78	75	28
14	Valeri Domovchiyski	M	-	-	-
19	Stiliyan Petrov	M	1.80	77	27
22	Dmitar Telkiyski	M	1.74	68	30
25	Lucio Wagner	M	1.80	76	31
9	Dimitar Berbatov	S	1.88	79	26
11	Vladimir Manchev	S	1.83	78	30
15	Tsvetan Genkov	S	-	-	-
17	Martin Petrov	S	1.80	76	28
18	Hristo Yovov	S	1.83	74	29

Group G
	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	P
Romania	7	5	2	0	14	4	10	17
Bulgaria	7	4	3	0	11	4	7	15
Netherlands	6	4	2	0	8	2	6	14
Albania	7	2	3	2	8	6	2	9
Belarus	7	2	1	4	10	15	-5	7
Slovenia	7	1	1	5	5	12	-7	4
Luxembourg	7	0	0	7	1	14	-13	0