Bulgarian Soccer Trivia Quiz

Answer: Germany

Played on 10th July 1994 in New York, Bulgaria won 2-1. Germany took the lead through a Matthaus penalty, before Stoichkov's 76th minute freekick levelled the score. Jordan Lechkov, the famous bald-headed playmaker, scored the winner with a marvellous header 3 minutes later

Answer: Borislav Michailov

Borislav (Bobby) Michailov was probably the best goalkeeper in Bulgarian football history. He played at the World Cup finals in Mexico (1986) and USA (1994). He won 102 international caps in his carreer, while Krassimir Balakov won 89, and Hristo Stoichkov won 83 caps.

Answer: Litex

Litex Lovech won the Bulgarian championship in 1998 and 1999, becoming the first non-Sofia based club to achieve 2 back-to-back titles since the 1920s, when Vladislav Varna were chmpions in 1925 and 1926. Actually, during the period 1968 to 2003 only 4 Bulgarian championships had been won by non-Sofia clubs - Litex (twice), Beroe Stara Zagora (in 1986) and Etar Veliko Tarnovo (in 1991).

Answer: Semi-Final

CSKA Sofia was the most successful Bulgarian club in the European Cup, reaching the semi-finals twice - first in 1966-67 and again in 1981-82 (they also reached the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup in 1988-89). Slavia Sofia also reached the semi-final stage of the Cup Winners Cup. It happened in season 1966-67.

Answer: 3

Stoichkov scored twice in the first leg at Nou Camp, and added another one in the rematch in Sofia, but this was not enough for CSKA Ssofia as the games ended 2-4 and 1-2 respectively. Impressed by the skill of the Bulgarian forward, Barca manager Johann Kruyff immediately decided to sign him!

Answer: Martin Petrov

Bulgaria performed rather dissapointingly at Euro 2004, being thrashed by Sweden 0-5 in their opening game. Then they lost to Denmark 0-2 and got close to drawing Italy but eventually lost 1-2 as Antonio Cassano scored the winner in injury time. Wolfsburg winger Martin Petrov was lucky to be on the scoresheet that day.

Dimitar Berbatov was Bulgaria's centre forward during the competition, but he didn't score, and neither did team captain Stilian (Stanley) Petrov. Krassimir Balakov retired from international football shortly before Euro 2004.

Answer: Nasko Sirakov

Bulgaria has had a lot of players performing successfully in the Bundesliga, most notably Balakov in Stuttgart and Berbatov in Leverkusen. Dani Borimirov used to play for 1860 Munchen, Marian Hristov won the German title with Kaiserslautern before joining Wolfsburg, and Pavel Dochev played alongside Jordan Lechkov in Hamburger SV. Sirakov, on the other hand, never played in Germany.

Answer: The Cup of the Soviet Army

Todor Jivkov was Head of state for more than three decades during that period. However, he never managed to get a football competition named after him.

Answer: Hristo Bonev

Dimitar Penev coached the team during their highly successful World Cup in 1994. Hristo Stoichkov became a coach of the national team in 2004.

Answer: 4-0 Bulgaria

10 years before becoming European champions, the Greeks were beaten by 4 clear goals by their neighbours. Stoichkov scored twice in this game. Thanks for taking my quiz! I hope you had a good time answering the questions!