Strahil Popov

In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Venkov and the family name is Popov.

Strahil Popov
Personal information
Full name Strahil Venkov Popov[1]
Date of birth (1990-08-31) 31 August 1990
Place of birth Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position Right-back
Youth career
Pirin Blagoevgrad
Pirin 2001
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2015 Litex Lovech 138 (6)
2009 → Lokomotiv Mezdra (loan) 14 (0)
2010 → Montana (loan) 2 (0)
2016–2020 Kasımpaşa 125 (1)
2020–2021 Hatayspor 57 (0)
2022 Eyüpspor 16 (0)
2022–2024 Ümraniyespor 46 (2)
Total 398 (9)
International career
2008 Bulgaria U19 3 (0)
2009–2012 Bulgaria U21 3 (0)
2014–2021 Bulgaria 35 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Strahil Popov (Bulgarian: Страхил Попов; born 31 August 1990) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

Popov began his professional career at Litex Lovech in 2008. After loan spells at Lokomotiv Mezdra and Montana he became a regular in their team, playing 159 total games and scoring 6 goals for Litex. He signed for Kasımpaşa in January 2016.

Popov earned 35 caps for Bulgaria between 2014 and 2021.

Club career

Born in Blagoevgrad, Popov began his career playing for Pirin Blagoevgrad before departing for Pirin 2001.[2]

Litex Lovech

In 2008, Popov joined Litex Lovech.[3]

Lokomotiv Mezdra (loan)

On 9 July 2009, Popov joined Lokomotiv Mezdra on loan until December 2009.[4] He made his team début on 10 July, scoring goal in a 2–1 friendly loss against Sivasspor.

Montana (loan)

On 18 January 2010, Popov was loaned out to Montana for the rest of the season.[5] He made his competitive debut on 20 March in a 0–0 home league draw against Litex, coming on as a second-half substitute, and participated in only one more game to the end of the season.

Return to Litex

Popov returned to Litex at the end of the 2009–10 season. He played only three league games during a following campaign and became a regular first team player in the 2011–12 season. On 21 March 2012, Popov was sent off for the first time in his professional career in a 1–1 away draw against Beroe Stara Zagora.

On 21 July 2013, Popov scored his first goal for Litex, with a header, netting the third in a 4–1 home win over Neftochimic Burgas. He then scored the winning goal in Litex's 2–1 away win against Slavia Sofia on 7 December.

On 3 August 2014, Popov was announced as Litex's new club captain.[6] Six days later, he added his third goal for Litex against Botev Plovdiv in a 3–3 away draw.

Kasımpaşa

On 5 January 2016, he moved to the Turkish Süper Lig team Kasımpaşa for a reported fee of €750,000. He was given the number 90 jersey.[7]

On 27 October 2017, he scored his first league goal in a match against Göztepe.[8]

International career

After first being called up for a friendly match against Belarus in March 2014, but remaining an unused substitute,[9] Popov made his debut for the national side on 23 May 2014, in the 1–1 draw with Canada.[10] He played as a starter on 10 October 2015, in the 0–3 loss against Croatia in a Euro 2016 qualifier, remaining on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.[11]

On 13 October 2018, he provided two decisive assists in a 2–1 home win against Cyprus, in a match for the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. He became second top assistant with four assists in all over group in the competition.[12]

Career statistics

Club

As of 25 December 2019[13]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Litex Lovech 2008–09 A Group 3 0 0 0 0 0 – 3 0
2010–11 3 0 0 0 0 0 – 3 0
2011–12 18 0 2 0 0 0 1[b] 0 21 0
2012–13 27 0 3 0 – – 30 0
2013–14 37 2 3 0 – – 40 2
2014–15 31 3 4 0 4 0 – 39 3
2015–16 19 1 2 0 2 0 – 23 1
Total 138 6 14 0 6 0 1 0 159 6
Lokomotiv Mezdra (loan) 2009–10 A Group 14 0 0 0 – – 14 0
Montana (loan) 2009–10 A Group 2 0 0 0 – – 2 0
Kasımpaşa 2015–16 Süper Lig 13 0 0 0 – – 13 0
2016–17 33 0 7 1 – – 40 1
2017–18 32 1 0 0 – – 32 1
2018–19 33 0 3 0 – – 36 0
2019–20 14 0 0 0 – – 14 0
Total 125 1 10 1 0 0 0 0 135 2
Career total 280 7 25 1 6 0 1 0 312 8
  1. ^ Includes Bulgarian Cup, Turkish Cup.
  2. ^ Appearance in Bulgarian Supercup

International

As of 22 November 2018
Team Year Tournament Friendly Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Bulgaria
2014 0 0 1 0 1 0
2015 1 0 0 0 1 0
2016 4 0 4 0 8 0
2017 6 0 0 0 6 0
2018 4 0 2 0 6 0
Total 15 0 7 0 22 0
Career total 21 0 8 0 29 0

References

  1. ^ "European Championship 2020: Booking List before Qualifying Round Matchday 10" (PDF). UEFA. 17 November 2019. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Интервю със Страхил Попов от Литекс" (in Bulgarian). fmbulgaria.com.
  3. ^ "Stats Centre: Strahil Popov Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  4. ^ "Литекс даде Страхил Попов на Локо (Мездра)" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 9 July 2009.
  5. ^ "Младежки национал от Литекс под наем в Монтана" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 18 January 2010.
  6. ^ "Страхил Попов е новият капитан на Литекс" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 3 August 2014.
  7. ^ Капитанът на Литекс подписа с турски отбор
  8. ^ Страхил Попов с важен гол за Касъмпаша
  9. ^ "Националите тренираха в пълен състав, "лъвовете" ще тренират и преди мача с Беларус" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 4 March 2014.
  10. ^ "Bulgaria vs. Canada 1-1". flashscore.com. 23 May 2014.
  11. ^ "Ново начало? Хърватия ни развинти за 3:0" (in Bulgarian). news7.bg. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  12. ^ Страхил Попов изпревари едни от най-големите европейски звезди в Лигата на нациите
  13. ^ Popov Stats
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.