Velizar Popov
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Velizar Emilov Popov | ||
| Date of birth | 7 February 1976 | ||
| Place of birth | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | UEFA PRO Head Coach | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1995–1996 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | ||
| 1996–1998 | Hebar Pazardzhik | ||
| 1998–1999 | Spartak Plovdiv | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1999–2002 | Spartak Plovdiv (youth coach) | ||
| 2002–2007 | Cherno More (youth coach) | ||
| 2007–2009 | Cherno More (assistant manager) | ||
| 2009–2010 | Cherno More | ||
| 2010–2011 | FC Liberika | ||
| 2011–2012 | Costuleni | ||
| 2012–2013 | New Radiant SC | ||
| 2013–2014 | Sur Club | ||
| 2014 | Suphanburi | ||
| 2015 | Maldives | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Velizar Popov (Bulgarian: Велизар Попов; born 7 February 1976) is a former Bulgarian football player and current UEFA PRO Licensed Head Coach.
In his career as a player he has played for Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Hebar Pazardzhik and Spartak Plovdiv.
Coaching career
Cherno More
Velizar Popov had been appointed on 16 September 2009 as the manager of Cherno More Varna to replace Nikola Spasov after two years of working as his assistant manager.
He made his debut as a football manager in the Bulgarian A PFG on September 20, 2009 in a match against Minyor Pernik. The youngest manager in the Bulgarian League led Cherno More in 36 appearances for the A PFG and 3 matches of the Bulgarian Cup. Velizar remains in history as the coach who reached the most expressive win of Cherno More against the leader in Bulgarian Championship (Levski Sofia). In December 2009 the sailors defeated the blue team with 4-1 in the Bulgarian Cup. In June 2010 Velizar Popov attracted in PFC Cherno more one of Brazilian superstar Mário Jardel, who was the most famous name ever having played in the Bulgarian league.
In October 2010 Velizar Popov left Bulgarian PFC Cherno More and moved to Danish Team Liberika Horsens, with which he won promotion in 2011. For the Season 2011-2012 Velizar Popov lead Moldovan FC Costuleni which play in the Premier League Moldova.
New Radiant
In January 2013 Velizar Popov headed the Maldivian champion New Radiant SC and won the Maldivian championship with a 100% winning record, the best score ever He also won the Maldivian FA Cup and the Supercup Milo Charity Shields,making the treble.This was the third time New Radiant won the league while the very first time a club has confirmed the league title with one round yet to play and with a 100% winning record. New Radiant broke the maximum league points record of 53 points set by VB Sports in 2010 by taking the Blues league points to 57, becoming the first team in history to finish off the league with a 100 percent record. New Radiant won all 19 matches they played in this years league, scoring an outstanding 73 goals in the process and conceded only 5 goals. In the Asian AFC Cup Popov got to impressive results for the first time in the history of Maldivian football. The team scored the biggest win ever in the AFC Cup 7–0 against Indonesian team Persibo. New Radiant finished on the top of the group stage of this year's AFC cup with the best attacking record of 20 goals in 6 games and second best defensive record of the tournament receiving 4 goals in 6 games. The club won the group with 15 points from 6 games —the best score ever in Maldivian football history— and qualified for the quarterfinals for the second time in the history of Maldives football winning Selangor (Malaysia) 2-0 after extra time.Velizar Popov won 2013 Maldives Haveeru Awards - Best Coach of the year award after guiding the blues to Charity Shield, Dhivehi League and FA Cup success with a 100% winning record leading the team to AFC Cup Quarter finals and also The Special Excellence Award of New Radiant SC for the historical season winning all domestic titles with 100% record.
Sur Sports Club - Oman
Just two days after winning the FA Cup for historic treble with New Radiant SC Velizar Popov left the Maldive champion after a great season led the islanders to take on former champion of Oman- Sur Sports Club on October 7 signing a one-year contract until the end of the season 2013 / 2014 .Popov debut in one of the most attractive derby matches in Omani League defeating local rivals Al Oruba 3-0.Just for 3 months Velizar Popov managed to climb Sur Club from 10 to 3 position in the standings and registering the best attack in the league.As a consequence,for the first time in the history of the club five players from Sur Club are already part of the Olympic national team of Oman.
Suphanburi FC Thailand
For the season 2014 Velizar Popov had been appointed as a new head coach of Suphanburi FC at Thailand.Currently they are playing in the Thai Premier League.Popov lead the team to the 6th position from 20 teams in the final league table for the season 2014 and lead Suphanburi FC to their first semi final in FA Cup ever in the history of the club.
Maldives national football team
In January 2015, Popov was unveiled as the new head coach of Maldives national team, in a ceremony held before the kick off of POMIS Cup Final.Velizar Popov has been appointed head coach of the Maldives national team, returning to the country where he led New Radiant to an unprecedented domestic treble in 2013.Maziya coach Ismail Mehfooz and former national team captain Assad Abdul Ghanee are the assistant coaches and Aslam Abdul Raheem is the goal keeper trainer.Ahmed Shakeeb remained as team's physician while New Radiant's long term serving kit manager Abdul Sattar is the new kit official.Popov is a popular figure among Maldivian football players and supporters.The 38-year-old Bulgarian oversaw a league campaign that ended with New Radiant making history as the first team to take the Dhivehi League title with a 100% record winning Dhivehi League,FA Cup and Charity Shield Super Cup.He also lead New Radiant to the quarter finals of AFC Cup in 2013 with the best attacking record in the group stage that includes a local club's biggest away win in an international tournament. New Radiant beat Indonesia's Persibo by 7–0 in Solo, Indonesia.Popov embarks on his first foray into national team coaching having had spells in Oman with Sur and in Thailand with Suphanburi and takes over the Maldives managerial reigns from Croatian coach Drago Mamic. Popov was very close to making one of the biggest surprises ever in the Asian football in the world cup qualifiers against Qatar.The favourite Qatar needed 9 minutes of added time to beat the Maldives in a World Cup qualifier with the lone goal coming in the ninth minute of added time,even though there was only supposed to be eight minutes of added time.In the Indian Ocean Islands Games Maldives with Popov won their first match ever in this competition after 3 participations so far beating the old rival Seychelles 2:1.On 12 August 2015, Popov resigned as the Maldives national football team coach. National team captain Ali Ashfaq ‘Dhagandey’ and keeper Imran Mohamed had criticized FAM following Popov’s decision to resign.
Managerial statistics
- As of 5 October 2013
| Team | Nat | From | To | Competition | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| New Radiant SC |  |
10 January 2013 | October 5 | Dhivehi League | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 5 | +68 | 100.00 |
| Maldives FA Cup | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 100.00 | ||||
| Asia AFC Cup | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 16 | +8 | 66.67 | ||||
| Maldivian FA Charity Shield | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 100.00 | ||||
| Total | 32 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 104 | 22 | +82 | 90.63 | ||||
Honours & Awards
2013 Dhivehi League winner 2013 FA cup winner 2013 Charity Shield Super Cup winner 2013 Maldives Haveeru Awards - Best Coach of the year award winner 2013 The Special Excellence Award of New Radiant SC for the historical season winning all domestic titles with 100% record 2013 AFC Cup group stage winner with the best attacking record and qualified for the AFC Cup quarterfinals 2011 FC Liberika -Horsens, Denmark- Promotion Won 2008 Bulgarian Cup Runner-up 2005, 2006 The Best Youth Coach-BFU Varna
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