Bozhidar Mitrev (Bulgarian: Божидар Митрев; born 31 March 1987 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Bozhidar Mitrev
Personal information
Full name Bozhidar Konstantinov Mitrev
Date of birth (1987-03-31) 31 March 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth Sofia, Bulgaria
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 12 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
Levski Sofia (goalkeepers coach)
Youth career
Levski Sofia
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2012 Levski Sofia 31 (0)
2013–2015 Lokomotiv Sofia 63 (0)
2015–2017 Sheriff Tiraspol 7 (0)
2017–2019 Levski Sofia 39 (0)
2019–2020 Voluntari 15 (0)
2020 Septemvri Sofia 1 (0)
2021 Lokomotiv Sofia 8 (0)
Total 164 (0)
International career
2015–2017 Bulgaria 9 (0)
Managerial career
2021–2022 Vitosha 13 (goalkeepers coach)
2022–2023 Levski Sofia II (goalkeepers coach)
2023– Levski Sofia (goalkeepers coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 December 2020
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Mitrev began his career at Levski Sofia. In early 2013 he moved to Lokomotiv Sofia, where he made more than 60 league appearances, before moving to Moldovan National Division club Sheriff Tiraspol in 2015. In early 2017 Mitrev re-signed for Levski.

Career edit

Levski Sofia edit

Mitrev came through the youth ranks at Levski Sofia. For 2006–07 season he was promoted to the first squad as third choice behind Georgi Petkov and Nikolay Mihaylov. He made his debut in a 3–0 home loss against Werder Bremen in the group stage of the Champions League on 31 October 2006, replacing Nikolay Mihaylov at half-time. On 4 November, he started for first time, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 home league win over Beroe Stara Zagora. On 5 December, Mitrev played in Levski's 2–0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, making several excellent saves, including one reaction save from a Michael Essien header.[2] However, he received criticism from the Chelsea faithful for a bad challenge on Didier Drogba, clearly fouling him. Chelsea were not offered a penalty, however Drogba accepted the apologies of the goalkeeper. Mitrev collected his first A Group title winner's medal at the end of the 2006–07 season, playing 12 matches in all competitions.

On 10 March 2009, Mitrev scored 90-meters goal for the second team of Levski in a game against Vihren Sandanski.[3] On 9 May 2009, he kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 win in the Eternal derby of Bulgarian football against CSKA Sofia. Mitrev finished the season with 7 appearances in the league, as Levski clinched the A Group.

On 17 December 2009, Mitrev played in a 1–0 Europa League away win over Lazio at Stadio Olimpico.[4]

Mitrev left Levski on 1 July 2012 after his contract with the club expired. He spent six seasons of his career with Levski, mainly as a backup. He played 52 competitive games in all competitions.

Lokomotiv Sofia edit

After six months without a club, Mitrev joined Lokomotiv Sofia on 28 December 2012.[5] He made his debut in a 2–0 away loss against Lokomotiv Plovdiv on 2 March 2013. Mitrev left the team from the Nadezhda district after the 2014/2015 A PFG season when it was administratively relegated to the V group, as it was unable to obtain a license for professional football due to failing to meet the deadlines to pay for or provide sufficient guarantees regarding its debts.

Sheriff Tiraspol edit

In June 2015, Mitrev moved abroad for the first time, joining Moldovan club Sheriff Tiraspol.[6]

Return to Levski edit

In March 2017, Mitrev was signed by Levski urgently since the starter Bojan Jorgacevic will be unavailable for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury and the other two goalkeepers being too young and inexperienced. Mitrev signed for 1,5 years.[7] At the beginning of 2017–18 season, he was appointed as the captain of the team.

Voluntari edit

On 27 February 2019, Mitrev signed with Romanian club FC Voluntari until the end of the season with an option for extension.[8]

International career edit

On 7 February 2015, Mitrev made his first appearance for Bulgaria, in the 0–0 draw with Romania in a non-official friendly match, playing the first 45 minutes.[9] He earned his first cap on 8 June 2015, in the 0:4 loss against Turkey in another exhibition game, being between the sticks for the entire duration of the match.[10] His official debut followed a few days after, keeping a clean sheet the whole match in a 0–1 away win against Malta, for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Career statistics edit

As of 17 July 2021
Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Levski Sofia 2006–07 A Group 7 0 3 0 2 0 12 0
2007–08 2 0 2 0 0 0 4 0
2008–09 7 0 1 0 0 0 8 0
2009–10 7 0 2 0 2 0 11 0
2010–11 7 0 1 0 6 0 14 0
2011–12 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 0
Total 31 0 11 0 10 0 52 0
Lokomotiv Sofia 2012–13 A Group 11 0 4 0 15 0
2013–14 20 0 7 0 27 0
2014–15 32 0 1 0 33 0
Total 63 0 12 0 0 0 75 0
Sheriff Tiraspol 2015–16 Moldovan National Division 3 0 1 0 2 0 6 0
2016–17 4 0 0 0 2 0 6 0
Total 7 0 1 0 4 0 12 0
Levski Sofia 2016–17 First League 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
2017–18 32 0 6 0 4 0 42 0
2018–19 5 0 1 0 2 0 8 0
Total 39 0 7 0 6 0 52 0
Voluntari 2018–19 Liga I 6 0 0 0 6 0
2019–20 8 0 2 0 10 0
Total 14 0 2 0 0 0 16 0
Septemvri 2020–21 Second League 1 0 1 0 2 0
Lokomotiv Sofia 2020–21 8 0 0 0 8 0
Career totals 163 0 34 0 20 0 217 0

Honours edit

Levski Sofia
Sheriff Tiraspol
Individual

Best goalkeeper in the Bulgarian First League - 2017.[11]

References edit

  1. ^ "Профил на Божидар Митрев" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Chelsea 2-0 Levski Sofia". bbc.co.uk. 5 December 2006.
  3. ^ "Божидар Митрев с гол за дубъла на Левски" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 10 March 2009.
  4. ^ "Lazio 0-1 Levski Sofia". UEFA. 17 December 2009.
  5. ^ "Божидар Митрев премина в Локомотив София" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 28 December 2012. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012.
  6. ^ "Канарчетата все по-близо до Дани Генов" (in Bulgarian). 7sport.net. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Божидар Митрев подписа с ЛЕВСКИ за година и половина" (in Bulgarian). levski.bg. 1 March 2017. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Bozhidar Mitrev a semnat cu FC Voluntari!" (in Romanian). voluntarifc.ro. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  9. ^ "Romania vs. Bulgaria 0:0". flashscore.com. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  10. ^ "Turkey vs. Bulgaria 4:0 (MatchCast)". topsport.bg. 8 June 2015. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  11. ^ Yotova, Ralitsa (7 January 2018). "Ивелин Попов е "Футболист на годината" за трети пореден път!" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

External links edit