Georgi Iliev (footballer, born 1981)

Georgi Iliev (Bulgarian: Георги Илиев; 5 September 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 2000 to 2019, notably for Cherno More Varna, where he made over 350 appearances for the club in all competitions.[2] Iliev is the second highest scorer for Cherno More in the Bulgarian top league with 71 goals.

Georgi Iliev
Personal information
Full name Georgi Iliev Rusev
Date of birth (1981-09-05) 5 September 1981
Place of birth Varna, Bulgaria
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Position(s) Central midfielder
Youth career
1990–1999 Cherno More
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2003 Cherno More 72 (13)
2000 → Svetkavitsa (loan) 5 (0)
2003–2005 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 67 (8)
2006–2008 CSKA Sofia 57 (3)
2008–2013 Cherno More 135 (35)
2014–2015 Shijiazhuang Ever Bright 37 (13)
2016–2019 Cherno More 111 (23)
2019 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 19 (4)
Total 503 (99)
National team
2004–2019 Bulgaria 24 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

His playing career included also spells at Lokomotiv Plovdiv and CSKA Sofia. Iliev holds the record for the highest number of appearances in the Bulgarian top league, with 461 – 318 for Cherno More, 86 for Lokomotiv and 57 for CSKA.[3] He also gained 24 Bulgaria caps between 2004 and 2019.

Club career

Cherno More

Born in Varna, Iliev was taken on by Cherno More Varna at an early age and signed a professional contract in July 2000. His debut came on 14 October 2000 at Hristo Botev Stadium ending in a 1–0 defeat to Botev Plovdiv. On 21 October, he went on to score his first competitive goal for Cherno More against Litex Lovech on his 2nd appearance for the club. For three years in Cherno More, Iliev earned 72 appearances playing in the A PFG, scored 13 goals.[4]

Lokomotiv Plovdiv

In 2003, Iliev was transferred to Lokomotiv Plovdiv. He made his first appearance in the 4–1 win over Marek Dupnitsa on 16 August 2003. In his first season at Lokomotiv, they won their first ever A PFG championship in the 2003–04. On 31 July 2004, Iliev helped Lokomotiv to win the Bulgarian Supercup and he made his debut for the Bulgarian national side under coach Hristo Stoichkov in the same year. On 29 September 2005, he scored his first ever European goals for Lokomotiv, in a 1–2 loss against Bolton Wanderers of the UEFA Cup.[5]

CSKA Sofia

On 16 December 2005, CSKA Sofia signed Georgi Iliev to a three-year deal. On 5 March 2006, he made his competitive debut for CSKA in a 1–0 victory over Botev Plovdiv. During the 2006–07 season Iliev netted his first CSKA goal. He scored on 5 August 2006 in a 2–0 away victory over Cherno More. On 18 April 2007, Georgi scored CSKA's second in a 2–0 home win against Botev Plovdiv. Iliev netted CSKA's only and his third goal in a 1–0 win against Beroe Stara Zagora on 7 October 2007. With CSKA he was a Champion of Bulgaria for 2008 and holder of Bulgarian Cup for 2006.

Return to Cherno More
Iliev playing for Cherno More in 2011

In June 2008, Iliev made a comeback for his first team Cherno More. On 2 October 2008, Georgi scored the 2nd goal for the Sailors in the UEFA Cup match against VfB Stuttgart in the away 2–2 draw at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.[6] Iliev took over the captaincy of Cherno More when Aleksandar Aleksandrov was transferred to Levski Sofia in 2009. On 26 October 2009, he made his 100th league appearance for Cherno more in a 1–1 draw against Slavia Sofia, scoring the only goal. On 18 April 2012, Iliev scored a hat-trick in the 7–1 win over Kaliakra Kavarna.[7]

Shijiazhuang Yongchang

Iliev signed with Chinese side Shijiazhuang Yongchang on 6 January 2014 on a two-year deal for a reported fee of €100,000.[8] He finished 2014 season in the China League One as the club's top scorer with 9 goals, helping his team to gain promotion to the Chinese Super League for first time in club's history. On 5 April 2015 he scored his first goal for Shijiazhuang in Chinese Super League in a 1-2 away loss to Jiangsu Sainty.[9]

Second return to Cherno More

Iliev returned for his third stint with his hometown club in 2016. In his 300th match [10] for Cherno More in the country's top flight he scored twice against Dunav Ruse on October 26, 2018 to become the second highest scoring player in the history of Cherno More. [11] The game also marked Iliev's 423rd appearance in First Professional Football League, surpassing another Cherno More legend, Todor Marev, as the footballer with the 4th highest number of appearances in the league's history.

Release from Cherno More and return to Lokomotiv Plovdiv

Iliev, along with five other senior players, was omitted from the team squad for Cherno More's away game against eventual champions Ludogorets on the last day of the 2018-19 season.[12][13] After the match, which Ludogorets won 4-1 to become Bulgarian champions for the eight consecutive year, Cherno More's manager Ilian Iliev confirmed that the players have been released[14] after failing a polygraph test[15][16] concerning their conduct in the 1-3 defeat against title-hopefuls CSKA Sofia on May 4 in Varna. The manager claimed undertaking the test was "unpleasant, but voluntary."[17] Georgi Iliev strongly contested the accusations stemming from the results, calling them "a filthy lie", and insisting on his and his colleagues' innocence.[18][19] The six players undertook second polygraph test, which they organized and which results showed them in the clear.[20] The legitimacy of the test and the company that took it were widely questioned in Bulgarian media.[21][22][23]
On May 12 2019, Georgi Iliev signed a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Plovdiv,[24] where he was part of the championship winning team in 2003-2004. In an emotional debut at Ticha Stadium in the first round of the 2019-2020 season against former club Cherno More Varna, Iliev provided an assist, but ultimately Cherno More prevailed 3-1.[25]

International career

An occasional member of the Under 21 team, Iliev marked his international début under Hristo Stoichkov on 29 November 2004 in a friendly game against Egypt. His first goal for Bulgaria came against Iceland on 7 September 2005. He has so far been capped 24 times for Bulgaria.[26]

Career statistics

Club
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Cherno More 1999–00 0000––––00
Svetkavitsa (loan) 1999–00 5000––––50
Cherno More 2000–01 18232––––214
2001–02 36820––––388
2002–03 18310––––193
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2003–04 27150––––321
2004–05 27540201[lower-alpha 1]0345
2005–06 1321031––173
CSKA Sofia 13020––––150
2006–07 28230501[lower-alpha 2]0372
2007–08 1610000––161
Cherno More 2008–09 2031051––264
2009–10 1642240––226
2010–11 26920––––289
2011–12 281010––––2910
2012–13 29720––––317
2013–14 16220––––182
Shijiazhuang Yongchang 2014 2610––––––2610
2015 11300––––113
Cherno More 2015–16 144––––––144
2016–17 30320––––323
2017–18 35600––1[lower-alpha 3]0366
2018–19 321030––––3510
Lokomotiv Plovdiv 2019–20 19420401[lower-alpha 4]0264
Career totals 5039938423240568105
  1. 2004 Bulgarian Supercup
  2. 2006 Bulgarian Supercup
  3. Play-off for Europa League
  4. 2019 Bulgarian Supercup

International

International goals
Scores and results lists Bulgaria's goals first
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
17 September 2005Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria Iceland2–23–22006 World Cup qualification
24 June 2013Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1–02–1Friendly

Honours

Club
Lokomotiv Plovdiv
CSKA Sofia

References
  1. "Състав на "Черно море" за сезон 2016/2017" (in Bulgarian). Cherno More official website. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  2. "Georgi Iliev Facts". Footballdatabase.eu.
  3. "Георги Илиев стана №1 в историята по изиграни мачове" (in Bulgarian). 24chasa.bg. 29 October 2019.
  4. "Stats Centre: Georgi Iliev Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
  5. "Lokо Plovdiv 1–2 Bolton (agg 2–4)". BBC.co.uk. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 29 September 2005.
  6. "Match details/line-up: VfB Stuttgart – Cherno More". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
  7. "Черно море размаза Калиакра със 7:1, каварненци гледат към "Б" група" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 18 April 2012.
  8. "Георги Илиев подписa с Шъдзяджуан" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 6 January 2014.
  9. "Article". 163.com (in Chinese). 5 March 2015.
  10. "Георги Илиев пред мач №300 за Черно море" (in Bulgarian). 22 October 2018.
  11. "CHE 3-2 DUN". 26 October 2018.
  12. "Черно море извади шестима за мача с Лудогорец, вижте причината" (in Bulgarian). 24 May 2019.
  13. "Черно море потегли за Разград без основни футболисти" (in Bulgarian). 24 May 2019.
  14. "Илиан Илиев: Тези, които не попаднаха в групата, вече няма да са част от отбора (видео)" (in Bulgarian). 24 May 2019.
  15. "Огромен скандал: играчите на Черно море подложени на полиграф и изгонени заради мача с ЦСКА-София" (in Bulgarian). 24 May 2019.
  16. "Играчите от Черно море аут заради съмнения, че са се продали на ЦСКА" (in Bulgarian). 24 May 2019.
  17. "Илиан Илиев призна за детектора на лъжата: Не ни беше приятно, но беше доброволно" (in Bulgarian). 27 May 2019.
  18. "Георги Илиев: Чист съм пред себе си и Господ" (in Bulgarian). 25 May 2019.
  19. "Георги Илиев: Опетниха името ми, но всичко е долна лъжа! Всички сме чисти (видео)" (in Bulgarian). 25 May 2019.
  20. https://www.sportal.bg/news.php?news=787265&team=18&champ=1
  21. https://www.segabg.com/node/70796
  22. https://nova.bg/news/view/2019/06/28/255216/%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B0-nova-%D0%B2-%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81-%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8-%D1%81-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%BB%D1%8A%D0%B6%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0
  23. https://www.sportal.bg/news.php?news=793346&team=18&champ=1
  24. https://www.sportal.bg/news.php?news=790338&team=9&champ=1
  25. https://www.sportal.bg/news.php?news=795584&team=18&champ=1
  26. "Georgi Iliev". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.


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