Georgi Kostadinov (footballer)

Georgi Kostadinov (Bulgarian: Георги Костадинов; born 7 September 1990) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Russian Premier League club Arsenal Tula and the Bulgarian national team.[1][2]

Georgi Kostadinov
Kostadinov with Arsenal Tula in 2018
Personal information
Full name Georgi Georgiev Kostadinov
Date of birth (1990-09-07) 7 September 1990
Place of birth Tsarevo, Bulgaria
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Central midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Arsenal Tula
Number 70
Youth career
2004–2008 Naftex Burgas
2008–2009 Chernomorets Burgas
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2008 Naftex Burgas 10 (0)
2009–2011 Pomorie 53 (4)
2012–2013 Ludogorets Razgrad 12 (2)
2013–2015 Beroe Stara Zagora 49 (8)
2015–2017 Levski Sofia 49 (8)
2017–2018 Maccabi Haifa 24 (2)
2018– Arsenal Tula 63 (1)
National team‡
2011–2012 Bulgaria U21 6 (1)
2016– Bulgaria 25 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 December 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 6 September 2020

Career

Early career

Born in Tsarevo, Kostadinov began his career with Naftex Burgas. In 2007–08, he helped Naftex win the Bulgarian U19 Championship, scoring the only goal in the final against CSKA Sofia.[3]

In June 2009, Kostadinov joined Pomorie.

Ludogorets

On 16 January 2012, Kostadinov signed for Ludogorets Razgrad.[4] His A Group debut was on 18 March, as a substitute against Svetkavitsa, replacing Stanislav Genchev in the 78th minute. Six minutes later he scored his first goal, netting the fourth in a 5–0 victory.

Kostadinov won two Bulgarian League titles, a Bulgarian Cup and the Bulgarian Supercup for Ludogorets, but struggled to hold down a place in the first team, totalling 13 games and two goals.

Beroe

On 19 August 2013, Kostadinov joined Beroe Stara Zagora as a free agent.[5] He signed a two-year contract with the club and was given the number 70 shirt. Kostadinov made his debut in the same day in a 0–0 home draw against Cherno More, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute for Élio Martins.[6] He scored his first Beroe goal on 9 March 2014, in a 3–1 away win over Chernomorets Burgas. Kostadinov spent two seasons with the club, where he scored 8 goals in 49 league matches.

Levski Sofia
Kostadinov with Levski Sofia in 2016

After his contract with Beroe expired, Kostadinov joined Levski Sofia. On 3 July 2015, he signed a two-year contract with Levski.[7] His competitive debut came against Botev Plovdiv in the opening game of the Bulgarian League season on 18 July, and scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 away draw.[8]

After two successful individual campaigns with Levski, he left the club at the end of his contract in May 2017.[9]

Maccabi Haifa

On 22 June 2017, Kostadinov signed as a free agent for Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Haifa on a two-year contract.[10] He made his competitive debut for the club on 29 July, playing full 90 minutes of a 2017–18 Toto Cup Al match against Bnei Sakhnin at Acre Municipal Stadium; Maccabi won 4–1. Kostadinov played his first Israeli Premier League match on the opening day of the season during their 2–0 away defeat against Bnei Yehuda on 21 August.

On 16 September 2017, Kostadinov scored his first goals in a 4–2 home win over Hapoel Ra'anana.[11] He scored his second Maccabi goal on 5 May 2018 in a 1–1 draw at Bnei Sakhnin.[12]

Arsenal Tula

On 1 July 2018, Kostadinov joined Russian Premier League club Arsenal Tula on a 2+1-year contract, for an undisclosed fee reported to be €200,000.[13] On 29 July, he made his competitive debut in their season opener against Dynamo Moscow by replacing Kantemir Berkhamov for the final 32 minutes of a 0–0 home draw. On 5 October 2018, he scored his first Russian Premier League goal in a 1–1 home draw against FC Ufa.

International career

He was called up to the senior Bulgaria squad by Ivaylo Petev for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg in September 2016.[14] Kostadinov earned his first cap on 7 October under new manager Petar Hubchev, playing the full 90 minutes in the 1–4 away loss against France in another qualification match for the 2018 World Cup.[15]

On 31 August 2017, Kostadinov scored his second international goal in a 3–2 home win against Sweden.[16]

International goals
Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first.[17]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.9 June 2017Borisov Arena, Borisov, Belarus Belarus1–21–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.31 August 2017Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria Sweden2–13–22018 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.3 September 2017Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands Netherlands1–21–32018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Career statistics

Club
As of 1 July 2020
Club Season League Cup[lower-alpha 1] Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Naftex Burgas 2008–09 B Group 10000—100
Chernomorets Pomorie 2009–10 24130—271
2010–11 18210—192
2011–12 11100—111
Total 53440—574
Ludogorets Razgrad 2011–12 A Group 5200—52
2012–13 60100070
2013–14 10000010
Total 1221000132
Beroe Stara Zagora 2013–14 A Group 1960000196
2014–15 30210—312
Total 4981000508
Levski Sofia 2015–16 A Group 29420—314
2016–17 First League 2042020244
Total 4984020558
Maccabi Haifa 2017–18 Israeli Premier League 24280—322
Arsenal Tula 2018–19 Russian Premier League 26150—311
2019–20 2101120241
Total 4716120552
Career total 244252414027226
  1. Includes Bulgarian Cup, Bulgarian Supercup, Israel State Cup, Toto Cup and Israel Super Cup matches.

International
As of match played 06 September 2020[18]
Bulgaria national team
YearAppsGoals
201620
201763
201880
201970
202020
Total253

Honours

Club
Ludogorets

References
  1. "Stats Centre: Georgi Kostadinov Facts". guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-07-04.
  2. "Georgi Kostadinov Facts". footballdatabase.eu.
  3. "Старшата на Нафтекс взе титлата след 1:0 над ЦСКА" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 24 June 2008.
  4. "Още един младежки национал подписа с Лудогорец" (in Bulgarian). ludogorets.com. 16 January 2012.
  5. "Берое привлече Георги Костадинов" (in Bulgarian). beroe.bg. 19 August 2013.
  6. "Beroe vs. Cherno More". soccerway.com. 19 August 2013.
  7. "Георги Костадинов подписа с Левски за две години" (in Bulgarian). levski.bg. 3 July 2015.
  8. "Botev Plovdiv vs. Levski Sofia" (in Bulgarian). soccerway.com. 18 July 2015.
  9. ""Левски" ще се раздели с Де Нойер, Аниете, Костадинов и Лукин" (in Bulgarian). dnevnik.bg. 13 June 2017.
  10. "Georgi Kostadinov signs a contract with Maccabi Haifa". scouting-team.com. 22 June 2017.
  11. "Maccabi Haifa vs. Hapoel Ra'anana". soccerway.com. 16 September 2017.
  12. "Bnei Sakhnin vs. Maccabi Haifa". soccerway.com. 5 May 2018.
  13. "Георгий Костадинов – в "Арсенале"" (in Russian). arsenaltula.ru. 1 July 2018.
  14. "Bulgaria - Luxembourg" (PDF). bfunion.bg. 1 September 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  15. "France vs. Bulgaria 4:1". flashscore.com. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  16. Хубчев преобрази България, натрихме ноcа на шведите
  17. "Kostadinov, Georgi". National Football Teams. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  18. Kostadinov, Georgi at National-Football-Teams.com
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