HRISTO STOICHKOV

TEAMS PLAYED FOR

DC United (USA): 2003
Chicago Fire (USA): 2000 – 2002
Kashiwa Reysol (Japan): 1998 - 1999
Al-Nassr (Saudi Arabia): 1998
CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria): 1998
FC Barcelona (Spain): 1996 – 1998
Parma (Italy): 1995 – 1996
FC Barcelona (Italy): 1990 – 1995
CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria): 1984 – 1990
                                  Hebros Harmanli (Bulgaria): 1982 - 1984

BIO

Hristo Stoichkov was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on February 8, 1966. According to his mother, Hristo was born with a soccer ball. His father was the goalkeeper for local team and when Hristo was little he would be a ball boy at his father’s games. At the age of 12 he started playing for his first team, Hebros where his talent was noticed by the scouts from Bulgaria’s largest team, CSKA.

CLUB CAREER

Hristo Stoichkov, was probably the most valuable international purchase made by MLS and Chicago Fire. When it was announced that Stoichkov will be joining the team, people immediately remembered another international star, Lotar Mateus who signed with New York Metrostars just to earn money and never cared about playing and contributing to the team.
Forget about the fact the Hristo was the best player in the world. Forget about numerous trophies that he has earned in his career. Everywhere he went, Stoichkov would bring two of the most important things in his life: immeasurable love for the beautiful game and never-say-die attitude towards his game and work ethic.
While playing for CSKA, Hristo became a national hero winning national Cup and title as well as winning the Golden Boot, awarded to a European player who scored the most goals. While playing against Barcelona in a European Cup, he impressed so much by scoring a hat-trick that Johan Cruyff, who was coaching Barca at that time, demanded the team to sign the young Bulgarian.
In 1990 Stoichkov signed a contract with FC Barcelona worth two million pounds. While at Barcelona he became one of the fan’s favorite players. Having scored over a 100 goals, Hristo won numerous titles with the team including Champions League and La Liga. The last, four times in a row.
Stoichkov played with dedication all his life and continued to do so late in his career in Saudi Arabia, Japan, Italy and the United States.

NATIONAL TEAM CAREER

During his time at Barcelona, Stoichkov was a shining star at the Bulgarian National Team. One of his amazing talents is to be able to surround himself with ordinary players and make them play around him like real stars. People saw this first hand at the 1994 World Cup in the US. He was able to direct a show, a beautiful performance of his team who wound up finishing third during the competition. This was his country’s highest achievement. As a result of his scoring ability, Stoichkov earned the Golden Boot of the tournament as the highest scoring player.
All together Stoichkov played in two World Cups, 1994 and 1998 as well as UEFA Euro Cup in 1996.
Stoichkov retired from the international competitions in 1999, having played 83 games and scoring 37 goals.

PERSONAL INFO

Stoichkov speaks 6 languages fluently: Bulgarian, Russian, Polish, English, Spanish and Italian. He owns children’s soccer schools in Barcelona and Chicago. Favorite actors – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stalone, Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts. Married to Marianna and they have two daughters, Christina and Michaela.

TITLES AND AWARDS

CSKA Sofia

Bulgarian League: 1987, 1989, 1990
Bulgarian Cup: 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989
Bulgarian Super Cup: 1989

FC Barcelona

Spanish League: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998
Spanish Super Cup: 1992, 1994, 1996
UEFA Champions League: 1992
European Super Cup: 1992, 1997
Copa del Rey: 1997
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1997

Al-Nassr

Asian Cup Winners Cup: 1998

Chicago Fire

US Open Cup: 2000

International

FIFA World Player of the Year: 1992
FIFA World Cup (Third Place): 1994
FIFA 100