Kolev, Ivan (soccer player)

Ivan Kolev is a pupil of the Sportist club. Since 1947, he played for the main team. In 1949 he moved to the Air Force club from Sofia . The following year he became a player in the local CSKA , but did not spend a year there, after which he returned to the Air Force. In 1952, for the second time he became a player in CSKA ^[1] . He played for this club until 1967, winning 11 Bulgarian championships and four country cups . On October 21, 1956, Kolev scored the first goal of the Bulgarian clubs in Eurocups, hitting the Dynamo goal in Bucharest at the 12th minute of the European Cup meeting ^[2] ; moreover, in the same game he made a hat-trick , the first for the Bulgarians in international club tournaments ^[3] . In 1960, Ivan received the title " Honored Master of Sports ", and in 1956 and 1962 he was recognized as the best football player in Bulgaria ^[3] . In the same period, it was mentioned four times in polls for the Golden Ball : in 1956 it took ninth place, in 1958 it became 19th, in 1959 13th, and in 1960 it took 16th place. In 1967, Kolev left CSKA, moving to the club " Sliven ", where he completed his career in 1969. In total, the striker spent 325 matches in the championship of Bulgaria and scored 95 goals, in European competitions he played 29 matches and scored 7 goals ^[1] . Kolev’s long career was not even prevented by the diagnosis - congenital heart disease ^[3] .

As part of Bulgaria, Kolev debuted on May 18, 1952 with Poland . In his second game for the national team, Ivan scored a goal that brought a draw with the Hungarian team . In the same year he went to the Olympic Games , where his team lost the USSR national team in the first game; while Kolev in extra time at the 95th minute scored the first goal in the meeting, but then the Soviet players scored two goals and won ^[4] . In 1956, he went to his second Olympics . In the first game of the tournament, Kolev made a “double”, and his team defeated the UK team with a score of 6: 1 ^[5] . In the semifinals, Bulgaria met again in the USSR national team. It is curious that the match again reached extra time, moreover, Kolev, like four years ago at the 95th minute of the meeting, opened an account, but then the Soviet players scored twice and did not let Bulgaria into the final ^[6] . In the match for third place, Bulgaria defeated India and won bronze medals.

In 1960, Kolev went to his third Olympics . There he played only one meeting, with Egypt ^[7] , out of three held by the national team that flew out after the group stage. In 1962, Bulgaria, for the first time in its history, selected for the World Cup . But the tournament was unsuccessful for the team: the team took last place in the group, gaining only one point, with a goal difference of 1-7. Kolev participated in all three matches. Four years later, he went to his last major tournament, the World Cup in England . Here, the Bulgarians performed even worse, losing all three games. Kolev participated in two of them. The match, played on July 20, 1966 with the national team of Hungary (1: 3), was the last for Ivan in a T-shirt of the national team. In total, he played for the national team for 14 years, having spent 75 matches and scoring 25 goals.

Team

• Champion of Bulgaria (11): 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1966
• Bulgarian Cup Winner (4): 1954, 1955, 1961, 1965

Personal

• Soccer Player of the Year in Bulgaria : 1956, 1962
• Honored Master of Sports of Bulgaria: 1960

• Matches Koleva for the national team of Bulgaria
• Profile at footballplayers.ru
• Profile at sports-reference.com