Strahil Popov
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Strahil Venkov Popov[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 31 August 1990 | ||
| Place of birth | Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Right back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Pirin Blagoevgrad | |||
| Pirin 2001 | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2008–2016 | Litex Lovech | 138 | (6) |
| 2009 | → Lokomotiv Mezdra (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 2010 | → Montana (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2016–2020 | Kasımpaşa | 125 | (1) |
| 2020–2021 | Hatayspor | 57 | (0) |
| 2022 | Eyüpspor | 16 | (0) |
| 2022–2024 | Ümraniyespor | 46 | (2) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2008 | Bulgaria U19 | 3 | (0) |
| 2009–2012 | Bulgaria U21 | 3 | (0) |
| 2014–2021 | Bulgaria | 35 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 07:50, 1 June 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:29, 25 March 2021 (UTC) | |||
Strahil Popov (Bulgarian: Страхил Попов; born 31 August 1990) is a Bulgarian professional footballer. He mainly plays as a right back.
Popov began his professional career at Litex Lovech in 2008. After loan spells at Lokomotiv Mezdra and Montana he became a regular in their team, playing 159 total games and scoring 6 goals for Litex. He signed for Kasımpaşa in January 2016.
Popov is a Bulgaria international, having represented his country at under-19 and under-21 level. He made his senior international debut in May 2014, aged 23, in a friendly match against Canada.
Club career
[edit]Born in Blagoevgrad, Popov began his career playing for Pirin Blagoevgrad before departing for Pirin 2001.[2]
Litex Lovech
[edit]In 2008, Popov joined Litex Lovech.[3]
Lokomotiv Mezdra (loan)
[edit]On 9 July 2009, Popov joined Lokomotiv Mezdra on loan until December 2009.[4] He made his team début on 10 July, scoring goal in a 1–2 friendly loss against Sivasspor.
Montana (loan)
[edit]On 18 January 2010, Popov was loaned out to Montana for the rest of the season.[5] He made his competitive debut on 20 March in a 0–0 home league draw against Litex, coming on as a second-half substitute, and participated in only one more game to the end of the season.
Return to Litex
[edit]Popov returned to Litex at the end of the 2009–10 season. He played only three league games during a following campaign and became a regular first team player in the 2011–12 season. On 21 March 2012, Popov was sent off for the first time in his professional career in a 1–1 away draw against Beroe Stara Zagora.
On 21 July 2013, Popov scored his first goal for Litex, with a header, netting the third in a 4–1 home win over Neftochimic Burgas. He then scored the winning goal in Litex's 2–1 away win against Slavia Sofia on 7 December.
On 3 August 2014, Popov was announced as Litex's new club captain.[6] Six days later, he added his third goal for Litex against Botev Plovdiv in a 3–3 away draw.
Kasımpaşa
[edit]On 5 January 2016, he moved to the Turkish Süper Lig team Kasımpaşa for a reported fee of €750 000. He was given the number 90 jersey.[7]
On 27 October 2017, he scored his first league goal in a match against Göztepe.[8]
International career
[edit]After first being called up for a friendly match against Belarus in March 2014, but remaining an unused substitute,[9] Popov made his debut for the national side on 23 May 2014, in the 1–1 draw with Canada.[10] He played as a starter on 10 October 2015, in the 0–3 loss against Croatia in a Euro 2016 qualifier, remaining on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.[11]
On 13 October 2018, he provided two decisive assists in a 2–1 home win against Cyprus, in a match for the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. He became second top assistant with four assists in all over group in the competition.[12]
Statistics
[edit]Club
[edit]- As of 25 December 2019[13]
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | League | Season | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| Bulgaria | League | Bulgarian Cup | Europe | Other[a] | Total | ||||||||
| Litex Lovech | A Group | 2008–09 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | ||
| Lokomotiv Mezdra (loan) | 2009–10 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 0 | ||||
| Montana (loan) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||||
| Litex Lovech | 2010–11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | |||
| 2011–12 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 | |||
| 2012–13 | 27 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 0 | |||||
| 2013–14 | 37 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 40 | 2 | |||||
| 2014–15 | 31 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 39 | 3 | ||||
| 2015–16 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 23 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 138 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 159 | 6 | |||
| Turkey | League | Turkish Cup | Europe | Other[b] | Total | ||||||||
| Kasımpaşa | Süper Lig | 2015–16 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 13 | 0 | |||
| 2016–17 | 33 | 0 | 7 | 1 | – | – | 40 | 1 | |||||
| 2017–18 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 32 | 1 | |||||
| 2018–19 | 33 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 36 | 0 | |||||
| 2019–20 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 125 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 135 | 2 | |||
| Career statistics | 280 | 7 | 25 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 312 | 8 | |||
International
[edit]- As of 22 November 2018
| Team | Year | Tournament | Friendly | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Bulgaria | |||||||
| 2014 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| Total | 15 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 22 | 0 | |
| Career total | 21 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 29 | 0 | |
- ^ Includes Bulgarian Supercup matches.
- ^ Includes Turkish Super Cup matches.
Awards
[edit]Club
[edit]- Litex Lovech
- Bulgarian A PFG 2010/2011
- Bulgarian Cup – 2009
- Bulgarian Supercup 2010
Individual
[edit]- Best defender in A Group: 2015
References
[edit]- ^ "European Championship 2020: Booking List before Qualifying Round Matchday 10" (PDF). UEFA. 17 November 2019. p. 1. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ "Интервю със Страхил Попов от Литекс" (in Bulgarian). fmbulgaria.com.
- ^ "Stats Centre: Strahil Popov Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ "Литекс даде Страхил Попов на Локо (Мездра)" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 9 July 2009.
- ^ "Младежки национал от Литекс под наем в Монтана" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 18 January 2010.
- ^ "Страхил Попов е новият капитан на Литекс" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 3 August 2014.
- ^ Капитанът на Литекс подписа с турски отбор
- ^ Страхил Попов с важен гол за Касъмпаша
- ^ "Националите тренираха в пълен състав, "лъвовете" ще тренират и преди мача с Беларус" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 4 March 2014.
- ^ "Bulgaria vs. Canada 1-1". flashscore.com. 23 May 2014.
- ^ "Ново начало? Хърватия ни развинти за 3:0" (in Bulgarian). news7.bg. 10 October 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
- ^ Страхил Попов изпревари едни от най-големите европейски звезди в Лигата на нациите
- ^ Popov Stats
External links
[edit]- Strahil Popov at Soccerway
- 1990 births
- Footballers from Blagoevgrad
- Living people
- Bulgarian men's footballers
- Bulgaria men's youth international footballers
- Bulgaria men's under-21 international footballers
- Bulgaria men's international footballers
- Men's association football fullbacks
- Men's association football defenders
- FC Lovech players
- FC Lokomotiv Mezdra players
- FC Montana players
- Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers
- Hatayspor footballers
- Eyüpspor footballers
- Ümraniyespor footballers
- First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players
- Süper Lig players
- TFF 1. Lig players
- Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers
- Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
- Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey