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 Kostadinov in 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Emil Lyubchov Kostadinov | ||
| Date of birth | (1967-08-12)12 August 1967 (age 58) | ||
| Place of birth | Sofia, Bulgaria | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker,winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1985–1990 | CSKA Sofia | 119 | (36) |
| 1990–1994 | Porto | 114 | (43) |
| 1995 | Deportivo La Coruña | 9 | (2) |
| 1995–1996 | Bayern Munich | 27 | (7) |
| 1996–1997 | Fenerbahçe | 25 | (11) |
| 1997 | UANL | 9 | (2) |
| 1998 | CSKA Sofia | 11 | (7) |
| 1998–1999 | Mainz 05 | 4 | (1) |
| Total | 322 | (114) | |
| International career | |||
| 1986–1988 | Bulgaria U21 | 23 | (8) |
| 1988–1998 | Bulgaria | 70 | (27) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Emil Lyubchov Kostadinov (Bulgarian:Емил Любчов Костадинов; born 12 August 1967) is a Bulgarian former professionalfootballer[1][2] who played as aforward and represented theBulgaria national team at twoWorld Cups.
Born inSofia, Kostadinov started his career inCSKA Sofia. There he formed a redoubtable trio withHristo Stoichkov andLuboslav Penev in the late 1980s, helping the team to win three times theBulgarian Championship title, three times theBulgarian Cup and reached the semi-final of theCup Winners' Cup.[3]
He played forFC Porto from 1990 to 1994, winning the Portuguese league twice, and becoming popular among Portuguese fans. He also played forDeportivo de La Coruña,Bayern Munich (winning theUEFA Cup with them in 1996 and scoring in the final itself),Fenerbahçe,Mainz 05, andUANL Tigres.
Kostadinov played in the1985 FIFA World Youth Championship scoring two goals. He was a member of theBulgaria national team from 1988 to 1998. He earned 70caps in which he scored 27 goals.
Kostadinov gained international prominence after scoring two goals in the last matchday of the European1994 World Cup qualification, against theFrance national team. He scored his second goal in the last second of the match with a shot with his right foot from inside the French penalty area that sent the ball into the roof of the net. That match-winning goal enabledBulgaria to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals at the expense of France.
After helping Bulgaria qualify for the1994 World Cup, he was a part of the squad that reached the semi-finals in the proper tournament, again in partnership withHristo Stoichkov. He played all seven games but did not score. During the game against Italy in the semi-final, Kostadinov was fouled byAlessandro Costacurta in the penalty area, who later committed a handball offence there as well. Both actions were not given penalties, which sparked a lot of controversy, as Bulgarians accused the French refereeJoël Quiniou of purposefully ignoring the situations to get "revenge" for thedecisive qualifying game between Bulgaria and France at theParc des Princes, which saw the former qualifying to the World Cup at the expense of the latter.
He also played at theEuro 96 and the1998 World Cup, both tournaments in which Bulgaria did not reach the second round. He scored one (and actually the only) goal in the1998 World Cup againstSpain in the group stages. He retired before thequalifying campaign for Euro 2000.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 December 1988 | Sharjah Stadium,Sharjah, United Arab Emirates |  United Arab Emirates | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly match |
| 2 | 21 February 1989 | Vasil Levski National Stadium,Sofia, Bulgaria |  Soviet Union | 1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly match |
| 3 | 5 May 1990 | Estádio Brinco de Ouro da Princesa,Campinas, Brazil |  Brazil | 1–1 | 1–2 | Friendly match |
| 4 | 27 March 1991 | Hampden Park,Glasgow, Scotland |  Scotland | 1–1 | 1–1 | Euro 1992 qualifier |
| 5 | 1 May 1991 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Switzerland | 1–0 | 2–3 | Euro 1992 qualifier |
| 6 | 25 September 1991 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Italy | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly match |
| 7 | 28 April 1992 | Wankdorf Stadium,Bern, Switzerland | Switzerland | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly match |
| 8 | 14 May 1992 | Olympiastadion,Helsinki, Finland |  Finland | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1994 World Cup qualifier |
| 9 | 3–0 | |||||
| 10 | 17 November 1993 | Parc des Princes,Paris, France |  France | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1994 World Cup qualifier |
| 11 | 2–1 | |||||
| 12 | 12 October 1994 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Georgia | 1–0 | 2–0 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 13 | 2–0 | |||||
| 14 | 16 November 1994 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Moldova | 4–1 | 4–1 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 15 | 14 December 1994 | Cardiff Arms Park,Cardiff, Wales |  Wales | 2–0 | 3–0 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 16 | 7 June 1995 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Germany | 3–2 | 3–2 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 17 | 7 October 1995 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Albania | 2–0 | 3–0 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 18 | 3–0 | |||||
| 19 | 28 May 1996 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Macedonia | 1–0 | 3–0 | Friendly match |
| 20 | 8 October 1996 | Stade Josy Barthel,Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |  Luxembourg | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 21 | 8 November 1996 | Supachalasai National Stadium,Bangkok, Thailand |  Thailand | 3–0 | 4-0 | Friendly match |
| 22 | 14 December 1996 | Tsirio Stadium,Limassol, Cyprus |  Cyprus | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 23 | 2 April 1997 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria | Cyprus | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 24 | 3–0 | |||||
| 25 | 8 June 1997 | Neftochimik Stadium,Bourgas, Bulgaria | Luxembourg | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 26 | 11 October 1997 | Luzhniki Stadium,Moscow, Russia |  Russia | 2–4 | 2–4 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 27 | 24 June 1998 | Stade Félix Bollaert,Lens, France |  Spain | 1–3 | 1–6 | 1998 World Cup |
CSKA Sofia
Porto
Bayern Munich
Bulgaria
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