 Dermendzhiev in 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Georgi Nikolov Dermendzhiev | ||
| Date of birth | (1955-01-04)4 January 1955 (age 70) | ||
| Place of birth | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1981 | Slavia Sofia | 66 | (0) |
| 1981–1988 | Yantra Gabrovo | 153 | (5) |
| 1988–1990 | Spartak Plovdiv | ? | (?) |
| Total | 219 | (5) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1998–1999 | Spartak Plovdiv | ||
| 1999–2008 | Litex Lovech (assistant) | ||
| 2008 | Botev Plovdiv (assistant) | ||
| 2008–2009 | Sliven (assistant) | ||
| 2010–2011 | Sliven | ||
| 2011–2014 | Ludogorets Razgrad (assistant) | ||
| 2014–2015 | Ludogorets Razgrad | ||
| 2015–2017 | Ludogorets Razgrad | ||
| 2018 | Ordabasy | ||
| 2019 | Levski Sofia | ||
| 2019–2020 | Bulgaria | ||
| 2023–2024 | Ludogorets Razgrad | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Georgi Nikolov Dermendziev (Bulgarian:Георги Николов Дерменджиев; born 4 January 1955) is a Bulgarian professionalfootball manager and formerplayer who played as adefender.
After managingSpartak Plovdiv as a head coach for one season,[1] he became an assistant atLitex Lovech underFerario Spasov. He remained in this role for several years, followed by short spells atBotev Plovdiv andSliven. He later briefly managed the latter during the2010-11 A Group, but was unable to help them avoid relegation.
On July 31, 2014, Dermendzhiev replacedStoycho Stoev as head coach at Ludogorets following the latter's disappointing 0-0 home draw againstPartizan Belgrade in aChampions League qualifying match.
On 27 August 2014, Dermendzhiev became the second Bulgarian manager (afterStanimir Stoilov in2006) to qualify a team from his country to thegroup stage of the Champions League.[2] On 22 October 2014 he became the first Bulgarian coach to achieve a win in the Champions League's group phase when Ludogorets beat Basel.[3]
He resigned from the team on 31 May 2015, but after Ludogorets was unsuccessfully led by his successorsBruno Ribeiro andEduard Eranosyan, he was appointed again as manager on 6 November.[4]
In the2016–17 Champions League Ludogorets won the qualifiers againstMladost Podgorica andRed Star Belgrade, and the play-off againstViktoria Plzeň, respectively, thus becoming the first Bulgarian team to qualify twice for thegroup stage of the tournament, both times with Georgi Dermendzhiev as a coach.
Dermendzhiev resigned on 9 August 2017 after the team failed to win the2017 Bulgarian Supercup.[5]
On 9 January 2018 Dermendzhiev signed a deal with theKazakhstan Premier League teamOrdabasy.[6] He left the position in June 2018.[7]
On 22 January 2019, Dermendzhiev returned to Bulgaria, being appointed as head coach ofLevski Sofia.[8] He was released from his duties on 29 April 2019.[9]
In October 2019, Dermendzhiev was appointed as head coach of thenational team to manage the side during theremaining Euro 2020 qualifiers.[10] In April 2020, his contract was extended for an additional six months, with the option for a further one year and a half.[11] In December 2020, theFootball Union announced that Dermendzhiev will not continue in his position as manager after the national team failed to qualify forEuro 2020via the playoff route andwas relegated from League B to League C in theNations League.[12] Dermendzhiev had previously faced strong criticism by Minister of Youth and SportsKrasen Kralev due to the perceived failure to integrate more U-21 players into the senior team and the results attained, including the team's tendency to concedelast-minute goals.[13]
In October 2023, Dermendzhiev was appointed manager ofLudogorets Razgrad for the third time.[14] He successfully led the team to a 13th consecutive league title. In August 2024, Dermendzhiev stepped down as head coach following the club's elimination from theChampions League byAzerbaijani teamQarabagh.[15]
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | GF | GA | GD | |||
 Ludogorets Razgrad | 31 July 2014 | 31 May 2015 | 47 | 24 | 12 | 11 | 051.06 | 92 | 50 | +42 |
| 6 November 2015 | 10 August 2017 | 84 | 53 | 17 | 14 | 063.10 | 184 | 74 | +110 | |
 Ordabasy | 9 January 2018 | 22 January 2019 | 35 | 14 | 8 | 13 | 040.00 | 45 | 45 | 0 |
| Levski Sofia | 22 January 2019 | 29 April 2019 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 045.45 | 14 | 11 | +3 |
| Bulgaria | 22 October 2019 | 1 December 2020 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 018.18 | 7 | 12 | -5 |
| Ludogorets Razgrad | 23 October 2023 | 13 August 2024 | 44 | 32 | 3 | 9 | 072.73 | 101 | 36 | +65 |
| Total | 222 | 125 | 43 | 54 | 056.31 | 430 | 218 | +212 | ||