 Penev in 2012 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lyuboslav Mladenov Penev | ||
| Date of birth | (1966-08-31)31 August 1966 (age 59) | ||
| Place of birth | Dobrich, Bulgaria | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1984 | CSKA Sofia | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1984–1989 | CSKA Sofia | 101 | (80) |
| 1989–1995 | Valencia | 167 | (67) |
| 1995–1996 | Atlético Madrid | 37 | (16) |
| 1996–1998 | Compostela | 69 | (32) |
| 1998–1999 | Celta Vigo | 32 | (14) |
| 2001–2002 | CSKA Sofia | 22 | (8) |
| 2002 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 4 | (0) |
| Total | 432 | (217) | |
| International career | |||
| 1987–1998 | Bulgaria | 62 | (14) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009–2010 | CSKA Sofia | ||
| 2010–2011 | Litex Lovech | ||
| 2011–2014 | Bulgaria | ||
| 2014 | Botev Plovdiv | ||
| 2015 | CSKA Sofia | ||
| 2016 | Litex Lovech | ||
| 2016 | Litex Lovech II | ||
| 2017 | Valencia B | ||
| 2019 | CSKA Sofia | ||
| 2020–2021 | Tsarsko Selo | ||
| 2021 | CSKA Sofia | ||
| 2021 | Tsarsko Selo | ||
| 2022 | CSKA 1948 | ||
| 2023–2024 | Hebar Pazardzhik | ||
| 2024 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Lyuboslav Mladenov Penev (Bulgarian:Любослав Младенов Пенев; born 31 August 1966) is a Bulgarian professionalfootballmanager and former player.
Penev played as aforward for several clubs in Bulgaria and Spain. He started his career atCSKA Sofia in 1984, winning twoBulgarian League titles and fourBulgarian Cups. In 1989 he moved toValencia, where he established himself as among the most prolific goalscorers inLa Liga. After six seasons at Valencia, Penev joinedAtlético Madrid, winning the1995–96 La Liga. After leaving Atlético, he had stints withCompostela,Celta Vigo, CSKA andLokomotiv Plovdiv.
Penev's first professional team wasCSKA Sofia of the Bulgarian capital. He made his first team debut in 1984, when he was only 18 years old. CSKA of the late 1980s was the football "alma mater" to several Bulgarian players like Hristo Stoichkov who made it to the international team in the 1990s. During those days Lubo's teammates included defenderTrifon Ivanov, wingerEmil Kostadinov, and strikerHristo Stoichkov. With CSKA, Penev won theBulgarian A Football Group twice (in 1987 and 1989) and theBulgarian Cup three times (in 1987, 1988 and 1989). He was also votedBulgarian Footballer of the Year in 1988.
In 1989, after reaching stardom in Bulgarian football, he took an important step in his career by moving toLa Liga. In Primera, Penev played for four clubs:Valencia CF,Atlético Madrid,SD Compostela andCelta Vigo. The highlight of the Spanish years was the 1995–1996 season with Atlético, when the club won both the league championship and theSpanish Cup. Penev was the most efficient player of the "double squad" by scoring 22 goals in 44 games (including both league and cup matches).
Penev made his debut for theBulgaria national team on 20 May 1987, playing as a starter in the 3–0 home win overLuxembourg in aEuro 1988 qualifier, before being substituted byPetar Aleksandrov during the second half.[1]
He represented Bulgaria in1996 European Football Championship in England and in the1998 World Cup in France. He could not take part in the1994 World Cup, as he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer at the beginning of 1994. For the same reason he was replaced byNasko Sirakov during the match Bulgaria vsRomania atUEFA Euro 1996 in England.[citation needed]
In March 2009, he succeeded his uncleDimitar Penev as manager ofCSKA Sofia and under his guidance the team qualified for the group stages of theUEFA Europa League, defeatingFC Dynamo Moscow – 2–1 on aggregate. On 6 November 2009, he gave his resignation, after a 3–1 loss to Swiss sideFC Basel due to a conflict with the club's owners. CSKA finished 4th in the group behindRoma,Basel andFulham. CSKA won its single point in the opening game against the futurefinalist Fulham (1–1 after a good strike fromMichel Platini and a mistake from CSKA goalkeeperIvan Karadzhov). However, Penev's resignation was not accepted, because the CSKA fans wanted him to stay.
The club was leader in theBulgarian championship before the last round, whenLitex Lovech took the leadership. On 13 January 2010, after another clash with the owners, he was fired. After the lost game againstMinyor Pernik he withdrew nine players from training sessions for breaking the club's rules, this led to the conflict with the owners.[2]
During the summer many rumours connected him with a transfer to a Spanish clubs (mainly fromLiga Adelante, but fromLiga BBVA sides too), but he remained a free agent. On 2 September 2010, he became manager of Litex Lovech and won the 2010–2011 A PFG Groupchampionship.
On 23 October 2011, he resigned as Litex Lovech coach and was appointed manager of thenational team. In his first game in charge, on 29 February 2012, Bulgaria earned a 1–1 draw away toHungary. On 26 May 2012 his team defeated the runners-up of the2010 FIFA World CupNetherlands in Amsterdam by a score of 2–1. Under his management, Bulgaria's fortunes picked up and the team put in credible performances againstItaly,Denmark and theCzech Republic in the qualifications for the2014 FIFA World Cup. As a result, Bulgaria climbed from 96th in the FIFA World rankings when Penev took over, to 40th in November 2012. At one point Bulgaria stood second in Group B on 13 points. Their next game was against the Czech Republic inSofia on 15 October 2013, a match which Bulgaria lost 0–1.
On 1 November 2013, Lyuboslav Penev extended his contract with the national team of Bulgaria for two years. During this period, he would attempt to qualify the team for theUEFA Euro 2016 in France.[3]
On 6 June 2014, Penev was unveiled as the new manager ofBotev Plovdiv, emphasising that his new duties will not in any way affect his commitment to the national team.[4] The sudden financial troubles of the club, however, led to the quick termination of his contract in early July after only one game (4–0 home victory againstLibertas at the first qualifying round for UEFA Europa League).[5]
On 8 July 2014, Penev leftBotev Plovdiv after just one game to focus on the Bulgaria National Team.[6]
On 20 November 2014, Penev was sacked by Bulgaria National Team following a run of poor results that culminated in a frustrating 1–1 home draw withMalta.[7] In late April 2015, Penev took over as coach of former clubCSKA Sofia until the end of the season, replacingGalin Ivanov after the club had found itself in a difficult situation due to a string of unsuccessful performances that had started at the beginning of 2015.On 22 January 2016 it was announced that he is going to manageLitex Lovech for a second time. The team was lately expelled fromA Group, but had matches for theBulgarian Cup until end of the season.In late September 2016, national team coach Ivaylo Petev agreed to a managerial contract with Dinamo Zagreb and therefore resigned. Many of the top national team players have spoken out in favour of Penev being reappointed as a national team coach - this is due to his tough and successful coaching.[8] Many players such as Stanislav Manolev (who was, however, released fromCSKA Sofia in 2019 while Penev was the manager)[9] have stated that Bulgaria has been at their best in many recent years under coach Penev, as he is tough and very tactically mindful of the game and knows exactly what to do to bring the Bulgarian national team back to its original status as a side competitive with the European powerhouses in football. He was appointed as manager ofCSKA Sofia for a third time on 8 February 2019,[10] but resigned in early May due to disagreements with the club's board.[11] On 30 April 2020, Penev took over as head coach ofTsarsko Selo Sofia.[12] He managed to secure the team's place in the top flight of Bulgarian football.
On 28 May 2022, he was officially announced as the new manager ofCSKA 1948.[13] Despite having a successful season, with CSKA 1948 reaching third place in the league table and managing a streak of 10 consecutive matches without defeat, on 9 December 2022, Penev resigned from his position, citing as the reason the change in the club's approach to the management of the sports-technical aspects.[14] In March 2023, he took over as head coach of relegation-threatenedHebar Pazardzhik, with the aim of securing the club's place in the top flight of Bulgarian football.[15] Hebar achieved this task on 5 June 2023, following a 3:1 win overBeroe Stara Zagora.[16]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 March 1988 | Vasil Levski National Stadium,Sofia, Bulgaria |  Czechoslovakia | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly match |
| 2 | 24 May 1988 | De Kuip,Rotterdam, Netherlands |  Netherlands | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly match |
| 3 | 7 August 1988 | Laugardalsvöllur,Reykjavík, Iceland |  Iceland | 2–2 | 3–2 | Friendly match |
| 4 | 24 August 1988 | Hetman Stadium,Białystok, Poland |  Poland | 2–3 | 2–3 | Friendly match |
| 5 | 21 September 1988 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Soviet Union | 1–1 | 2–2 | Friendly match |
| 6 | 22 May 1991 | Stadio Olimpico,Serravalle, San Marino |  San Marino | 3–0 | 3–0 | Euro 1992 qualification |
| 7 | 16 October 1991 | Balgarska Armia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria | San Marino | 1–0 | 4–0 | Euro 1992 qualification |
| 8 | 2 December 1992 | Ramat Gan Stadium,Ramat Gan, Israel |  Israel | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1994 World Cup qualification |
| 9. | 13 October 1993 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Austria | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1994 World Cup qualification |
| 10 | 3–1 | |||||
| 11. | 29 March 1995 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Wales | 2–0 | 3–1 | Euro 1996 qualification |
| 12 | 3–0 | |||||
| 13 | 20 August 1997 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria | Israel | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1998 World Cup qualification |
| 14 | 22 April 1998 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Morocco | 1–0 | 2–1 | Friendly match |
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | GF | GA | GD | |||
| CSKA Sofia | 6 March 2009 | 13 January 2010 | 30 | 21 | 4 | 5 | 070.00 | 52 | 18 | +34 |
| Litex Lovech | 2 September 2010 | 24 October 2011 | 41 | 28 | 7 | 6 | 068.29 | 76 | 26 | +50 |
| Bulgaria | 1 November 2011 | 20 November 2014 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 034.78 | 28 | 24 | +4 |
| CSKA Sofia | 28 April 2015 | 30 June 2015 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 020.00 | 6 | 5 | +1 |
| Litex Lovech | 22 January 2016 | 6 June 2016 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 050.00 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| Litex Lovech II | 22 January 2016 | 6 June 2016 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 076.92 | 32 | 8 | +24 |
| CSKA Sofia | 8 February 2019 | 3 May 2019 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 050.00 | 22 | 13 | +9 |
| Tsarsko Selo | 30 April 2020 | 28 March 2021 | 39 | 12 | 9 | 18 | 030.77 | 37 | 47 | -10 |
| CSKA Sofia | 28 March 2021 | 26 July 2021 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 053.33 | 25 | 15 | +10 |
| 1948 Sofia | 30 May 2022 | 9 December 2022 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 060.00 | 34 | 13 | +21 |
| Hebar Pazardzhik | 21 March 2023 | 4 June 2024 | 51 | 17 | 8 | 26 | 033.33 | 57 | 75 | -18 |
| Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 14 June 2024 | Present | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 020.00 | 12 | 17 | -5 |
| Total | 263 | 125 | 56 | 82 | 047.53 | 382 | 263 | +119 | ||
CSKA Sofia
Atlético Madrid
Individual
Litex Lovech
CSKA Sofia
Lyuboslav Penev – International tournaments | |||||||
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