| Plamen Konstantinov | |||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||
| Full name | Plamen Georgiev Konstantinov | ||||||
| Nickname | Gibona | ||||||
| Nationality | Bulgarian | ||||||
| Born | (1973-06-14)14 June 1973 (age 51) Sofia, Bulgaria | ||||||
| Height | 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) | ||||||
| Coaching information | |||||||
| Current team |  Lokomotiv NovosibirskBulgaria | ||||||
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| Volleyball information | |||||||
| Position | Outside hitter | ||||||
| Career | |||||||
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| National team | |||||||
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Honours | |||||||
Plamen Georgiev Konstantinov (Bulgarian:Пламен Георгиев Константинов) (born 14 June 1973) is a former Bulgarianvolleyball player. He is currently the head coach ofLokomotiv Novosibirsk and theBulgaria men's national volleyball team.
Konstantinov was born inSofia; both his parents, Georgi and Eva née Doycheva, are former volleyball internationals and his older brotherJulian Konstantinov is anopera singer.[1] Like his father, he bears the nicknameGibona ("The Gibbon").
Konstantinov finished a sports school and started his career withLevski Sofia in 1986, where he remained until 1995; he spent some of the following season withSlavia Sofia and then moved toItaly to play for theGioia del Colle team. In 1996–97, he was a member of GreekAris VC and then ofTurkishHalkbank Ankara (1997–99). From 1999 until 2004 he played in Greece forOrestiada,PAOK Thessaloniki V.C.,Iraklis V.C.,Olympiacos S.C. andPanathinaikos VC. In 2004–05, he was with theFrenchTours VB and then in 2004–05 he represented theMontichiari team. In 2005–06, he played inPoland forJastrzębski Węgiel and then in 2006–07 he was inRussia with ZSKA GazpromSurgut. He ended his career in Iraklis, where he played from 2007 to 2009.[2] WithIraklis Thessaloniki he won the silver medal at the2008-09 Indesit Champions League and also was individually awarded "Best Receiver".[3]
Konstantinov's awards and achievements include Bulgarian championship titles with Levski and Slavia, Greek championship titles with Aris, Iraklis, Olympiacos and Panathinaikois and a French championship title with Tours. He has also won the Greek Cup once and the Supercup twice with Iraklis and the Bulgarian Cup twice with Slavia. He has twice been awarded the Greek Championship Volleyball Player of the Year prize. In 2006, he won third-place bronze medals from the2006 FIVB Men's World Championship and the2007 FIVB Men's World Cup inJapan with the Bulgaria national team.[2] In 2008, he was voted Bulgaria's Man of the Year in an online poll organized byDarik Radio.[4]
In 2010/11 season, he started his coaching career, as the coach of Ziraatbank of the Turkish Volleyball League.Plamen Konstantinov has been coaching the men's National Team of Bulgaria since 2014, following a stint in Turkey and several seasons at the helm of clubs in Russia - where he continues with Lokomotiv Novosibirsk during the club season.
По-малък брат на известния оперен певец Юлиян Константинов (р. 1966)." ("His older brother is the well-known opera singer Yuliyan Konstantinov (born 1966).
