 Mihaylov in 2012 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nikolay Borislavov Mihaylov | ||
| Date of birth | (1988-06-28)28 June 1988 (age 36) | ||
| Place of birth | Sofia, Bulgaria | ||
| Height | 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Levski Sofia | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2004–2007 | Levski Sofia | 12 | (0) |
| 2007–2010 | Liverpool | 0 | (0) |
| 2007–2010 | →Twente (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2010–2013 | Twente | 82 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Hellas Verona | 0 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | Mersin İdmanyurdu | 9 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | Mersin İdmanyurdu | 29 | (0) |
| 2017–2018 | Omonia | 10 | (0) |
| 2018–2024 | Levski Sofia | 52 | (0) |
| Total | 216 | (0) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2004–2008 | Bulgaria U21 | 22 | (1) |
| 2006–2022 | Bulgaria | 46 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:16, 26 May 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20:37, 12 June 2022 (UTC) | |||
Nikolay Borislavov Mihaylov (Bulgarian:Николай Бориславов Михайлов; born 28 June 1988) is a Bulgarian former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper.
Mihaylov's father is former goalkeeperBorislav Mihaylov, the player with the second most international appearances for Bulgaria (afterStilyan Petrov) and head of theBulgarian Football Union, and his grandfather wasBiser Mihaylov, who also played in goal for Levski in the 1960s.Maria Petrova, a prominent world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, has been his stepmother since 1998.
Talented Mihaylov started as a youngster with home country top teamLevski Sofia, making his full 90 minutes debut at the age of just 17 in the UEFA cup match against Auxerre. He nevertheless was not popular with their fans. Mihaylov's poor performances in some matches, particularly his blunder in theChampions League game againstWerder Bremen on 31 October 2006, provoked a negative campaign among Levski supporters who associated his career with protection from his influential father.
In June 2007, he almost joinedACF Fiorentina,[1] but was instead transferred to Liverpool on a three-year contract, with an option for a further two years.[2]
Mihaylov was acquired by Liverpool as a talent,[3] who might become their first team keeper in the future, as at that time Liverpool's first choice keeper wasPepe Reina, withCharles Itandje as back up. By 14 July it became clear that the transfer had hit a problem; Mihaylov would not qualify for a British work permit.[4] As a consequence the Bulgarian U-21 International joinedFC Twente on a one-year loan.[5]At FC Twente 19-year-old Mihaylov was to compete withSander Boschker andCees Paauwe for first team action. Although not playing any matches for the first team, Twente did recognize his talent and in 2008 they extended his loan with a year to August 2009.
On 27 August 2008, Mihaylov made his debut for FC Twente in their 4–0 defeat toArsenal at theEmirates Stadium in the second leg of the third qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League and went on to make hisEredivisie debut in a 1–1 draw atRoda on 30 August 2008. On 14 March 2009, Mihaylov made his second appearance for Twente in the Dutch league against Willem II, playing the full 90 minutes and earning himself a booking, managing to keep a clean sheet in Twente's 2–0 away win. On 29 July 2009, Mihaylov came on as a substitute for midfielderKenneth Perez, following thedismissal of starting keeperSander Boschker in the 27th minute of Twente's away game againstSporting CP in the first leg of theUEFA Champions League third qualifying round. He stopped the penalty taken byJoão Moutinho and made a number of key saves to keep the scores level at 0–0.[6] Mihaylov played the full 90 minutes in the return leg and was not at fault for thePortuguese side'slast-minute equalizing goal, which allowedSporting CP to advance on theaway goals rule.
FC Twente had become impressed with Mihaylov, not only his talent, but also his progress convinced them. And after several years of being loaned out to Twente, on 5 February 2010 he officially was transferred for a fee of €1.8 million fromLiverpool to Twente. He signed a contract for three years with the Dutch club.[7]
In the 2010–11 season, he established himself as the starting goalkeeper for Twente. Having played in the Champions League, Mihaylov impressed with great appearances in the competition that season, among others by stopping a penalty-shot. In the Champions League FC Twente drew to play against his "nightmare" clubWerder Bremen, as it were mentioned by the Bulgarian media. He only conceded one goal in the two matches played against Werder. With further appearances againstTottenham Hotspur and the previous year'sChampions League winnerInter Milan in the group, Twente managed on their debut in the Champions League nevertheless to end at third place, allowing continuation in theUEFA Europa League. Twente was defeated in the quarterfinals byVillarreal, after having defeatedRubin Kazan andZenit Saint Petersburg.
Mihaylov was quoted saying that Liverpool now had retained an option to buy him back from Twente, as he had played enough games for his native country's national team to qualify for a work permit.
On 23 December 2011, Mihaylov attended a ceremony inSofia, where he was honoured with theBulgarian Footballer of the Year award (Stiliyan Petrov andDimitar Berbatov came second and third respectively). The last Bulgarian goalkeeper to have received this distinction is his fatherBorislav.[8]
Mihaylov signed for Turkish clubMersin İdmanyurdu on 1 September 2014 on a two-year contract as a free agent.[9][10] He made his debut in a 3–0 home win overKemer Tekirovaspor in theTurkish Cup on 29 September. HisSüper Lig debut came on 22 November, in a 2–2 away draw againstAkhisar Belediyespor. On 27 December, Mihaylov played his second league game in a 1–0 loss againstFenerbahçe atŞükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, in which he saved a penalty fromDiego.[11]
In December 2017, Mihaylov signed a contract withCypriot clubOmonia until the end of the season.[12]
On 26 November 2018, Mihaylov returned to Levski Sofia, signing a contract till the end of the season with an option to be extended for two more years.[13] He quickly became the first choice goalkeeper, but lost his status shortly after the arrival ofMilan Mijatović. He regained his place for the first half of season 2020-21 due to Mijatović's departure in the summer of 2020.
Mihaylov made his senior international debut in the 5–1 defeat byScotland in theKirin Cup in Japan in May 2006. On 12 August 2009, he earned his second cap, playing the full 90 minutes in afriendly match againstLatvia, whichBulgaria won 1–0. Mihaylov did well to parry a dangerousVitālijs Astafjevs shot in the second half, but was hardly tested during the game. He earned his third cap on 10 October 2009, after replacing the injuredDimitar Ivankov in the 1–4 away loss toCyprus in aWorld Cup qualifier. Mihaylov was the starting goalkeeper for Bulgaria during the country's first two reasonably unsuccessfulEuro 2012qualifiers. He played as the main custodian for Bulgaria during the2014 World Cup qualifiers,[14] whileVladislav Stoyanov was selected for the last two matches - againstArmenia and theCzech Republic.[15]
| Club | Season | League | Cups | Europe | Other | Total | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Levski Sofia | 2004–05 | A Group | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | [16] | |
| 2005–06 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | [16] | |||
| 2006–07 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | [16] | |||
| Liverpool | 2007–08 | Premier League | – | – | – | – | – | ||||||
| Twente (loan) | 2007–08 | Eredivisie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | [17] | |
| 2008–09 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | [17] | |||
| 2009–10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | [17] | |||
| Twente | 2010–11 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | – | 42 | 0 | [17] | ||
| 2011–12 | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | – | 40 | 0 | [17] | |||
| 2012–13 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | – | 35 | 0 | [17] | |||
| Total | 88 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 35 | 0 | – | 129 | 0 | ||||
| Hellas Verona | 2013–14 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | [17] | |
| Mersin İdmanyurdu | 2014–15 | Süper Lig | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2015–16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | [17] | |||
| 2016–17 | 1. Lig | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 29 | 0 | [17] | ||
| Total | 38 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 46 | 0 | ||||
| Omonia | 2017–18 | Cypriot First Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | [17] |
| Levski Sofia | 2018–19 | Bulgarian First League | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 16 | 0 | [17] | |
| 2019–20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | [17] | |||
| 2020–21 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 18 | 0 | |||||
| 2021–22 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 0 | |||||
| 2022–23 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |||
| 2022–23 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |||
| Total | 71 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 80 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 216 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 280 | 0 | |||
Levski Sofia
Twente
