Emil Kostadinov

In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Lyubchov and the family name is Kostadinov.

Emil Kostadinov

Kostadinov in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Emil Lyubchov Kostadinov
Date of birth	(1967-08-12) 12 August 1967
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 professional footballer who played as a forward and represented the Bulgaria national team at two World Cups.

Club career

Born in Sofia, Kostadinov started his career in CSKA Sofia. There he formed a redoubtable trio with Hristo Stoichkov and Luboslav Penev in the late 1980s, helping the team to win three times the Bulgarian Championship title, three times the Bulgarian Cup and reached the semi-final of the Cup Winners' Cup.

He played for FC Porto from 1990 to 1994, winning the Portuguese league twice, and becoming popular among Portuguese fans. He also played for Deportivo de La Coruña, Bayern Munich (winning the UEFA Cup with them in 1996 and scoring in the final itself), Fenerbahçe, Mainz 05, and UANL Tigres.

International career

Kostadinov played in the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship scoring two goals. He was a member of the Bulgaria national team from 1988 to 1998. He earned 70 caps in which he scored 27 goals.

Kostadinov gained international prominence after scoring two goals in the last matchday of the European 1994 World Cup qualification, against the France 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 enabled Bulgaria to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals at the expense of France.

After helping Bulgaria qualify for the 1994 World Cup, he was a part of the squad that reached the semi-finals in the proper tournament, again in partnership with Hristo Stoichkov. He played all seven games but did not score. During the game against Italy in the semi-final, Kostadinov was fouled by Alessandro 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 referee Joël Quiniou of purposefully ignoring the situations to get "revenge" for the decisive qualifying game between Bulgaria and France at the Parc des Princes, which saw the former qualifying to the World Cup at the expense of the latter.

He also played at the Euro 96 and the 1998 World Cup, both tournaments in which Bulgaria did not reach the second round. He scored one (and actually the only) goal in the 1998 World Cup against Spain in the group stages. He retired before the qualifying campaign for Euro 2000.

International goals

Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kostadinov goal.

List of international goals scored by Emil Kostadinov

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

Honours

CSKA Sofia

• Bulgarian A PFG: 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90
• Bulgarian Cup: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
• Bulgarian Supercup: 1989

Porto

• Primeira Liga: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95
• Taça de Portugal: 1990–91, 1993–94
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994

Bayern Munich

• UEFA Cup: 1995–96

Bulgaria

• FIFA World Cup: fourth place (bronze): 1994

External links

• Emil Kostadinov at National-Football-Teams.com