Asen Nikolov

Asen Nikolov (Bulgarian: Асен Николов; born 5 August 1976 in Plovdiv), nicknamed Bebeto (Бебето), is a Bulgarian footballer playing as an attacking midfielder. For the Bulgarian national team, Nikolov was capped one time.

For the Bulgarian Olympic boxer, see Asen Nikolov (boxer).
Asen Nikolov
Personal information
Date of birth (1976-08-05) 5 August 1976
Place of birth Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Maritsa Plovdiv
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1997 Maritsa Plovdiv 65 (13)
1997–2001 Levski Sofia 67 (5)
2002–2004 Slavia Sofia 68 (5)
2005–2006 Turan Tovuz 39 (13)
2006–2007 Partizan 2 (0)
2007–2008 Baku 4 (0)
2008 Qäbälä 10 (1)
2009–2010 Slavia Sofia 12 (0)
2010 US Le Pontet 4 (0)
Total 271 (37)
National team
1999 Bulgaria 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

After spending the first three years of his career in his home town with Maritsa, Nikolov relocated to Sofia in June 1997, signing a five-year contract with Levski, with whom he was Champion of Bulgaria two times (2000, 2001) and won Bulgarian Cup in 1998 and 2000.

In January 2002, Slavia Sofia signed Nikolov to a four-year deal. In Slavia he earned 68 appearances playing in the A PFG and scored five goals, before moving to PFC Turan Tovuz in Azerbaijan, where he has established himself as one of the best players in the country.

In August 2006, Nikolov signed a three-year contract with Serbian club FK Partizan at the request of the manager, Miodrag Ješić, who noticed his talent while working in Bulgaria. Yet, on 20 September 2006, just one month after the transfer was made and with only several games played for the club, Nikolov was substituted in the 38th minute of the Serbian Cup game against FK ČSK Pivara, because of "extremely low performance, physical capacity of an aged man and being a bad influence on the team spirit". Ješić has also said that it was "definitely the last game Nikolov had played for Partizan".

In the next season he returned to Azerbaijan, signing a contract with FK Baku. After that played six months and in FK Qäbälä.

In January 2009, the 32-year-old Nikolov returned to Bulgaria and signed with Slavia Sofia.

Honours
Levski
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References
  1. Asen Nikolov at National-Football-Teams.com
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