Bulgaria national under-21 football team

Bulgaria U-21
Nickname(s)	Лъвчетата (The Young Lions)
Association	Bulgarian Football Union
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Aleksandar Dimitrov
Captain	Dominik Yankov
Most caps	Petar Mihtarski (51)
Top scorer	Atanas Mihaylov (31)
Home stadium	Stadion Slavia
FIFA code	BUL
First colours	Second colours

The Bulgaria national under-21 football team (Bulgarian: Mладежки национален отбор на България по футбол)^[1] is considered to be the feeder team for the Bulgaria national football team. This team is for Bulgarian players aged under 21 at the start of the calendar year in which a two-year UEFA European Under-21 Championship campaign begins, so some players can remain with the squad until the age of 23.

Coaching staff[]

Head coach[]

Tenure	Head Coach
2000–2001
2002	Ivan Kolev
2003–2006
2006–2007	Aleksandar Stankov
2008–2009	Ivan Kolev
2010–2013
2014–2018	Antoni Zdravkov
2019–2020	Aleksandar Dimitrov
2021–	Aleksandar Dimitrov

On 20 December 2018, BFU appointed Aleksandar Dimitrov as the head coach of the under-21 team.^[2]

U21 Coaching staff[]

Position	Staff
Manager	Aleksandar Dimitrov
Assistant Manager	vacant
Goalkeeping Coach	vacant

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Competition results[]

Champions Runners-Up Semi-Finals Other Top Results

Balkan Youth Championship[]

Year	Rank
1968	Champions
1970	Champions
1973	Champions

UEFA U-21 European Championship[]

Year	Rank
1972	Semi-Finals
1974	Quarter-Finals
1976	Quarter-Finals
1978	Semi-Finals
1990	Quarter-Finals

Current squad[]

Players[]

The following players have been called up for the UEFA Euro 2023 qualification matches against Moldova on 3 September 2021 and Wales on 7 September 2021.^[3] Names in bold denote players who have been capped for or called up to the senior team.
Caps and goals updated as of 7 September 2021 after the match against Wales.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
12	1GK	Svetoslav Vutsov	(2002-07-09) 9 July 2002 (age 19)	6	0	Slavia Sofia
1	1GK		(2001-04-11) 11 April 2001 (age 20)	1	0	Getafe B
	1GK	Damyan Hristov	(2002-11-10) 10 November 2002 (age 18)	0	0	Ludogorets Razgrad II
	1GK		(2002-08-17) 17 August 2002 (age 19)	0	0	Lokomotiv Plovdiv

6	2DF	Viktor Popov	(2000-03-05) 5 March 2000 (age 21)	13	0	Cherno More Varna
4	2DF	Hristiyan Petrov	(2002-06-24) 24 June 2002 (age 19)	7	0	CSKA Sofia
16	2DF		(2000-08-22) 22 August 2000 (age 21)	7	0	Cherno More Varna
20	2DF	Simeon Petrov	(2000-01-12) 12 January 2000 (age 21)	6	1	CSKA 1948
22	2DF	Patrick-Gabriel Galchev	(2001-04-14) 14 April 2001 (age 20)	5	0	Levski Sofia
2	2DF	Asen Donchev	(2001-10-22) 22 October 2001 (age 19)	1	0	CSKA Sofia

14	3MF	Filip Krastev	(2001-10-15) 15 October 2001 (age 19)	7	1	Cambuur
7	3MF	Stanislav Shopov	(2002-02-23) 23 February 2002 (age 19)	7	1	Heerenveen
5	3MF		(2001-10-21) 21 October 2001 (age 19)	7	0	Botev Vratsa
8	3MF	Ilia Gruev	(2000-05-06) 6 May 2000 (age 21)	6	1	Werder Bremen
19	3MF	Mitko Mitkov	(2000-08-28) 28 August 2000 (age 21)	6	1	CSKA Sofia
	3MF	Emanuel Mirchev	(2002-02-09) 9 February 2002 (age 19)	5	0	Verl
11	3MF	Dimitar Tonev	(2001-10-15) 15 October 2001 (age 19)	4	2	Botev Plovdiv
13	3MF	Dimo Krastev	(2003-02-10) 10 February 2003 (age 18)	3	0	Fiorentina
21	3MF	Marin Petkov	(2003-10-02) 2 October 2003 (age 17)	2	0	Levski Sofia
	3MF		(2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 (age 19)	0	0	Slavia Sofia

17	4FW	Martin Minchev	(2001-04-22) 22 April 2001 (age 20)	11	1	Sparta Prague
10	4FW	Vladimir Nikolov	(2001-02-07) 7 February 2001 (age 20)	8	2	Würzburger Kickers
9	4FW	Martin Petkov	(2002-08-15) 15 August 2002 (age 19)	4	0	Levski Sofia
18	4FW		(2003-10-23) 23 October 2003 (age 17)	1	0	Slavia Sofia

Recent call ups[]

The following players have previously been called up to the Bulgaria under-21 squad and remain eligible.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Damyan Damyanov	(2000-07-29) 29 July 2000 (age 21)	1	0	Botev Vratsa	v. Albania, 8 June 2021

DF	Tomislav Papazov	(2001-08-24) 24 August 2001 (age 20)	3	0	Hebar Pazardzhik	v. Albania, 8 June 2021
DF	Kolyo Stanev	(2001-10-10) 10 October 2001 (age 19)	2	0	Etar Veliko Tarnovo	v. Albania, 8 June 2021
DF		(2002-03-25) 25 March 2002 (age 19)	1	0	Botev Plovdiv	v. Albania, 8 June 2021
DF	Tihomir Dimitrov	(2000-02-04) 4 February 2000 (age 21)	1	0	Ludogorets Razgrad II	v. Albania, 8 June 2021
DF	Stanislav Rabotov	(2002-06-14) 14 June 2002 (age 19)	2	0	Botev Plovdiv	v. North Macedonia, 29 March 2021
DF	Valentin Antov	(2000-11-09) 9 November 2000 (age 20)	9	0	Monza	v. Estonia, 17 November 2020 ^A

MF		(2001-03-13) 13 March 2001 (age 20)	3	0	Montana	v. Albania, 8 June 2021
MF	Dominik Yankov	(2000-07-28) 28 July 2000 (age 21)	9	2	Ludogorets Razgrad	v. North Macedonia, 29 March 2021 ^A
MF		(2000-07-09) 9 July 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Septemvri Sofia	v. Estonia, 17 November 2020

FW	Dimitar Mitkov	(2000-01-27) 27 January 2000 (age 21)	4	0	Ludogorets Razgrad	v. Albania, 8 June 2021
FW	Preslav Borukov	(2000-04-23) 23 April 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Zalaegerszeg	v. Russia, 3 June 2021 ^INJ
FW	Denislav Angelov	(2001-06-08) 8 June 2001 (age 20)	2	0	CSKA 1948	v. North Macedonia, 29 March 2021

Notes

^A = Not part of the current squad due to being called up to the senior team.
^INJ = Not part of the current squad due to injury.
^COVID = Withdrawn from the current squad due to suffering from COVID-19.

UEFA Euro 2021 Qualifier[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	10	7	2	1	22	4	+18	23	Final tournament	—	2–2	2–0	1–0	4–0	2−0
2	Poland	10	6	2	2	19	8	+11	20		1–0	—	1–1	1–0	4–0	3–1
3	Bulgaria	10	5	3	2	14	5	+9	18		0–0	3−0	—	0–1	3–0	1–0
4	Serbia	10	3	3	4	12	9	+3	12		0–2	1–0	1–2	—	6−0	1–1
5	Estonia	10	1	2	7	3	34	−31	5		0–5	0–6	0–4	0–0	—	2–1
6	Latvia	10	0	4	6	7	17	−10	4		1–4	0–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

UEFA Euro 2023 Qualifier[]

Pos	Team v	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	2	2	0	0	8	0	+8	6	Final tournament	—	25 Mar '22	8 Oct	4 Jun '22	12 Nov	4–0
2	Wales	2	1	1	0	4	0	+4	4	Play-offs	16 Nov	—	11 Jun '22	29 Mar '22	0–0	14 Jun '22
3	Netherlands	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	3		29 Mar '22	12 Oct	—	12 Nov	3–0	7 Jun '22
4	Bulgaria	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3		12 Oct	0–4	25 Mar '22	—	16 Nov	11 Jun '22
5	Moldova	3	0	1	2	0	5	−5	1		8 Jun '22	8 Oct	3 Jun '22	0–2	—	12 Oct
6	Gibraltar	2	0	0	2	0	8	−8	0		0–4	12 Nov	15 Nov	8 Oct	29 Mar '22	—

Updated to match(es) played on 7 September 2021. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Recent fixtures[]

Win Draw Loss

5 September 2019 (2019-09-05) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Estonia	0–4	Bulgaria	showTallinn, Estonia
17:30 (UTC+03:00)		Report	Yordanov 15', 48', 65' Ivanov 39'	Stadium: Kadriorg Stadium Attendance: 207^[4] Referee: Milovan Milačić (Montenegro)

10 September 2019 (2019-09-10) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Bulgaria	0–0	Russia	showSofia, Bulgaria
20:30 (UTC+03:00)		Report		Stadium: Stadion Slavia Attendance: 1,800^[5] Referee: Urs Schnyder (Switzerland)

11 October 2019 (2019-10-11) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Bulgaria	0–1	Serbia	showSofia, Bulgaria
19:00 (UTC+03:00)		Report	Stuparević 87'	Stadium: Stadion Slavia Attendance: 1,020^[6] Referee: Giorgi Kruashvili (Georgia)

15 October 2019 (2019-10-15) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Latvia	0–0	Bulgaria	showRiga, Latvia
18:00 (UTC+03:00)		Report		Stadium: Skonto Stadium Attendance: 305^[7] Referee: Marcel Birsan (Romania)

15 November 2019 (2019-11-15) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Bulgaria	3–0	Poland	showSofia, Bulgaria
18:00 (UTC+02:00)	Yordanov 43' Ivanov 51', 61'	Report		Stadium: Stadion Slavia Attendance: 453^[8] Referee: Yaroslav Kozyk (Ukraine)

4 September 2020 (2020-09-04) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Russia	2–0	Bulgaria	showKhimki, Russia
19:00 (UTC+03:00)	Glushenkov 1' Diveyev 65'	Report		Stadium: Arena Khimki Attendance: 0 Referee: Arda Kardeşler (Turkey)

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Serbia	1–2	Bulgaria	showGornji Milanovac, Serbia
20:00 (UTC+01:00)	L. Ilić 87' (pen.)	Report	Iliev 45+1' K. Krastev 65'	Stadium: Stadion Metalac Attendance: 0 Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)

9 October 2020 (2020-10-09) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Bulgaria	1–0	Latvia	showSofia, Bulgaria
18:45 (UTC+03:00)	Ivanov 67'	Report		Stadium: Stadion Slavia Attendance: 0 Referee: Viktor Shimusik (Belarus)

13 October 2020 (2020-10-13) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Poland	1–1	Bulgaria	showGdynia, Poland
18:00 (UTC+01:00)	Bida 66'	Report	Dimitrov 41'	Stadium: Stadion Miejski Attendance: 1,894 Referee: Allard Lindhout (Netherlands)

17 November 2020 (2020-11-17) UEFA Euro 2021 qualification	Bulgaria	3–0	Estonia	showSofia, Bulgaria
18:30 (UTC+02:00)	Kotev 28' Tombak 30' K. Krastev 88'	Report		Stadium: Stadion Slavia Attendance: 0 Referee: Walter Altmann (Austria)

24 March 2021 (2021-03-24) Friendly tournament	Ukraine	1–2	Bulgaria	showAntalya, Turkey
16:00 (UTC+03:00)	Nazarenko 8'	Report	Yankov 20' F. Krastev 53'	Stadium: Bellis Sports Center

26 March 2021 (2021-03-26) Friendly tournament	Bulgaria	3–1	Kazakhstan	showAntalya, Turkey
15:00 (UTC+03:00)	Nikolov 51' Tonev 58', 60'	Report	Sagnayev 81' (pen.)	Stadium: Bellis Sports Center

29 March 2021 (2021-03-29) Friendly tournament	North Macedonia	5–1	Bulgaria	showAntalya, Turkey
16:30 (UTC+03:00)	Ilievski 10' Grozdanovski 30' Maksimov 58', 76' Kalkan 79'	Report	Yankov 51'	Stadium: Bellis Sports Center

3 June 2021 (2021-06-03) Friendly	Bulgaria	0–1	Russia	showSofia, Bulgaria
17:30 (UTC+03:00)		Report	Ignatov 12'	Stadium: Stadion Slavia

8 June 2021 (2021-06-08) Friendly	Bulgaria	4–0	Albania	showSofia, Bulgaria
17:30 (UTC+03:00)	Shopov 2' S. Petrov 5' Gruev 12' Nikolov 68' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stadion Slavia

3 September 2021 (2021-09-03) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Moldova	0–2	Bulgaria	showChișinău, Moldova
20:00 (UTC+03:00)		Report	Minchev 52' Mitkov 75'	Stadium: Zimbru Stadium Referee: Enea Jorgji (Albania)

7 September 2021 (2021-09-07) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Bulgaria	0–4	Wales	showSofia, Bulgaria
18:30 (UTC+03:00)		Report	Vale 27', 50', 73' Sass-Davies 42'	Stadium: Stadion Slavia Referee: (Kosovo)

8 October 2021 (2021-10-08) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Gibraltar	v	Bulgaria	showSofia, Bulgaria
		Report		Stadium: Stadion Slavia

12 October 2021 (2021-10-12) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Bulgaria	v	Switzerland	showSofia, Bulgaria
		Report		Stadium: Stadion Slavia

12 November 2021 (2021-11-12) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Netherlands	v	Bulgaria	showAlmere, the Netherlands
19:45 (UTC+03:00)		Report		Stadium: Yanmar Stadion

16 November 2021 (2021-11-16) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Bulgaria	v	Moldova	show
		Report

25 March 2022 (2022-03-25) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Bulgaria	v	Netherlands	show
		Report

29 March 2022 (2022-03-29) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Wales	v	Bulgaria	show
		Report

4 June 2022 (2022-06-04) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Switzerland	v	Bulgaria	show
		Report

11 June 2022 (2022-06-11) UEFA Euro 2023 qualification	Bulgaria	v	Gibraltar	show
		Report

References[]

^ Mladezhki natsionalen otbor na Balgariya po futbol, literally "Bulgaria national youth football team".
^ "Изпълнителният комитет на БФС прие бюджета и спортния календар за 2019 г." (in Bulgarian). bfunion.bg. 20 December 2018.
^ "Състав на България U21 за двубоите с Молдова и Уелс" (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian Football Union. 23 August 2021.
^ "Estonia U21 vs. Bulgaria U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
^ "Bulgaria U21 vs. Russia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
^ "Bulgaria U21 vs. Serbia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
^ "Latvia U21 vs. Bulgaria U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
^ "Bulgaria U21 vs. Poland U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 November 2019.

External links[]

UEFA Under-21 website, complete results archive
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, full record of U-21 and U-23 Championships

[1] Mladezhki natsionalen otbor na Balgariya po futbol, literally "Bulgaria national youth football team".

[2] "Изпълнителният комитет на БФС прие бюджета и спортния календар за 2019 г." (in Bulgarian). bfunion.bg. 20 December 2018.

[3] "Състав на България U21 за двубоите с Молдова и Уелс" (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian Football Union. 23 August 2021.

[4] "Estonia U21 vs. Bulgaria U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 September 2019.

[5] "Bulgaria U21 vs. Russia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 September 2019.

[6] "Bulgaria U21 vs. Serbia U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 27 October 2019.

[7] "Latvia U21 vs. Bulgaria U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 27 October 2019.

[8] "Bulgaria U21 vs. Poland U21". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 November 2019.

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