Ivelin Popov

Ivelin Popov was born on October 26, 1987 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Ivelin took up football with the Septemvri Sofia football academy before joining the youth system of Levski Sofia. In 2005 the young midfielder moved to the Netherlands to join Feyenoord but was not able to become a part of the club’s first squad and in December 2005, the player returned to Bulgaria to sign his first professional contract with Litex Lovech. On March 12, 2006 Ivelin made his Bulgarian top division debut against CSKA Sofia and on April 9, 2006 he netted his first goal against FC Locomotiv Sofia, the game ending in a 3-1 win for Litex. On September 18, 2006 Ivelin scored a goal in the UEFA Cup first round match against Aston Villa. All in all the midfielder appeared in 123 games in all the tournaments and scored 38 goals for Litex Lovech for his five-year stint at the club.

In September 2010, Ivelin transferred to Gaziantepspor. On September 13, 2010 he made his debut appearance for the club featuring in the starting lineup against Galatasaray. The Bulgarian midfielder appeared in 60 league matches and scored 6 goals for the club for two seasons.

On August 25, 2012 Ivelin Popov signed a contract with FC Kuban Krasnodar where on September 2, 2012 he made his Russian Premier League debut against FC Dynamo Moscow. On October 26, he scored his maiden goal for the new side, remaining the only goal in his team’s match against Rostov.

As an international player Ivelin Popov represented the Bulgaria U-21 national football team in between 2006 and 2008. Since 2007 he is capped to the senior national team. In 2010 he was given the captain’s armband and thereby became the youngest Bulgaria national team’s captain ever.