Bozhidar Iskrenov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bozhidar Iskrenov (Bulgarian: Божидар Искренов) (born 1 August 1962), nicknamed Gibona (Гибона; "The Gibbon") and Gibi (Гиби), is a former Bulgarian footballer who spent most of his career playing for PFC Levski Sofia as an attacker.

A native of the capital Sofia, Iskrenov played for Levski between 1979 and 1989, scoring 41 goals in 208 matches. He was then transferred to the Spanish Real Zaragoza in 1989-1990, but could not establish himself in the first team and went on as a Lausanne Sports player in Switzerland in 1990–1991. Spells at PFC Botev Plovdiv (1991–1992), PFC CSKA Sofia (twice between 1994 and 1994) and PFC Shumen (1994) followed, with Iskrenov ending his career at FC Septemvri Sofia (1994–1995).

Iskrenov won the top Bulgarian league, the A PFG, three times (all with Levski): in 1984, 1985 and 1988, as well as the Bulgarian Cup in 1982, 1984 and 1986 (with Levski) and 1993 (with CSKA). He played a total of 263 matches and scored 58 goals in the A PFG.

For the Bulgaria national team, Bozhidar Iskrenov has 56 matches and 5 goals, debuting on 28 October 1981 in a 0–3 defeat by Brazil and retiring from international football on 22 May 1993 after a 2–2 draw between Bulgaria and Israel in Sofia. He played at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, when Bulgaria reached the round of 16.

Iskrenov also had a brief film career. He appeared in the movie Manevri na petiya etazh, as the elevator technician.

	Bulgaria squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup
1 Mikhailov | 2 Sirakov | 3 Arabov | 4 Petrov | 5 Dimitrov | 6 Zhelyazkov | 7 Iskrenov | 8 Sadkov | 9 Mladenov | 10 Gospodinov | 11 Getov | 12 Zdravkov | 13 A. Markov | 14 P. Markov | 15 Yordanov | 16 Dragolov | 17 Kolev | 18 Velichkov | 19 Pashev | 20 Kostadinov | 21 Dyakov | 22 Valov | Coach: Vutsov