Valeri Bojinov

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Valeri Bojinov
Personal information
Full name	Valeri Emilov Bojinov
Date of birth	February 15, 1986 (age 21)
Place of birth	Gorna Oryahovitsa, Bulgaria
Height	6 ft (1.83 m)
Nickname	l’immigrato,The Boj'[1]
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Juventus
Number	9
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
2001-2004 2005-2006 2006-	Lecce Fiorentina Juventus	65 (16) 36 (8) 10 (4) [2]
National team**
2004-	Bulgaria	11 (2)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for all official competitions and correct as of 15 February, 2007. ** National team caps and goals correct as of October 31, 2006.

Valeri Emilov Bojinov (Bulgarian: Валери Божинов [və.'lɛ.ri bo.'ʒi.nov]), sometimes spelt Bozhinov, (born February 15, 1986) is a Bulgarian football striker who plays for Juventus in Italy.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Club Football Career 1.2 International career 2 Record breaking 3 Name spelling 4 Trivia 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in the Bulgarian town of Gorna Oryahovitsa, Bozhinov moved to Malta at the age of 12 with his mother; Pepa, a former Bulgarian national basketball team player and stepfather Sasho Angelov, who had played for the Bulgarian national football team during the 1990s.

Valeri Bojinov (Bojinov in French and Portuguese transcription) was discovered at the age of 14 by U.S. Lecce sports director Pantaleo Corvino, while playing for Pietà Hotspurs, and signed for just 30,000,000 ITL (around 15,000 €).

[edit] Club Football Career

A promising youngster, Bojinov settled in Lecce and continued his studies there while playing for U.S. Lecce youth teams. He debuted in Italian Serie A on January 22, 2002, at the age of 15 years and 11 months for U.S. Lecce, becoming the youngest foreign player to make an appearance in the top level of Italian football. His first goal in the top division came on January 6, 2004 in a home 1-2 defeat against Bologna.

Bojinov showed shades of his potential with US Lecce under the guidance of coach Zdeněk Zeman, tallying up 16 goals; he was soon picked up by Fiorentina in January 2005, in a transfer worth approximately €13 million (11 million pounds), he was just 18 years old at the time.^[3] Ironically, the Viola man who attended and operated the bid was Pantaleo Corvino, the same man who discovered Bojinov and brought him to Italy in the first place. The profile of Valeri Bojinov rose and he became considered as one of the highest-regarded young strikers in the world.

During January 2006 Bojinov was rumoured to be joining Italian giants Inter Milan on a 6 month loan deal, with Internazionale goalkeeper Francesco Toldo rumoured to be going in the opposite direction. However, he remained in Florence and was re-introduced into Fiorentina's squad after a period of exclusion. He built up a partnership with Luca Toni during the 2005-06 season, with Toni scoring the most Serie A goals in one season, since 1958-59.

In July 2006 he moved to Italian powerhouse Juventus in a deal which included Adrian Mutu's transfer to Fiorentina. Bojinov said that he would be happy to stay with Juve and that they do have the option. Viola sporting director Pantaleo Corvino has stated that Juve can complete the signing of the striker for a fee of £4 million; "There is a written clause with Juventus which allows them to keep him by paying £4m".^[4]

[edit] International career

While with Lecce, Bojinov had previously played at various youth levels for his country. On his under-21 debut for Bulgaria Bojinov scored an impressive bicycle kick against Greece.

He was called up to the full Bulgaria national side, at Euro 2004. Bojinov made one appearance in the tournament (his first team debut), against Italy (Which Bulgaria lost 2-1) in June 2004. Against Ireland later that year in August, he scored his first goal for the national side.

To date the young front man has played 11 times for his country netting twice, becoming a first team regular in Hristo Stoichkov's squad.

[edit] Record breaking

• Youngest ever foreign player to make an appearance in Serie A, at 15 years and 11 months for U.S. Lecce.
• Youngest non-national to score in Serie A. Achieved on 11 January 2004 for Lecce.

[edit] Name spelling

He is most commonly known by the name Valeri Bojinov, which is the French and Portuguese transliteration of his birth name; Валери Божинов. Bozhinov is the correct English language transliteration, yet he remains known most widely, even in English language media reports as "Bojinov".

[edit] Trivia

• During the 2003-04 season Bojinov earned praise from Juventus and Italy legend Gianluca Vialli, who said of Bojinov; "He's better than Christian Vieri was at that age."^[5]
• In total only four players have made appearances in Serie A at a younger age than Bojinov. All four of them Italians, including the great Gianni Rivera.
• His girlfriend is Bulgarian chalga star Alisia. The pair are a favorite of tabloids in their country and they have even appeared together in one of her music videos.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Juventus.com - Profile and Stats
• FootballDatabase.com - Profile and Stats

	Bulgaria squad - 2004 Euro Cup
1 Zdravkov | 2 V. Ivanov | 3 Kirilov | 4 I. Petkov | 5 Zagorćić | 6 Kotev | 7 Borimirov | 8 M. Petkov | 9 Berbatov | 10 V. Dimitrov | 11 Lazarov | 12 Kolev | 13 Peev | 14 Chilikov | 15 Hristov | 16 Manchev | 17 M. Petrov | 18 Pažin | 19 S. Petrov | 20 Bojinov | 21 Janković | 22 Stoyanov | 23 Ivankov | Coach: Markov

Juventus F.C. - Current Squad
1 Buffon | 2 Birindelli | 3 Chiellini | 4 Kovač | 5 Tudor | 6 C. Zanetti | 8 Giannichedda | 9 Bojinov | 10 Del Piero | 11 Nedvěd | 12 Mirante | 13 Piccolo | 14 Balzaretti | 15 Marchisio | 16 Camoranesi | 17 Trézéguet | 18 Boumsong | 19 Paro | 20 Palladino | 22 Belardi | 23 Guzmán | 25 Zalayeta | 27 Zebina | 29 De Ceglie | 30 Legrottaglie | 32 Marchionni | 33 Urbano | Coach Deschamps