Career
On the club level, Zdravkov has played for Levski Sofia (1989–1995), Istanbulspor (1997–1999 and 2000–2002), Adanaspor (1999–2000), Cherno More (2002–2003), Litex Lovech (2003–2004) and Çaykur Rizespor (2004–2007). For Bulgaria, Zdravkov has been capped 70 times. He was the starting goalkeeper for his country at the Euro 1996, 1998 World Cup and Euro 2004.
Halfway through the France World Cup in 1998, with Bulgaria having played two games (0–0 against Paraguay and a 0–1 loss to Nigeria), Zdravkov was ranked as the 2nd best goalkeeper in form. Although he went on to concede 6 goals in Bulgaria's unforunate loss to Spain in the next game, Zdravkov was an exceptional performer at the World Cup.
December 2002 until January 2003, Zdravkov spent a trial period with Arsenal F.C., but did not eventually sign with the then-reigning FA Premier League champions.
Six years later, at UEFA Euro 2004, Zdravkov's age began to show. He did not concede any 'soft' goals and few could say he made any serious errors, but he was outclassed by some very talented Swedish, Danish and Italian attackers. Bulgaria lost 0–5 to Sweden, 0–2 to Denmark and 1–2 to Italy, and this was to be Zdravkov's final tournament as national team goalkeeper.
Read more about this topic: Zdravko Zdravkov
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