Stiliyan Petrov

Stiliyan Alyoshev Petrov (Bulgarian: Стилиян Альошев Петров, born 5 July 1979) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

With his new club, he won the Bulgarian Championship in 1997 and the national cup in 1997 and 1999.

Petrov joined Celtic from CSKA Sofia in 1999, and won ten trophies in his time at Celtic Park, including four Scottish Premier League titles.

Petrov was signed in the summer of 1999 by John Barnes for a fee of £2.8 million.

The teenager featured prominently in a season where he won the League Cup with Celtic, his second major honour and the first of many with Celtic.

Despite the happy end to the season Petrov had a very hard time starting with the club.

He was homesick and lonely at the start, and could not speak English.

This was made worse by the manager playing him out of position at right back.

Eventually, he improved his English by working in a friend's burger van.

This hard work and determination to fit in showed in his performances for the club.

After a good first season with Celtic he enjoyed a brilliant second season under Martin O'Neill's treble winning side, becoming a regular scorer netting 7 league goals in 28 appearances, one of which was in Celtic's 6–2 victory over Rangers.

He also became the first foreign player to win the SPFA Young Player of the Year award.

However he missed the end of the season after breaking his leg in a league game against St Johnstone and missed both the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup finals as a result.

The following season, 2001–02, Petrov made his return from injury against Dunfermline Athletic in September, and then really came into form for Celtic, being described as a dynamic, hardworking box-to-box midfielder, and winning his second SPL medal.

In his fourth season with Celtic, Petrov continued his good form and was being linked to some of the top clubs in Europe but after protracted contract talks he eventually agreed a new deal with Celtic.

This was his highest ever goalscoring season, netting 14 in 50 appearances.

He also got to the only European final of his career, getting a runner's up medal in the Uefa Cup.

In his next two seasons for Celtic he continued to be an essential player making 105 appearances and scoring 19 goals.

He won the Scottish Cup twice in this time (scoring in the 2004 final) along with his third SPL medal.

The 2004–05 season was Martin O'Neill's last at Celtic, although Stiliyan Petrov would later join him at Aston Villa.

The 04/05 season also saw Petrov becoming the third player to win the Celtic Player of The Year award.

The 2005–06 season was a time of great change for Celtic.

Martin O'Neill, the club's most successful manager in 20 years, left and new manager Gordon Strachan came in.

Things started badly for Celtic as they lost 5–0 to Slovakian minnows Artmedia Bratislava in Strachan's first match.

Celtic then managed to throw away a 3–1 lead over Motherwell to draw Strachan's first league match 4–4, although Petrov later helped Celtic exact revenge over the Fir Park side by scoring his first hat-trick in a 5–0 demolition in October that year.

Celtic overcame their bad start to the campaign to win the SPL and League Cup double.

The 2005–06 season proved to be his last at Celtic as he re-united with former manager Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa for a fee of £6.5 million rising to £8 million after clauses.

This was after a long transfer saga in which Stiliyan Petrov was linked to almost every mid-table side in England.

He only made 3 appearances for Celtic before leaving in the summer transfer window.

In all, Petrov made 312 appearances for Celtic over seven years, scoring 55 goals.

He won the SPL four times and also won both the Scottish and Scottish League Cup 3 times each.

In 2006, he moved to Aston Villa in the Premier League, along with his former manager Martin O'Neill.

In March 2012, Petrov was diagnosed with acute leukaemia, suspending his football career to undergo treatment which was ultimately successful.

Petrov became club captain at Villa Park, and was an inductee to the Aston Villa Hall of Fame in 2013 having made 219 competitive appearances for the club.

In addition, Petrov is Bulgaria's all-time most-capped player with 105 appearances for the national team.

He officially announced his retirement from the game in May 2013.

Following spells as both a youth team and first team coach at Aston Villa in 2013 and 2015, Petrov returned to training in 2016, initially with the under-21 side, and later the seniors.

He played during pre-season matches but was not offered a playing contract by manager Roberto Di Matteo.

Born in Montana, Petrov started to play football in the local team FC Montana.

At the age of 18 he was spotted by scout and coach Dimitar Penev and signed with CSKA Sofia for fee of €30,000.