Bulgaria at the FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.

Bulgaria has appeared in the finals of the FIFA World Cup on seven occasions, the first being at the 1962 tournament. They appeared in the FIFA World Cup subsequently in 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1994 and 1998. Their best performance was in 1994, where they finished in fourth place. They have failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup since 1998.

Record at the FIFA World Cup

Bulgaria's first appearance at the World Cup was at the seventh edition of the tournament in 1962. Between 1962 and 1974, they participated at four consecutive World Cup tournaments but did not survive the first round. Their best result followed in 1994, where they reached the semi-finals.

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter									Was not invited
1934	Did not qualify									3rd	3	0	0	3	3	14
1938										2nd	2	0	1	1	1	7
1950	Did not enter									Declined participation
1954	Did not qualify									3rd	4	0	1	3	3	7
1958										2nd	4	2	0	2	11	7
1962	Group stage	13th	3	0	1	2	1	7		1st	5	4	0	1	7	4
1966		12th	3	0	0	3	1	8		1st	5	4	0	1	11	7
1970		12th	3	0	1	2	5	9		1st	6	4	1	1	12	7
1974		11th	3	0	2	1	2	5		1st	6	4	2	0	13	3
1978	Did not qualify									2nd	4	1	2	1	5	6
1982										3rd	8	4	1	3	11	10
1986	Round of 16	15th	4	0	2	2	2	6		2nd	8	5	1	2	13	5
1990	Did not qualify									4th	6	1	1	4	6	8
1994	Fourth place	4th	7	3	1	3	10	11		2nd	10	6	2	2	19	10
1998	Group stage	22nd	3	0	1	2	1	7		1st	8	6	0	2	18	9
2002	Did not qualify									3rd	10	5	2	3	14	15
2006										3rd	10	4	3	3	17	17
2010										3rd	10	3	5	2	17	13
2014										4th	10	3	4	3	14	9
2018										4th	10	4	1	5	14	19
2022										4th	8	2	2	4	6	14
2026	To be determined									To be determined
2030
2034
Total	Fourth place	7/25	26	3	8	15	22	53		Total	137	62	29	46	215	191

*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out

By Match

World Cup	Round	Opponent	Score	Result	Venue	Scorers
1962	Group 4	Argentina	0–1	L	Rancagua	—
		Hungary	1–6	L	Rancagua	G. Sokolov
		England	0–0	D	Rancagua	—
1966	Group 3	Brazil	0–2	L	Liverpool	—
		Portugal	0–3	L	Manchester	—
		Hungary	1–3	L	Manchester	G. Asparuhov
1970	Group 4	Peru	2–3	L	León	D. Dermendzhiev, H. Bonev
		West Germany	2–5	L	León	A. Nikodimov, T. Kolev
		Morocco	1–1	D	León	D. Zhechev
1974	Group 3	Sweden	0–0	D	Düsseldorf	—
		Uruguay	1–1	D	Hanover	H. Bonev
		Netherlands	1–4	L	Dortmund	R. Krol (o.g.)
1986	Group A	Italy	1–1	D	Mexico City	N. Sirakov
		South Korea	1–1	D	Mexico City	P. Getov
		Argentina	0–2	L	Mexico City	—
	Round of 16	Mexico	0–2	L	Mexico City	—
1994	Group D	Nigeria	0–3	L	Dallas	—
		Greece	4–0	W	Chicago	H. Stoichkov (2), Y. Letchkov, D. Borimirov
		Argentina	2–0	W	Dallas	H. Stoichkov, N. Sirakov
	Round of 16	Mexico	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–1 pen.)	D	East Rutherford	H. Stoichkov
	Quarter-finals	Germany	2–1	W	East Rutherford	H. Stoichkov, Y. Letchkov
	Semi-finals	Italy	1–2	L	East Rutherford	H. Stoichkov
	Third place play-off	Sweden	0–4	L	Pasadena	—
1998	Group D	Paraguay	0–0	D	Montpellier	—
		Nigeria	0–1	L	Paris	—
		Spain	1–6	L	Lens	E. Kostadinov

Record by Opponent

FIFA World Cup matches (by team)
Opponent	Wins	Draws	Losses	Total	Goals Scored	Goals Conceded
Argentina	1	0	2	3	2	3
Brazil	0	0	1	1	0	2
England	0	1	0	1	0	0
Germany	1	0	0	1	2	1
Greece	1	0	0	1	4	0
Hungary	0	0	2	2	2	9
Italy	0	1	1	2	2	3
Mexico	0	1	1	2	1	3
Morocco	0	1	0	1	1	1
Netherlands	0	0	1	1	1	4
Nigeria	0	0	2	2	0	4
Paraguay	0	1	0	1	0	0
Peru	0	0	1	1	2	3
Portugal	0	0	1	1	0	3
South Korea	0	1	0	1	1	1
Spain	0	0	1	1	1	6
Sweden	0	1	1	2	0	4
Uruguay	0	1	0	1	1	1
West Germany	0	0	1	1	2	5

Tournament Summary

1962 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
Hungary	3	2	1	0	8	2	4.000	5
England	3	1	1	1	4	3	1.333	3
Argentina	3	1	1	1	2	3	0.667	3
Bulgaria	3	0	1	2	1	7	0.143	1

• England finished ahead of Argentina on goal average.

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1966 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
Portugal	3	3	0	0	9	2	4.500	6
Hungary	3	2	0	1	7	5	1.400	4
Brazil	3	1	0	2	4	6	0.667	2
Bulgaria	3	0	0	3	1	8	0.125	0

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1970 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
West Germany	3	3	0	0	10	4	+6	6
Peru	3	2	0	1	7	5	+2	4
Bulgaria	3	0	1	2	5	9	−4	1
Morocco	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

All times local (UTC−6)

1974 FIFA World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	5
Sweden	3	1	2	0	3	0	+3	4
Bulgaria	3	0	2	1	2	5	−3	2
Uruguay	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5	1

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1986 FIFA World Cup

Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup in Mexico by finishing second in Group Four, behind France with 11 points, but worse goal difference, ahead of the teams of Yugoslavia, East Germany, and Luxembourg. This was their fifth World Cup appearance. They were drawn in Group A with Italy, Argentina, and South Korea. In the opening match of the World Cup, the Bulgarians held the defending champions Italy to a 1–1 draw. Alessandro Altobelli gave the Italians the lead, but an 85th-minute equalizer by Nasko Sirakov gave the Bulgarians the point. The next match was another 1–1 draw against South Korea with the goal for Bulgaria coming from Plamen Getov in the 11th minute. They lost the final match of the group 2–0 against Argentina, who ended up winning the tournament. Despite not recording a win, the Bulgarians advanced to the knockout stage by being the third-best third placed team. That way, Bulgaria and also Uruguay became the first nations to qualify for the knockout stage without winning a game in the first round. In the Round of 16, they faced World Cup hosts Mexico and lost the match 2–0. Ivan Vutsov was the manager of the team.

1994 FIFA World Cup

Certainly^{[according to whom?]} one of the most important dates in Bulgarian football history is 17 November 1993, when Emil Kostadinov scored two goals to beat France in Paris, allowing Bulgaria to qualify for the World Cup in the United States in 1994. Under the management of Dimitar Penev, the Bulgarians, led by players such as Hristo Stoichkov, Yordan Letchkov, and Krasimir Balakov — along with a multitude of other talented players remembered in Bulgaria as the "Golden Generation" — made a strong impression by reaching the semi-finals. They entered Group D with Argentina, Nigeria, and Greece. Before that, the Bulgarians hadn't won a single match in five World Cup finals appearances. The first match ended with a 3–0 defeat by Nigeria. Despite the bad start, the team won 4–0 against World Cup-debuting featherweights Greece and 2–0 against Argentina. Argentina had actually been winning the group going into injury-time. A 91st-minute strike from Nasko Sirakov, however, meant that they dropped two places and finished third. Bulgaria continued to the next round, where they faced Mexico. The match ended 1–1 and after no goals were scored in extra time, penalties would decide which team would go through. Team captain Borislav Mihaylov made a good performance saving two of the penalty kicks. Bulgaria won 3–1 on penalties with Mihaylov becoming the hero for the Bulgarian team. In the quarter-finals, Bulgaria faced Germany. Lothar Matthäus scored from a penalty. The Bulgarians, however, managed to turn the game over with two goals by Hristo Stoichkov and Yordan Letchkov, giving them a 2–1 win and recording one of the most memorable wins for the team. Millions of Bulgarians celebrated this win in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia and other Bulgarian cities. Having reached the semi-finals, this was the best Bulgarian performance in the World Cup. In the semi-finals, they lost 2–1 to Italy. The third-place match was lost to Sweden, 4–0, and Bulgaria eventually finished in fourth place. Hristo Stoichkov was awarded the Golden Boot as the top scorer in the tournament with six goals (shared with Oleg Salenko). Krasimir Balakov was named in the all-star team along with Stoichkov. Starting 11: GK-Mihaylov(c); RB-Kiryakov/Kremenliev, CB/SW-Hubchev, CB-Ivanov, LB-Tsvetanov; DM-Yankov, CM-Lechkov, CM-Balakov, AM/CF-Sirakov/Borimirov; CF/RW-Kostadinov, CF/LW-Stoichkov.^[2][3]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Nigeria	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Bulgaria	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
3	Argentina	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
4	Greece	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

All times local (EDT/UTC–4, CDT/UTC–5, PDT/UTC–7)

1998 FIFA World Cup

Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup in France by finishing first in the Group 5, followed by Russia. They entered the competition with a new manager Hristo Bonev, since Dimitar Penev was sacked after Euro 1996. Bulgaria drew Spain, Nigeria, and Paraguay in Group D. The first match ended in a 0–0 goalless draw against Paraguay. In the second match, the Bulgarians lost 1–0 for a second-straight World Cup to Nigeria. The final match ended with a disappointing 6–1 defeat to Spain. Following the bad results, Bulgaria finished fourth in the group, with only one point, and didn't go through the next round. This was the last major appearance at World Cup level for Bulgaria.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Nigeria	3	2	0	1	5	5	0	6
Paraguay	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
Spain	3	1	1	1	8	4	+4	4
Bulgaria	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

Record players

Rank	Player	Matches	World Cups
1	Borislav Mihaylov	11	1986 and 1994
	Nasko Sirakov	11	1986 and 1994
3	Krasimir Balakov	10	1994 and 1998
	Emil Kostadinov	10	1994 and 1998
	Hristo Stoichkov	10	1994 and 1998
6	Dimitar Penev	9	1966, 1970 and 1974
	Trifon Ivanov	9	1994 and 1998
8	Zlatko Yankov	8	1994 and 1998
9	Georgi Asparuhov	7	1962, 1966 and 1970
	Petar Houbchev	7	1994
	Yordan Letchkov	7	1994
	Daniel Borimirov	7	1994 and 1998
	Ivaylo Yordanov	7	1994 and 1998

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	World Cups
1	Hristo Stoichkov	6	1994
2	Hristo Bonev	2	1970 and 1974
	Nasko Sirakov	2	1986 and 1994
	Yordan Letchkov	2	1994
5	Georgi Sokolov	1	1962
	Georgi Asparuhov	1	1966
	Dinko Dermendzhiev	1	1970
	Todor Kolev	1	1970
	Asparuh Nikodimov	1	1970
	Dobromir Zhechev	1	1970
	Plamen Getov	1	1986
	Daniel Borimirov	1	1994
	Emil Kostadinov	1	1998

Individual awards

• Golden Boot 1994: Hristo Stoichkov (shared)
• Bronze Ball 1994: Hristo Stoichkov

See also

• Bulgaria at the UEFA European Championship

References

External links

• Bulgaria at FIFA
• World Cup Finals Statistics