Footballer of the Year 2010

published on 1/14/11 1:47 PM

Photo: Архив

At the end of each year various award ceremonies are organized in every sphere of life in Bulgaria, as it is time to celebrate achievements. Sports are where achievements are everything and football is the game of the games, occupying the minds and providing pleasant emotions to a vast number of Bulgarians. Periods of the modern Bulgarian history have been marked by football emotions and remembered because of them. Footballers have become legends. Of course, in times of lack of success desperation followed and hope for the new Bulgarian football messiah to take the game to a next level arose.
Football Player of the Year has been an annual event since 1961. Legendary players like Georgi Asparuhov, Dimitar Penev, Hristo Stoichkov have all won the title but there is one present-day master of football who holds the record for most titles in his career, winning his 7th Player of the Year Award in the end of 2010. This is Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov. He is the man who has broken almost every football record in Bulgaria, most of them previously held by Hristo Stoichkov. But Berbatov has not forgotten that the heritage of the greatest players of the past is what showed him the way to world success. Here is what the player said upon receiving this year’s award, after previously winning it in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

“One cannot be tired of success and I am sure a number of people here know this. I can tell you why Hristo Stoichkov is great, for example. He is a great footballer, because he knows that what he has done is also thanks to his teammates, as well as to the players before him. One should learn from the best and you were all my teachers. It is easy to admire foreign football players but is great that there were superb players in the history of Bulgarian football. I am proud to be here among you. It is good to win awards but it is even better that I can still learn something from you. Probably young people in Bulgaria do not understand that you cannot achieve success without respecting your past. I hope they will understand this some day,” Dimitar Berbatov said upon receiving the award

Several generations of football players were present at the ceremony, and they all shared the hope for success and great achievements of those who come after them.

Borislav Mihailov, Bulgaria’s magnificent goalkeeper at the World Cup 94, when Bulgaria became 4th in the world after losing against Italy at the semifinals, was also present at the ceremony, now as a President of the Bulgarian Football Union. Although his job at the ceremony was to give awards, he also had to take one home. His son and current goalkeeper of the national team, Nikolay Mihailov became goalkeeper of the year but because of matches abroad he could not come to the ceremony. His father took the award for him, not trying to conceal his excitement.

“There is no better present for a father than this. He deserves this award and has won it because of his achievements. I was very excited to receive the award and extremely happy for him,” he said.

The Footballer of the Year Award was time for celebration and hope that grave issues in Bulgarian football would be solved and 2011 would be more successful than 2010. The past year was marked by troubles in the national team and poor performance and Bulgarian football fans now wish for victories The team also dealt a hard blow when Dimitar Berbatov announced he quits playing for it. The year was not successful but I hope things will change in 2011, Borislav Mihaylov told Radio Bulgaria. The new manager of the national team, Lothar Matthaus has ambitious goals and counts on young and talented players. Now is the time for them to prove they are worthy of wearing the Bulgarian shirt and are ready to achieve their ambitions and fulfill the dreams of millions. As football will never vanish, nor would the names that remain in the history of the game.

По публикацията работи: Alexander Markov

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Footballer of the Year 2010

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