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Bulgaria national football team

Bulgaria
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Лъвовете (The Lions)
Association Bulgarian Football Union
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Petar Hubchev
Captain Svetoslav Dyakov
Most caps Stiliyan Petrov (105)
Top scorer Dimitar Berbatov, Hristo Bonev (48)
FIFA code BUL
FIFA ranking
Current 72 Decrease 1 (12 January 2017)
Highest 3 (August 1994)
Lowest 96 (August 2012)
Elo ranking
Current 68 (23 January 2017)
Highest 7 (August 1969)
Lowest 70 (12 October 2016)
First international
 Bulgaria 0–6 Austria Austria
(Vienna, Austria; 21 May 1924)
Biggest win
Bulgaria Bulgaria 10–0 Ghana 
(Leon, Mexico; 14 October 1968)
Biggest defeat
 Spain 13–0 Bulgaria 
(Madrid, Spain; 21 May 1933)
World Cup
Appearances 7 (first in 1962)
Best result Semi-final: 1994
European Championship
Appearances 2 (first in 1996)
Best result Group stage, 1996 and 2004
Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
Silver medal – second place 1968 Mexico City Team
Bronze medal – third place 1956 Melbourne Team

The Bulgaria national football team (Bulgarian: Български национален отбор по футбол) represents Bulgaria in international association football and is controlled by the Bulgarian Football Union, the nation's governing body of football and a member association of UEFA.

The Bulgarian team's home ground is the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia and Petar Hubchev is the current national manager. A previous bronze medal winner at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a runner-up at the 1968 Olympic football tournament, Bulgaria has appeared in seven editions of the FIFA World Cup and has participated in two UEFA European Championships.

The country's finest hour came in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, in which they overcame defending champions Germany to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament. Despite losing to Italy and Sweden in an eventual fourth-place finish, Bulgaria's major 1994 World Cup campaign provided the tournament's top scorer and future Ballon d'Or recipient Hristo Stoichkov.

Despite these achievements, the team's strength has slowly diminished in the last decade, with them failing to qualify for any major tournament since UEFA Euro 2004.

The Bulgaria national team was founded in 1922. In 1923, the Bulgarian Football Union was established and the team's first match was held in Vienna on 21 May 1924, with a 6–0 defeat to Austria.


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