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Bulgaria Under-21
Nickname(s)	The Lions (Lavovete) (лъвовете)
Association	Bulgarian Football Union
Head coach	Aleksandar Stankov
Captain	Ivelin Popov
Most caps	? (?)
Top scorer	? (?)
First kit 　 Second kit
First International ?
Biggest win ?
Biggest defeat ?
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	2 (First in 1978)
Best result	semi-finalists 1978

The Bulgaria national under-21 football team (Bulgarian: младежки национален отбор на България по футбол, mladezhki natsionalen otbor na Balgariya po futbol) is the national under-21 football team of Bulgaria and is controlled by the Bulgarian Football Union. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.

Contents 1 UEFA U-23 Championship record 2 UEFA U-21 Championship record 3 Squad 3.1 Goalkeepers 3.2 Defenders 3.3 Midfielders 3.4 Forwards 4 See also 5 References and external links

The Bulgaria national under-23 football team was the first ever champion in the UEFA Under-23 Challenge Cup. The team defended the title four times between June 1967 and April 1967: against East Germany, Finland, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands before losing it to Yugoslavia in October 1968.

• 1972: semi-finalists
• 1974: quarter-finalists
• 1976: quarter-finalists

• 1978: semi-finalists
• 1980: qualifying stage
• 1982: qualifying stage
• 1984: qualifying stage
• 1986: qualifying stage
• 1988: qualifying stage
• 1990: quarter-finalists
• 1992: qualifying stage
• 1994: qualifying stage
• 1996: qualifying stage
• 1998: qualifying stage
• 2000: qualifying stage
• 2002: qualifying stage
• 2004: qualifying stage
• 2006: qualifying stage

The Bulgarian under-21 team has also qualified for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship play-offs by dominating Qualifying Group 12 after two wins against 2006 Championship finalists Ukraine (3:0 away) and the team of Croatia (2:1 home). The Under-21s were aided by senior team stars Valeri Bojinov (Juventus F.C.) and Chavdar Yankov (Hannover 96) for these matches. Other of the team's distinguished players as of 2006 include Tsvetan Genkov (PFC Lokomotiv Sofia) and Valeri Domovchiyski (PFC Levski Sofia).

The Bulgaria Under-21s face Belgium in the play-offs on 7 and 11 October 2006. The first match in Belgium ended in a 1-1 draw.

Correct as of August 2006.^[1]

• Nikolay Mihaylov (FC Liverpool)
• Iliya Nikolov (Litex Lovech)

• Ivan Bandalovski (Litex Lovech)
• Yordan Miliev (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)
• Borislav Stoychev (Vidima-Rakovski)
• Petar Zanev (Celta de Vigo)
• Aleksandar Aleksandrov (Cherno More Varna)
• Plamen Nikolov (Litex Lovech)
• Ivan Ivanov (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)
• Georgi Samokishev (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)
• Tihomir Trifonov (Dunav Rousse)

• Hristo Zlatinski (Lokomotiv Plovdiv)
• Ivo Ivanov (Lokomotiv Sofia)
• Shikoze Udoji (CSKA Sofia)
• Stanislav Manolev (Litex Lovech)
• Ivelin Popov (Litex Lovech) (captain)
• Mihail Aleksandrov (Borussia Dortmund)
• Todor Timonov (Botev Plovdiv)
• Nikolay Dimitrov (Levski Sofia)
• Daniel Dimov (Cherno More Varna)

• Vladislav Mirchev (Spartak Varna)
• Valeri Domovchiyski (Levski Sofia)
• Valeri Bojinov (Manchester City FC)
• Branimir Kostadinov (Hearts)

• Bulgaria national football team
• European Under-21 Football Championship

• UEFA Under-21 website, complete results archive
• The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, full record of U-21 and U-23 Championships

National under-21 football teams of Europe (UEFA) v • d • e
Albania | Andorra | Armenia | Austria | Azerbaijan | Belarus | Belgium | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bulgaria | Croatia | Cyprus | Czech Republic | Denmark | England | Estonia | Faroe Islands | Finland | France | Georgia | Germany | Greece | Hungary | Iceland | Republic of Ireland | Israel | Italy | Kazakhstan | Latvia | Liechtenstein | Lithuania | Luxembourg | FYR of Macedonia | Malta | Moldova | Montenegro | Netherlands | Northern Ireland | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Russia | San Marino | Scotland | Serbia | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | Ukraine | Wales Former nations: Czechoslovakia | East Germany | USSR | Yugoslavia
European Under-21 Championship v • d • e
1976-1978 | 1978-1980 | 1980-1982 | 1982-1984 | 1984-1986 | 1986-1988 | 1988-1990 | 1990-1992 | 1992-1994 France | 1994-1996 Spain | 1996-1998 Romania | 1998-2000 Slovakia | 2000-2002 Switzerland | 2002-2004 Germany | 2004-2006 Portugal | 2006-2007 Netherlands | 2007-2009 Sweden