Ivaylo Petev


Ivaylo Petev is a Bulgarian former professional footballer and current manager.

Club career

Petev previously played as a midfielder for Litex Lovech, Spartak Varna, Rodopa Smolyan and Marek Dupnitsa.

Managerial career

Ludogorets Razgrad

After a short spell at Lyubimets as a playing manager in 2009, Ivaylo Petev was appointed as head coach of Ludogorets Razgrad, following Kiril Domuschiev's purchase of the club. Petev managed to lead the team to a promotion to the top division of Bulgarian football, followed by two A Group titles, a Bulgarian Cup and a Bulgarian Supercup. On 21 July 2013, Ludogorets replaced him with Stoycho Stoev after poor performances against Lyubimets and Slovan Bratislava in the first leg of the Champions League qualifying rounds.

Levski Sofia

On 8 October 2013, Petev was appointed as the coach of Levski Sofia, which proved unpopular because of his past club allegiances. At his public unveiling, gathered Levski supporters stripped off his shirt in front of the press, which led to Petev's resignation a day later.

AEL Limassol

In October 2013, Petev signed a contract with Cypriot side AEL Limassol. He led AEL to the first place in the regular season's league table, three points ahead of Apollon Limassol and APOEL Nicosia, which resulted in the qualification for the play-offs. Although leading the group until the last round, AEL lost the title in the decisive match with APOEL. Despite the defeat, AEL qualified for the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League season. Petev led the team to a 1-0 win against Zenit Saint Petersburg in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, but his team failed to keep the advantage and lost the second leg 0-3 thus being eliminated and placed in the Europa League. AEL were drawn against English team, Tottenham Hotspur, but were eliminated after losing 5-1 on aggregate.

Bulgaria

In December 2014, Petev was officially appointed by the Bulgarian Football Union as head coach of Bulgaria. In his first official game in charge, Bulgaria played a 2-2 draw at home to Italy despite leading until the 84th minute thanks to first half goals from Ivelin Popov and Iliyan Mitsanski. The team eventually finished in fourth place and was unable to qualify for Euro 2016.

Dinamo Zagreb

On 27 September 2016, Petev became the head coach of Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb.

Personal life

In December 2014, Petev appeared on Slavi's Show. He is married and has a daughter.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

;Ludogorets Razgrad
;AEL Limassol
;GNK Dinamo Zagreb