The new young star of Bulgarian football Georgi Milanov expectedly won the annual Footballer of the Year Award.

The player demonstrated very good and stable performance during the year for his club Litex, as well as for the national team. This way the 20-year-old player became the youngest holder of the prestigious award, which has over 50 years of history. Football star Dimitar Berbatov previously held the record. 10 years ago Berbatov won his first out of a total of 7 Footballer of the Year prizes and he was 21-years-old back then.

Milanov has played over 70 games in the Bulgarian first division and has already been a champion of the country with his team twice. The trust of managers in the abilities of the players is clearly seen and football experts expect bright future for Milanov. In September he scored an important goal in the Brazil 2014 qualifications against Italy and proved manager Luboslav Penev did not make a mistake inviting him in the national side. Under the management of Penev the dreams for qualifying for the World Cup were suddenly revived, just like the motivation of the players. That is why Penev won the Manager of the Year Award.

“It is a great honor for me to be the best footballer in Bulgaria for 2012,” said Georgi Milanov when receiving his award and thanked managers for the trust.

The player of Partizan Belgrade Ivan Ivanov placed second in this year’s chart. The good performance of the player of the Serbian champion did not remain unnoticed and a number of media started writing about a coming transfer of Ivanov to an English club. Player of PSV Eindhoven Stanislav Manolev placed third in the chart.

This year a special prize was given to Bulgarian footballer Stiliyan Petrov for his contribution to the image of Bulgarian football abroad and for uniting fans. In 2012 Petrov temporarily stopped playing in Aston Villa in order to combat leukemia. Fans across Europe forgot their differences for a while and united in their efforts to show love and support to the talented player.

This year’s Footballer of the Year Award will also be remembered with an interesting fact.  During the past 10 editions of the award, players of foreign clubs have always won the prize. Georgi Milanov became one of the few footballers playing in a Bulgarian club who won the award after 1990. Media frequently talk about a possible transfer of Milanov to a foreign club, but he is currently staying and local fans expect his next matches and future success.

English version: Alexander Markov