Berbatov and the Bulgarian National Team

Berbatov and the Bulgarian National Team

Aside from playing for top teams throughout his career, Dimitar Berbatov also played for the Bulgarian national team. Following his great performances in the football leagues, Berbatov’s career as part of the Bulgarian national team was not disappointing at all. Berbatov joined the Bulgarian national team in November 1999 when he played in a friendly [...]

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Dimitar Berbatov: Premier League Career Statistics

We’ve talked about Dimitar Berbatov’s career statistics from the days when he played for CSKA Sofia and Bayer Leverkusen. After a fantastic 2005-06 season with Bayer Leverkusen, Berbatov transferred to Tottenham Hotspur and joined the British Premier League, noted as the best football league in the world.

Starting his career with Tottenham Hotspur, Berbatov surprised everyone by scoring a total of 23 goals in 49 appearances. He managed to blend right in and found his comfort zone with the new team right away. In the Premier League alone, Berbatov scored 12 goals for Tottenham Hotspur. Entering the second season, Berbatov scored another total of 23 goals for the team. This time, he scored 15 Premier League goals for Tottenham, placing him as one of the most productive strikers in the league. Berbatov played one game with Tottenham Hotspur before transferring to Manchester United in the beginning of the 2008-09 season.

Starting his career as a player for Manchester United, Berbatov impressed Sir Alex Ferguson by scoring 9 Premier League goals and a total of 14 goals during the 2008-09 season. He also scored a total of 12 goals for Manchester United in the 2009-10 season.

Starting the 2010-11 season, Berbatov showed how much of a striker he is by scoring a staggering 11 Premier League goals so far. There were only 13 matches played so far, so Berbatov established an amazing record of scoring almost one goal in every match. It is certainly interesting to see how this season will turn out.

Dimitar Berbatov: Career Statistics

There is no doubt that Dimitar Berbatov is a magnificent football player. Thousands of fans from all around the world are still following his career closely. He is known to be agile and capable not only because of his performances on the field but also because of his amazing track records and career statistics.

After joining the CSKA Sofia, Berbatov quickly scored a total of 6 goals for the team. That includes 3 goals in the Bulgarian football league and 3 Bulgarian Cup goals. Playing in only 16 matches, the 6 goals scored proved that Berbatov was aiming for the stars. The second season with CSKA Sofia was also remarkable, with Berbatov scoring 16 goals out of 33 appearances. However, the true highlight of his early career was when he scored 16 goals in 15 appearances in his 2000-01 season with CSKA Sofia.

After transferring to Bayer Leverkusen, Berbatov was struggling to adjust. His played only 6 games during his first season with Leverkusen, scoring no goals. His performances kept getting better, because he scored a total of 16 goals in his second season. After reaching the best form with the team, Berbatov proved once again that he is not an ordinary football player by scoring 24 goals in 37 appearances during his final season with Leverkusen.

So what about Berbatov’s achievements after joining the Premier League? There are some interesting career statistics to discuss, but we are going to save them for another discussion. Stay tuned for more updates right here on this site.

Individual Awards

As a talented football player, Dimitar Berbatov won a lot of awards. Aside from team awards, including some spectacular championship wins, Berbatov also banked several individual awards given by prestigious institutions in football. What are the awards Berbatov won to date? That is what we are going to find out in this article.

The most famous award won by Berbatov would have to be the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year, especially because he won no less than 6 awards in total. The first one was awarded in 2002, followed by the second Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award in 2004. He then won the 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Bulgarian Footballer of the Year awards and broke the record held by Hristo Stoichkov. Aside from the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award, Berbatov also won the Bulgarian Man of the Year award in 2009.

In the 2006-07 season, Berbatov won the Tottenham Hotspur Club Player of the Year award following his spectacular season. He scored a total of 23 goals out of 49 appearances for the team, proving his quality as a professional football player indeed. The same season, Berbatov also won the PFA Premier League Team of the Year award. The streak didn’t stop there, because in April 2007 Berbatov also won the Premier League Player of the Month award. These awards clearly state just how fantastic Berbatov’s skills and attitude as a professional football player are. We can expect the Bulgarian to win more awards in the future for sure.

Transfer to Manchester United

Manchester United is the home of many skilled professional football players from all around the world. Dimitar Berbatov is certainly one of the talented players recruited by Sir Alex Ferguson to be part of his team. The move itself was completed in September 2008, with a transfer value of £30.75 million and the slight complaint from Tottenham Hotspur being the highlights of the transfer.

The contract Berbatov signed with Manchester United is for four years. He got to wear the infamous number 9, used to be worn by Louis Saha. In his debut match, Berbatov assisted Carlos Tevez in scoring Manchester United’s only goal in the match; the team lost to Liverpool with a final score of 2-1. Berbatov’s first two goals, on the other hand, was scored during a match against Aalborg BK in the Champions League group stage, also in September 2008.

As a midfielder, Berbatov completed his first season with Manchester United rather remarkably. He banked a total of 10 assists – along with Fabregas, Gerrard and Lampard – losing only to Robin van Persie who booked a total of 11 assists.

The 2009–10 season was no less interesting, with Berbatov showing his best performances throughout the season. Facing Wigan Athletic on 22 August 2009, Berbatov started the season by scoring the second goal for Manchester United. The match ended with a final score of 5-0 for Manchester United. Berbatov had to face an injury after a match against Blackburn Rovers, but he quickly returned to the team and continued to show great performances after a month.

The Early Days

Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov, also known as Dimitar Berbatov or simply Dimi, is a Bulgarian football player with a stunning track record. The young player has won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year six times to date, with more awards already in his pocket as well. Berbatov’s career as a professional football player started when he joined Pirin Blagoevgrad and has been glorious since.

Shortly after joining Pirin Blagoevgrad, Berbatov was spotted by CSKA Sofia’s manager Dimitar Penev. At the age of 17, Berbatov joined the team and started playing for CSKA Sofia. The early days of his career was fantastic indeed, winning his first Bulgarian Cup in 1999, only a year after joining the team. His father, Ivan, was also a player for CSKA Sofia.

Another Bulgarian team, Levski Kjustendil, owned by Bulgarian gangster Georgi Iliev tried to kidnap the young player and force him into signing a new contract, but Berbatov survived the kidnapping and continue to play for CSKA Sofia. Berbatov was also reported to have reached an agreement with a Serie A team Lecce, although the agreement was never completed due to last minute changes.

It was not until January 2001 that Berbatov ended his time with CSKA Sofia. It was Bayer Leverkusen that succeeded in signing Berbatov after seeing his spectacular performance in the 2000-01 season. Berbatov started his career in Leverkusen with 16 goals for the team, but the slow start didn’t make the young player any less motivated to show better performances in the future.