Petar Mihtarski

Petar Mihtarski

Personal information
Full name	Petar Sotirov Mihtarski
Date of birth	(1966-07-15) 15 July 1966
Place of birth	Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Height
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1976–1982	Pirin Blagoevgrad
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982–1989	Pirin Blagoevgrad	166	(70)
1989–1991	Levski Sofia	55	(42)
1991–1994	Porto	12	(5)
1992–1994	→ Famalicão (loan)	42	(11)
1994	Pirin Blagoevgrad	10	(5)
1994–1995	CSKA Sofia	39	(33)
1996	Mallorca	11	(0)
1996–1997	Wolfsburg	17	(0)
1998–2000	Pirin Blagoevgrad	48	(15)
2000–2001	Levski Sofia	11	(4)
Total		411	(185)
International career
1989–1995	Bulgaria	8	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Petar Sotirov Mihtarski (Bulgarian: Петър Михтарски; born 15 July 1966) is a Bulgarian retired footballer who played as a striker.

Club career

Born in Blagoevgrad, Mihtarski spent the first 13 years of his career (youth years included) with local Pirin, making his first-team – and first division – debuts in 1982–83, appearing in eight games and scoring four goals in an eventual relegation. He went on to score in double digits in five of the following six seasons.

In the 1989 summer, Mihtarski signed for PFC Levski Sofia, netting 24 times in his debut season, and winning one Bulgarian Cup during his two-year spell. Subsequently, he joined F.C. Porto in Portugal, being barred by countryman Emil Kostadinov for most of his stay, and also being loaned twice to fellow top division outfit F.C. Famalicão; in his first year, however, he did manage five goals in only 11 games as the northerners won the national championship for the third time in five years.

In February 1994, Mihtarski was released by Porto and rejoined FC Pirin, netting five goals in three-months to help the club retain its top flight status. He then joined PFC CSKA Sofia, equalling a career-best 24 goals in the 1994–95 season, best in the competition but not good enough for the national title, as former team Levski won the championship with CSKA ranking only fifth. On 23 September 1994, he scored the only goal for CSKA in their record-breaking 1–7 loss against main rival Levski Sofia. During the 1994–95 UEFA Cup season he scored two goals in the first leg against Italian club Juventus to help his team to a 3–2 win, but was subsequently found to have been ineligible for the first match and Juve were awarded a 3–0 win. Mihtarski netted the only goal for the Bulgarians in the return game that ended 5–1 in favour of the side from Turin.

Mihtarski moved abroad again in January 1996, going on to spend the following one and a half season without finding the net, for both RCD Mallorca in Spain and Vfl Wolfsburg, with both teams in their respective countries' second division. After two more years with Pirin, he retired from the game at the age of 35 winning the first and only Bulgarian championship of his career, with Levski, albeit appearing sparingly.

International career

Barred by the likes of Kostadinov, Luboslav Penev, Nasko Sirakov and Hristo Stoitchkov, Mihtarski only gained eight caps for Bulgaria in six years (no goals), his debut coming in 1989.

He was part of the team that reached the semi-finals of the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, but his input in the competition consisted of one minute in the penalty shootout win against Mexico in the round-of-16.

Honours

Pirin

• Bulgarian Cup: Runner-up 1993–94

Levski

• Bulgarian A Professional Football Group: 2000–01
• Bulgarian Cup: 1990–91

Porto

• Primeira Liga: 1991–92

Personal

Mihtarski was only the second Bulgarian footballer whose surname did not end with a "V" to play in the FIFA World Cup finals. The first was Milko Gaydarski in 1970.

External links

• Petar Mihtarski at footballzz.co.uk
• Petar Mihtarski profile at ForaDeJogo
• BDFutbol profile
• Petar Mihtarski profile at Fussballdaten
• Petar Mihtarski at National-Football-Teams.com
• Petar Mihtarski – FIFA competition record