Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov (born January 30, 1981 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian football (soccer) who plays as a striker for English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur F.C.. He is captain of the Bulgaria national football team.

Early life

Berbatov was born in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. His father was a professional footballer with local outfit Pirin Blagoevgrad, and his mother Margarita was a professional handballer.

Club Career

Early Career

Berbatov's career began at the Pirin Blagoevgrad club, and continued until he was spotted by legendary scout and coach Dimitar Penev.

CSKA Sofia

At the age of just 17, Berbatov moved to one of the most successful Bulgarian clubs CSKA Sofia following in the footsteps of his father, Ivan, who also played for the club as a left winger and later as a defender. He played for CSKA Sofia in the Bulgarian A PFG between 1998 and January 2001 making his debut as an 18-year-old in the 1998-99 season. He started to make his name the following year when he scored 14 goals in 27 league games and won the Bulgarian Cup in 1999.

Bayer Leverkusen

A run of nine goals in 11 games in 2000-01 was enough to persuade Bayer Leverkusen to sign Berbatov in January 2001. Berbatov had a slow start to his Bayer Leverkusen career with just 16 goals in his first 67 appearances for the club. He did however play a crucial role in the UEFA Champions League 2001-02 during his first season with the club scoring a memorable solo effort against Olympique Lyonnais with an excellent bit of skill, as well as a goal against Liverpool F.C. in the quarter finals. He also played a part in the Final against Real Madrid coming on as a substitute for Thomas Brdaric after 38 minutes.

In 2001-02 Leverkusen were runners-up in the Bundesliga (football) and the DFB-Pokal. During the 2002-03 Bundesliga (football) season Berbatov established his place as the first-choice forward at Bayer Leverkusen but it wasn't until the 2003-04 season that he really began to shine scoring 16 goals in 24 starts. The following two seasons saw him go from strength to strength, netting another 46 goals including 5 in the UEFA Champions League 2001-02 raising awareness of his talent and generating interest from teams throughout Europe.

Tottenham Hotspur

In May 2006, Berbatov joined Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur F.C. for a fee of €16m, (Pound sterling10.9 million). making him the most expensive Bulgarian player in history. After being granted a work permit, the transfer was completed, and Berbatov joined Tottenham on 1 July, 2006. He scored 2 goals in 2 minutes in his first match as a Tottenham player against Birmingham City F.C. in a pre-season friendly match.

Berbatov scored his first Tottenham Hotspur F.C. goal on his home debut in the Premiership game against Sheffield United F.C. at White Hart Lane. He built up a rewarding partnership with Robbie Keane in the UEFA Cup until Spurs' departure to Sevilla FC in the quarter-finals, and, despite Martin Jol's rotation of his fellow strikers, Berbatov has firmly established himself as the first choice forward at the club. His experience in Europe is already reaping rewards for his new club. He scored five goals in four games during the group stage of the Uefa Cup, with his performances earning two man-of-the-match awards in the group stages against Besiktas and Club Brugge.

Despite his good form in European competition, Berbatov took a while to adapt to the Premiership, however he soon began to regain the great league form he had shown at Leverkusen with an excellent performance against Wigan Athletic F.C., scoring one and creating the other two in a 3-1 win. On December 9 2006, Berbatov scored his first The Football Association Barclays FA Premier League Brace (grouping) for Spurs in a 5-1 victory for his side against Charlton Athletic. Berbatov came on as a second half substitute against Fulham FC in the FA Cup to score his first two goals in the competition. Berbatov scored his first away goal in the Premier League at Goodison Park against Everton F.C., a first-time shot from around the penalty spot after an Aaron Lennon cross. Spurs went on to win the match 2-1.

On February 25 2007, Berbatov earned the Man of the match award in a 4-1 win against Bolton Wanderers F.C. after putting on a sensational performance which won him many plaudits, despite him not scoring in the match. One remarkable factor about the match was that Tottenham were reduced to 10 men after Robbie Keane was controversially sent off in the first half, meaning that Berbatov had to play the entire second half without a partner in attack, one of the few times he had been asked to do this at Spurs. However he still managed one of his best Premier League performances yet, and in the month that followed began to firmly establish his reputation as one of the most skillful strikers in the Premiership.

Berbatov and Spurs team-mate Robbie Keane were named joint winners of the FA Premier League Player of the Month award for April, the Spurs pair are the first players to share the award since Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp and Edu jointly claimed the award back in February 2004. He scored the 100th goal of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.'s 2006/2007 season with the first goal of a 2-0 victory over Charlton Athletic F.C. on May 7 2007.

Berbatov is also one of the few people to have two goals included in the BBC's goal of the month competition shortlist, with his sublime efforts against Wigan Athletic F.C. and Middlesbrough F.C. both being included. Berbatov ended the 2006/07 season with 12 goals in 33 appearances (including substitute appearances) in the Premier League, and also chipping in with 11 assists.

Due to his highly impressive displays, especially in the latter half of the season, he won the Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Season award in 2006/2007. Berbatov was also included in the FA Premier League's PFA Team of the Season on April 21, 2007, one of only three players in the team not to play for league winners Manchester United (the other two being Steven Gerrard and Didier Drogba).

Former Spurs captain turned Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp, has become a fan of Berbatov's displays and influence on the game, saying "Not many players could come to the Premier League and fit right in as he has done" .

There had been speculation that Berbatov would be involved in a big money move to Manchester United F.C. or Chelsea F.C. but he publicly stated that he is very happy at Tottenham. His agent said Manchester United were interested in Berbatov. On 24 August 2007 Manchester United's reps denied that they were interested in signing Berbatov. Tottenham have also denied any interest from any other club, and have stated that they have no intentions of selling the talented striker.

Career stats

^{Correct as of 4 September 2007}

Honours

Bulgarian Fans' Player of the Year: 2006

Club Members Player of the Year: 2006-2007

Tottenham Hotspur Fans Player of the Year: 2007

Trivia

- Has described former football player Alan Shearer as a role model.

- Learned the English language by watching the Godfather films.

- Lists his hobbies as drawing and basketball.

- Berbatov was voted as one of the "10 Hottest Bulgarian Men of the Year", an award given by the Bulgarian NOVA TV tabloid show Goreshto ("Hot").