Ilko Pirgov

In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Emilov and the family name is Pirgov.

Ilko Emilov Pirgov (Bulgarian: Илко Емилов Пиргов; born 23 May 1986) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, who is currently the sporting director of Lokomotiv Plovdiv. He is the older brother of Dimitar Pirgov.

Ilko Pirgov

Personal information
Full name	Ilko Emilov Pirgov
Date of birth	(1986-05-23) 23 May 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth	Gotse Delchev, Bulgaria
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Lokomotiv Plovdiv (Sporting Director)
Youth career
	Pirin Gotse Delchev
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2002–2005	Pirin Blagoevgrad	37	(0)
2005–2008	CSKA Sofia	11	(0)
2008	Otopeni	6	(0)
2009–2011	Cherno More	76	(0)
2012–2014	Litex Lovech	60	(0)
2014	Cherno More	7	(0)
2015–2016	Beroe Stara Zagora	13	(0)
2016–2023	Lokomotiv Plovdiv	87	(0)
Total		297	(0)
International career
2006	Bulgaria U21	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Pirgov is an ex-Pirin Blagoevgrad player, where he played from 2002. He moved to CSKA Sofia in 2005. As a player of PFC CSKA Sofia he is a Bulgarian Cup winner in 2006. In 2008, he played for six months for Romanian club CS Otopeni. On 10 January 2009 he signed for Cherno More Varna.^[1]

During the 2011–12 season Pirgov became the first player in Bulgaria who earned 31 league appearances in 30 rounds. In the first half of the campaign he played in all 15 matches for Cherno More. In December 2011, Pirgov joined Litex Lovech. During a second half of the season he played in all 15 matches of his new club and in the Litex's delayed game of the autumn against Kaliakra Kavarna.^[2]

He has developed a reputation as a goalkeeper who is adept in saving penalty kicks, managing the feat on 11 occasions in the A PFG (in two other instances, the penalty takers who faced him did not hit the target) in the period from 2006 to 2020.^[3] On 1 July 2020, during the Bulgarian Cup final Pirgov came on as a substitute for Martin Lukov just prior to the commencement of the penalty shootout and was able to save Ali Sowe's kick from the spot, making a decisive contribution towards Lokomotiv Plovdiv's victory.^[4] He was subsequently one of a number of Lokomotiv Plovdiv players who developed symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19, though he recovered for the new season.^[5] On 29 July 2021, Pirgov saved three out of five penalty kicks against Czech team 1. FC Slovácko in the second leg of a Europa Conference League qualifying phase match, enabling Lokomotiv Plovdiv to prevail in the penalty shootout.^[6]

Career statistics

As of 26 August 2019^[update]

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Pirin Blagoevgrad	2002–03	9	0	0	0	—		9	0
	2003–04	18	0	2	0	—		20	0
	2004–05	10	0	0	0	—		10	0
	Total	37	0	2	0	0	0	39	0
CSKA Sofia	2005–06	9	0	2	0	0	0	11	0
	2006–07	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0
	2007–08	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total	11	0	4	0	0	0	15	0
Otopeni	2008–09	6	0	0	0	—		6	0
	Total	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Cherno More	2008–09	7	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	2009–10	28	0	3	0	4	0	35	0
	2010–11	26	0	3	0	—		29	0
	2011–12	15	0	1	0	—		16	0
	Total	76	0	7	0	4	0	87	0
Litex Lovech	2011–12	16	0	0	0	—		16	0
	2012–13	29	0	6	0	—		35	0
	2013–14	14	0	1	0	—		15	0
	2014–15	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
	Total	59	0	7	0	2	0	68	0
Cherno More	2014–15	7	0	3	0	—		10	0
	Total	7	0	3	0	0	0	10	0
Beroe	2014–15	8	0	0	0	—		8	0
	2015–16	5	0	5	0	0	0	10	0
	Total	13	0	5	0	0	0	18	0
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	2016–17	16	0	0	0	—		16	0
	2017–18	24	0	0	0	—		24	0
	2018–19	7	0	1	0	—		8	0
	2019–20	1	0	1	0	—		1	0
	Total	48	0	1	0	0	0	49	0
Career total		257	0	29	0	6	0	292	0

Honours

Club

CSKA Sofia

• Bulgarian League: 2007–08
• Bulgarian Cup: 2005–06

Lokomotiv Plovdiv

• Bulgarian Cup (2): 2018–19, 2019–20
• Bulgarian Supercup: 2020

References

1. "Stats Centre: Ilko Pirgov Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
2. "Stats Centre: Ilko Pirgov Facts". gong.bg/. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
3. "Илко Пиргов вече е №1 по спасени дузпи у нас" (in Bulgarian). pirinsport.com. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
4. Dimitrov, Ivaylo (1 July 2020). "Локомотив (Пд) спечели Купата на България след победа с дузпи над ЦСКА" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
5. "Пиргов: Няма отбор в България, който да ни е превъзхождал физически в последните 3 години" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
6. Petrov, Nikolay, ed. (29 July 2021). "Огромен Илко Пиргов хвана 3 дузпи и класира Локомотив напред" (in Bulgarian). corner.dir.bg. Retrieved 30 July 2021.