Kiril Despodov

In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Vasilev and the family name is Despodov.

Kiril Vasilev Despodov (Bulgarian: Кирил Василев Десподов; born 11 November 1996) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays primarily as a winger for Super League Greece club PAOK and the Bulgaria national team, which he captains.^[2]

Kiril Despodov

Despodov warming up for Bulgaria in October 2018
Personal information
Full name	Kiril Vasilev Despodov
Date of birth	(1996-11-11) 11 November 1996 (age 28)
Place of birth	Kresna, Bulgaria
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1]
Position(s)	Winger
Team information
Current team	PAOK
Number	77
Youth career
2008–2015	Litex Lovech
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2016	Litex Lovech	37	(4)
2015–2016	Litex Lovech II	13	(2)
2016	CSKA Sofia II	1	(0)
2016–2019	CSKA Sofia	71	(20)
2019–2021	Cagliari	5	(0)
2019–2020	→ Sturm Graz (loan)	19	(8)
2020–2021	→ Ludogorets Razgrad (loan)	20	(5)
2021–2023	Ludogorets Razgrad	59	(22)
2023–	PAOK	44	(11)
International career‡
2012–2013	Bulgaria U17	9	(5)
2012–2015	Bulgaria U19	17	(5)
2015–2018	Bulgaria U21	20	(8)
2017–	Bulgaria	54	(15)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10 November 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 November 2024

Despodov made his way through the youth teams at Litex Lovech before making his senior debut in 2012 at the age of 15. He became part of CSKA Sofia in June 2016, where he established himself as the team's star player, winning the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award in 2018 – the first CSKA player to do so since Hristo Stoichkov in 1989. He won it for second time in 2021, and again in 2022.

On 23 March 2018, Despodov made his senior international debut for Bulgaria in a 1–0 friendly loss against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Club career

Litex Lovech

Despodov was born in Kresna. He joined Litex Lovech's Academy at the age of 12 and progressed through the club's youth system. He played an important role in Litex's 2012 BFU U-16 Cup win, scoring two goals in the final against Cherno More on 26 April.^[3]

Despodov made his first team debut under Hristo Stoichkov's management,^[4] at 15 years 183 days, in a 5–0 league win over Kaliakra Kavarna on 12 May 2012, coming on as a substitute for Svetoslav Todorov.^[5] He scored his first goal on 10 August 2013, netting the fifth in a 5–1 away league win over Pirin Gotse Delchev.

On 22 November 2014, Despodov scored his first goal of the 2014–15 season against Cherno More in a 3–0 away win. On 27 November, he signed his first professional contract with Litex shortly after turning 18.^[6] Two days later he scored his second goal of the season in a 2–2 away draw against Levski Sofia in the 66th minute to clinch a point for his team.

Despite the not so good start of the season 2015–16 for Despodov, as he played only in 4 matches from 19 rounds, he became a hero in the quarterfinals of the Bulgarian Cup. In the match against Levski Sofia, after coming on as a substitute in the 76th minute when the match was 0–0 and Litex was down to 10 people, they eventually ended up winning the game after extra time 3–0, with Despodov scoring 2 of the goals.^[7][8]

CSKA Sofia

He joined CSKA Sofia in the summer of 2016.^[9] On 29 April 2017, Despodov scored his first goal in The Eternal Derby, netting the second in CSKA Sofia's 3–0 win over Levski Sofia in a First Professional Football League match.^[10] Remaining with the club until January 2019 and becoming popular with the fans of the "redmen", Despodov later began receiving a frosty reception from many of them as a result of becoming part of the ranks of league rivals Ludogorets Razgrad in 2020.^[9] On 30 April 2023, a decisive league match between CSKA Sofia and Ludogorets Razgrad had to be temporarily halted after Despodov was unable to take a corner kick as a result of objects being thrown at him by CSKA supporters.^[11]

Cagliari

On 30 January 2019, Despodov completed a transfer to Serie A side Cagliari, signing a contract until 2023 with an extension option for one more season. CSKA Sofia did not reveal the exact transfer fee, but it was reported that it broke the record for an outgoing First League transfer of a local Bulgarian player, which until then was Hristo Stoichkov's $ 4.5 million move to Barcelona in the summer of 1990.^[12] He made his debut for the club in a 3–0 away loss to Milan on 10 February, coming on for Artur Ioniță in the 75th minute.^[13]

Sturm Graz (loan)

On 2 September 2019, Despodov was loaned to Sturm Graz for the 2019–20 season.^[14]

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 5 October 2020, Cagliari announced that Despodov would be loaned to Ludogorets Razgrad with an option to buy. The deal would see him remain at the club for the duration of the 2020–21 campaign.^[15][16]

On 19 June 2021, Ludogorets announced that he had signed permanently with the club.^[17] On 12 March 2023, Despodov scored his first hat-trick for Ludogorets in a 3–2 home win over Cherno More in a league match.^[18]

PAOK

On 4 September 2023, Super League Greece club PAOK announced the signing of Despodov on a four-year contract,^[19] for a reported fee of €3 million.^[20] On 28th January 2024, he scored a brace in a home match against Panathinaikos, securing a 2–1 win.

International career

On 7 February 2015, Despodov made his first appearance for Bulgaria, in a goalless draw with Romania in a non-official friendly match, coming on as a late substitute for Stanislav Manolev.^[21] He was also called up in March 2017, for a 2018 World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands, but remained on the bench.^[22] Despodov finally made his complete debut for Bulgaria on 23 March 2018 in a friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, replacing Spas Delev shortly after the one hour mark.^[23]

On 13 October 2018, he scored his first goal for the national team in a 2–1 home win against Cyprus, in a match for the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. His second goal came in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification against Switzerland national football team. On 29 March 2022, Despodov opened the scoring in the friendly match against Croatia, but was dismissed from the field almost immediately after that due to receiving a second yellow card for taking off his shirt as part of his goal celebration.^[24]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 1 September 2024^[25]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Litex Lovech	2011–12	A Group	1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	2012–13		8	8	1	0	—		—		9	0
	2013–14		6	2	4	0	—		—		10	2
	2014–15		18	10	3	0	0	0	—		21	2
	2015–16		4	2	5	2	0	0	—		7	2
	Total		37	22	13	2	0	0	—		50	6
Litex Lovech II	2015–16	B Group	13	2	—		—		—		13	2
CSKA Sofia II	2016–17	Second League	1	0	—		—		—		1	0
CSKA Sofia	2016–17	First League	25	4	0	0	—		—		25	4
	2017–18		30	8	3	3	—		—		33	11
	2018–19		16	8	1	0	5[b]	2	—		22	10
	Total		71	20	4	3	5	2	—		80	25
Cagliari	2018–19	Serie A	4	0	0	0	—		—		4	0
	2020–21		1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	Total		5	0	0	0	—		—		5	0
Sturm Graz (loan)	2019–20	Austrian Bundesliga	19	8	2	1	—		—		21	9
Ludogorets Razgrad	2020–21	First League	20	5	4	0	4[b]	1	—		28	6
	2021–22		25	6	2	1	13[c]	3	1[d]	0	41	10
	2022–23		30	14	4	0	13[e]	3	1[d]	2	48	19
	2023–24		4	2	0	0	7[f]	2	0	0	11	4
	Total		79	27	10	1	37	9	2	2	128	39
PAOK	2023–24	Super League Greece	33	10	4	0	10[g]	2	—		47	12
	2024–25		3	0	0	0	6[h]	1	—		9	1
	Total		36	10	4	0	16	3	—		56	13
Career total			257	71	33	7	57	14	2	2	348	95

1. Includes Bulgarian Cup, Austrian Cup, Greek Football Cup
2. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
3. Seven appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, six appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
4. Appearance in Bulgarian Supercup
5. Six appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, five appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League, two appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
6. Four appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, three appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
7. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
8. Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League

International

As of 15 November 2024^[26]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Bulgaria
	2018	5	1
	2019	7	0
	2020	3	0
	2021	11	2
	2022	9	6
	2023	10	3
	2024	9	3
Total		54	15

International goals

Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first.^[26]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	13 October 2018	Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria	Cyprus	1–1	2–1	2018–19 UEFA Nations League C
2.	25 March 2021		Switzerland	1–3	1–3	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.	9 October 2021	LFF Stadium, Vilnius, Lithuania	Lithuania	1–1	1–3
4.	26 March 2022	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar	Qatar	1–1	1–2	Friendly
5.	29 March 2022		Croatia	1–0	1–2
6.	2 June 2022	Huvepharma Arena, Razgrad, Bulgaria	North Macedonia	1–0	1–1	2022–23 UEFA Nations League C
7.	23 September 2022		Gibraltar	2–1	5–1
8.	26 September 2022	Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia	North Macedonia	1–0	1–0
9.	16 November 2022	AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis, Larnaca, Cyprus	Cyprus	1–0	2–0	Friendly
10.	20 June 2023	Huvepharma Arena, Razgrad, Bulgaria	Serbia	1–0	1–1	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying
11.	16 November 2023	Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria	Hungary	2–1	2–2
12.	19 November 2023	Dubočica Stadium, Leskovac, Serbia	Serbia	2–1	2–2
13.	22 March 2024	Dalga Arena, Baku, Azerbaijan	Tanzania	1–0	1–0	2024 FIFA Series
14.	8 June 2024	Stožice Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Slovenia	1–0	1–1	Friendly
15.	8 September 2024	Stadion Hristo Botev, Plovdiv, Bulgaria	Northern Ireland	1–0	1–0	2024–25 UEFA Nations League C

Honours

Club

Ludogorets Razgrad

• Bulgarian First League: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24^[27]
• Bulgarian Supercup: 2021, 2022
• Bulgarian Cup: 2022–23

PAOK

• Super League Greece: 2023–24^[28]

Individual

• Bulgarian Youth Footballer of the Year: 2017

• Bulgarian Footballer of the Year: 2018, 2021,^[29] 2022,^[30] 2023^[31]

• Bulgarian First League top assist provider: 2020–21, 2022–23^[32]
• PAOK Player of the Month: January 2024^[33]

References

1. "Профил на Кирил Василев Десподов" (in Bulgarian). fpleague.bg. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
2. "Kiril Despodov". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
3. "Талант от Кресна носи купа на Литекс" (in Bulgarian). e-79.com. 26 April 2012. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
4. Anastasov, Anatoli (9 October 2012). "Ицо бил лош, а?". 7sport.net. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
5. "Литекс громи 5:0 Калиакра". lovechtoday.eu. 13 May 2012. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
6. "Литекс подписа с талант" (in Bulgarian). blitz.bg. 27 November 2014.
7. 10 от Литекс разпиляха Левски в продълженията
8. Героят за Литекс: Всички сме много щастливи
9. ""ЦСКА-София" зашлеви звучен шамар на шампиона" (in Bulgarian). segabg.com. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
10. "НА ЖИВО: Левски - ЦСКА 0:3, "сините" са в нокдаун!" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
11. Talvi, Gabriel (30 April 2023). "Лудогорец свали ЦСКА от върха с железни нерви и шампионски дух, Кабаков едва не прекрати мача" (in Bulgarian). dsport.bg. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
12. "Официално: Каляри и ЦСКА-София обявиха трансфера на Кирил Десподов" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 30 January 2019. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
13. "Милан се разправи с Каляри в дебюта на Кирил Десподов" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 10 February 2019.
14. "Официално: Щурм Грац нае Кирил Десподов" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 2 September 2019.
15. "Despodov al Ludogorets" (in Italian). Cagliari Calcio. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
16. "Лудогорец с трансферен удар" (in Bulgarian). Ludogorets Razgrad. 6 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
17. Лудогорец успя! Десподов е играч на шампионите
18. Kichukov, Simeon (12 March 2023). ""Лудогорец" спечели при повторния дебют на Петев след хеттрик на Десподов" (in Bulgarian). dnevnik.bg. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
19. "Despodov joins PAOK". PAOK FC. 4 September 2023.
20. "Greek PAOK Signs Bulgarian Winger Kiril Despodov". BTA. 3 September 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
21. "Romania vs. Bulgaria 0:0". flashscore.com. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
22. "Bulgaria NT vs. Netherlands NT 2:0". flashscore.com. 25 March 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
23. Автогол повали България, капитанът на Берое с комичен червен картон
24. Dimitrov, Ivaylo (29 March 2022). "България загуби с 1:2 от Хърватия в контролна среща" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
25. Kiril Despodov at Soccerway
26. "Despodov, Kiril". National Football Teams. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
27. "Δύο πρωταθλήματα φέτος ο Ντεσπόντοφ: Πήρε μετάλλιο και για τον τίτλο της Λουντογκόρετς!" [Two league titles for Despodov this year: He was awarded a medal for Ludogorets as well!]. Sport-FM.gr (in Greek). 5 June 2024. Archived from the original on 6 June 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
28. "ΠΑΟΚ 4Χ4 και... 1,2, 4 ως αουτσάιντερ: από 75-68 το έκανε 78-80!". Gazzetta (in Greek). 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
29. Kichukov, Simeon (19 January 2022). "За втори път Кирил Десподов е Футболист на №1 на България". dnevnik.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 9 March 2022.
30. Kichukov, Simeon (5 February 2023). "За трети път Кирил Десподов беше избран за Футболист №1 на България". dnevnik.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 11 February 2023.
31. Kichukov, Simeon (18 March 2024). "Три зад Бербатов, една зад Стоичков: Кирил Десподов e Футболист №1 за четвърти път". dnevnik.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
32. "Players: Most Assists". Fctables. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
33. "Kiril Despondov, a man on fire". PAOKFC. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.

External links

• Kiril Despodov at Soccerway