Vladimir Gadzhev (Bulgarian: Владимир Гаджев; born 18 July 1987) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known for his goals from long distance.[2][3]

Vladimir Gadzhev
Gadzhev playing for Levski Sofia in 2011
Personal information
Full name Vladimir Georgiev Gadzhev[1]
Date of birth (1987-07-18) 18 July 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth Pazardzhik, Bulgaria
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1994–2004 Levski Sofia
2004–2006 Panathinaikos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 Panathinaikos 0 (0)
2006–2007Levadiakos (loan) 26 (5)
2007–2008OFI Crete (loan) 19 (0)
2008–2009Levski Sofia (loan) 23 (1)
2009–2016 Levski Sofia 143 (21)
2016–2017 Coventry City 16 (1)
2017–2018 Anorthosis 24 (1)
2018–2019 Beroe 9 (0)
2019–2020 Hebar 9 (0)
Total 269 (29)
International career
2007–2008 Bulgaria U21
2010–2015 Bulgaria 22 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

A product of the Levski Sofia Academy, Gadzhev joined Greek side Panathinaikos in 2004. He had three loan spells away from Panathinaikos. He was loaned to Levadiakos in 2006, OFI Crete in 2007 and Levski in 2008, and signed for Levski on a permanent basis in 2009.

Career

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Youth career

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Gadzhev is a product of Levski Sofia's youth academy.

Panathinaikos

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In the summer of 2004, at the age of 17, Gadzhev joined Greek side Panathinaikos but failed to break into the first team and was eventually loaned to Beta Ethniki side Levadiakos for the 2006–07 season. He earned 26 appearances for Levadiakos, scored five goals and helping his team gain promotion to the Superleague Greece. For the following campaign Gadzhev was loaned out to Superleague Greece club OFI Crete, where he made 18 appearances.

Levski Sofia

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On 4 July 2008, Levski signed Gadzhev on a season-long loan deal. He made his Bulgarian A Group debut in a 1–0 away loss against Vihren Sandanski on 9 August. He scored his first goal for Levski on 27 August, netting the equalizer in the 1–1 away draw against BATE Borisov in the third qualifying round of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League. Gadzhev play regularly in his first season, making 23 league appearances and collected his first A Group title winner's medal at the end of the 2008–09 season. On 31 May 2009, in the penultimate game of the campaign against Minyor Pernik, Gadzhev scored his first league goal for Levski, clinching the draw 1–1 and the title for the club.[4]

On 7 July 2009, Gadzhev signed a permanent contract with Levski for an undisclosed fee.[5] A week later, he scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season, netting the fourth in a 4–0 win over Sant Julià in the 2nd Qualifying round of Champions League at Georgi Asparuhov Stadium. On 1 August, Gadzhev came on as a substitute in the 2009 Bulgarian Supercup against Litex Lovech. Unfortunately at the end of the game he received a very heavy injury. The diagnose was damaged torn knee ligaments. Cause of that he missed the first part of the season. However, in January 2010 it was announced that Gadzhev recovered from his injury. He made his comeback for Levski from a serious knee injury on 16 March 2010, playing for 60 minutes as a captain of the reserves' 2–2 draw against Litex Lovech. On 20 March, Gadzhev featured as substitute in Levski's 3–0 win over Slavia Sofia in the A Group. On 2 May 2010, he scored the equalizer in a 1–1 away draw with Cherno More.

On 28 July 2011, Gadzhev scored the equalizing goal against Spartak Trnava in UEFA Europa League and afterwards Levski won the game with a 2–1 final score. On 21 November 2011, he signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him at Levski until 2014.[6]

On 17 March 2013, Gadzhev made his 100th league appearance for Levski in a 0–0 draw against Montana.

On 25 September 2013, Gadzhev scored his first brace for the club in a 6–0 win over Neftochimic Burgas.

On 23 May 2014, Gadzhev announced that he would leave Levski.[7] On 1 July, however, he re-signed a new one-year contract with Levski.[8] A few days later, Gadzhev was stripped of the captaincy by new manager Pepe Murcia.[9] After the departure of Valeri Bojinov in August, he was again given the captaincy.

On 7 January 2016 he signed a pre-contract with the Russian team FC Kuban Krasnodar,[10] but 2 weeks later his contract was annulled due to the uncertain financial situation at the club.[11]

Coventry City

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On 24 March 2016, after a successful trial period, Gadzhev signed a contract with English club Coventry City until June 2017.[12] He scored his first goal for Coventry in a 3-2 EFL Cup win against Portsmouth on 9 August 2016.[13] He was an unused substitute as Coventry won the 2017 EFL Trophy Final.[14]

Trivia

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Gadzhev holds the record for the most red cards in The Eternal Derby of Bulgaria, having been sent off three times, though on two of these occasions it did not affect the proceedings on the pitch, as he was ejected from the bench as well as after the final whistle.[15]

International career

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Gadzhev made his international debut on 17 November 2010 in a friendly match against Serbia. Vladimir came in as a substitution in the 65th minute. However, Bulgaria lost the match with a score of 0–1. He scored his first goal in a 2–1 home win over Belarus national football team, a precise long-distance header.

Post-playing pursuits

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Following his retirement, in 2024 Gadzhev briefly served as president of Hebar.[16]

Career statistics

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Club

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Panathinaikos 2006–07 Greek Superleague 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007–08 Greek Superleague 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2008–09 Greek Superleague 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Levadiakos (loan) 2006–07 Football League 26 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 5
OFI Crete (loan) 2007–08 Greek Superleague 19 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 24 0
Levski Sofia (loan) 2008–09[17] A Group 23 1 4 1 0 0 3[a] 1 30 3
Levski Sofia 2009–10[18] A Group 10 1 0 0 0 0 3[b] 1 13 2
2010–11[19] A Group 23 2 3 1 0 0 10[c] 1 36 4
2011–12[20] A Group 27 6 2 0 0 0 2[d] 1 31 7
2012–13[21] A Group 22 1 4 0 0 0 2[e] 0 28 1
2013–14[22] A Group 32 5 3 0 0 0 1[f] 0 36 5
2014–15[23] A Group 22 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 28 5
2015–16[24] A Group 7 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 10 1
Total 166 22 25 2 0 0 21 4 212 28
Coventry City 2015–16[25] League One 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
2016–17[26] League One 14 1 2 0 2 1 4 0 22 2
Total 16 1 2 0 2 1 4 0 24 2
Anorthosis 2017–18 Cypriot First Division 24 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 24 1
Beroe 2018–19 First League 9 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
Hebar 2019–20 Second League 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
Career total 269 29 33 2 2 1 25 4 329 36

National team

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Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Bulgaria
2010 1 0
2011 4 0
2012 7 0
2013 9 0
2014 1 1
Total 22 1
Bulgaria score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gadzhev goal

International goals

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List of international goals scored by Vladimir Gadzhev
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 5 March 2014 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria   Belarus 2–0 2–1 Friendly

Honours

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Coventry City

References

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  1. ^ "Retained List 2015-16" (PDF). English Football League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  2. ^ "ЛЕВСКИ - Литекс 3:2, голът на Гаджев / Levski Litex 3:2, Vlado Gadzhev goal". YouTube. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Cherno More - Vladimir Gadzhev 1:1". YouTube. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Левски шампион!!!" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 31 May 2009.
  5. ^ "Левски официално взе Гаджев" (in Bulgarian). sportal.bg. 7 July 2009.
  6. ^ "Гаджев продължи договора си с Левски до 2014 година" (in Bulgarian). gong.bg. 21 November 2011.
  7. ^ "Гаджев призна: Напускам Левски" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 23 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Vladimir Gadzhev stay with the club signed new contract". levski.bg. 1 July 2014.
  9. ^ "Левски смени и капитана" (in Bulgarian). segabg.com. 19 July 2014.
  10. ^ Гаджев напусна Левски
  11. ^ Гаджев се връща в левски за 6ти път
  12. ^ "Coventry City sign Bulgarian international midfielder Vladimir Gadzhev". coventrytelegraph.net. 24 March 2016.
  13. ^ "Coventry 3-2 Portsmouth". BBC Sport. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  14. ^ "Coventry 2-1 Oxford". BBC. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  15. ^ "Кой е най-гоненият футболист във Вечното дерби?" (in Bulgarian). a-pfg.com. 5 March 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  16. ^ "Хебър избра нов президент, Влади Гаджев напуска клуба" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. 20 June 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  17. ^ "08/09 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  18. ^ "09/10 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  19. ^ "10/11 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  20. ^ "11/12 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  21. ^ "12/13 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  22. ^ "13/14 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  23. ^ "14/15 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  24. ^ "15/16 Season". LevskiSofia.info. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  25. ^ "Games played by Vladimir Gadzhev in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  26. ^ "Games played by Vladimir Gadzhev in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  27. ^ Scott, Ged (2 April 2017). "EFL Trophy final: Coventry City 2–1 Oxford United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
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