Background and career
Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov (Bulgarian: Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Known for his technique and ball control, Berbatov is regarded as one of the greatest Bulgarian players of all time. He captained the Bulgarian national team from 2006 to 2010 and is the nation's top goalscorer with 48 goals, a record shared with Hristo Bonev. Born in Blagoevgrad, Berbatov started out with his home-town club Pirin before joining CSKA Sofia as a 17-year-old in 1998, where he won his first career trophy, the Bulgarian Cup in 1999. He was signed by German Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen in January 2001 and played in his first Champions League final 18 months later, coming on as a substitute in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final, which Leverkusen lost 2–1 to Real Madrid. His goalscoring rate improved drastically in his final three seasons with Leverkusen, scoring 59 goals in 100 Bundesliga matches. He was named in the kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season in 2003–04 and 2004–05. After five and a half years with Leverkusen, Berbatov joined Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in July 2006. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year in his debut season and won the 2008 Football League Cup in the next season, scoring a penalty in the final to win 2–1 over city rivals Chelsea. In 2008, Berbatov joined Manchester United where he played in his second Champions League final in 2009, during his side's 2–0 defeat against Barcelona. After four seasons with United, during which time he won two Premier League titles in 2008–09 and 2010–11, as well as the Premier League Golden Boot in 2010–11, he joined Fulham in August 2012. He had later spells in France with Monaco, Greece with PAOK, and India with Kerala Blasters, before retiring in 2019. Berbatov made his debut for Bulgaria on 17 November 1999, aged 18. He represented Bulgaria at Euro 2004 which was the only major tournament he played at for his country, owing to the team's failure to qualify for other tournaments. Berbatov captained the team from 2006 until May 2010, when he announced his retirement from international football, leaving as the joint all-time leading goalscorer for the team. He won the Bulgarian Footballer of the Year a record seven times, surpassing the number of wins by Hristo Stoichkov.
Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov was born on 30 January 1981 in Blagoevgrad to Ivan Berbatov and Margarita Berbatova, both professional athletes themselves: Ivan was a footballer with Pirin and CSKA Sofia, while Margarita was a handball player. His father and mother worked in a tobacco factory and nursing, respectively, after their sporting careers; during the hardship of the final years of communism in Bulgaria, Berbatov did not have a football and had to practice with a basketball or a pig bladder. Growing up, Berbatov supported Italian club Milan, and he modelled himself after Marco van Basten, their famous Dutch forward. He also idolised England and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer.
Berbatov began his youth career with his home-town club, Pirin, where his talent was spotted and he scored 77 goals for their reserve team in 92 appearances. Berbatov joined the youth squad of his father's former club, CSKA Sofia, after being spotted by scout and manager Dimitar Penev in 1998. He signed his first professional contract with the club and made his debut during the 1998–99 season, at the age of 18. He won the Bulgarian Cup with CSKA at the end of that season. Berbatov's first game in Europe came in September 1999, in a 2–0 defeat against his childhood team Newcastle United; it was during that season, 1999–2000, that he started to make his name, scoring 14 goals in 27 league matches. On 24 August 2000, Berbatov scored five goals in the 8–0 home win over Constructorul Chișinău in a UEFA Cup first qualifying round match, becoming the only CSKA Sofia player to manage this feat in a single game in the European tournaments. Berbatov nearly signed for Italian side Lecce in June 2000, even passing a medical before the move collapsed at the last minute.
A run of nine goals in eleven games during the first half of the 2000–01 season was enough to persuade German club Bayer Leverkusen to pay €1.3 million to sign a four-year contract with Berbatov on 1 January 2001. Berbatov played for the club's reserve team in the Oberliga Nordrhein at first, and scored six goals in seven appearances before being promoted to the first team. He made his team debut in a 4–3 pre-season friendly win against D.C. United, scoring a hat-trick. His league debut for the first team came on 10 February 2001, replacing Ulf Kirsten in a 4–1 victory against 1. FC Köln. Berbatov found himself being used as a substitute by manager Berti Vogts, making six appearances and scoring no goals as Leverkusen finished fourth and qualified for the following season's UEFA Champions League. During the next season, Berbatov scored 16 goals and made important contributions to the club's Champions League campaign, scoring in a 4–2 win over English club Liverpool in the quarter-finals as Leverkusen eventually reached the final. In the final itself, against Real Madrid, Berbatov came on as a substitute for Thomas Brdarić after 38 minutes before Leverkusen lost 2–1. Leverkusen also finished as runners-up in the Bundesliga behind Borussia Dortmund, and lost the DFB–Pokal final 4–2 to Schalke 04, thus completing an unusual treble of runners-up finishes. Berbatov established his place as the first-choice forward during the next season, 2002–03, and netted his team's goal against Manchester United on 24 September 2002, during a 2–1 defeat for Leverkusen. He scored 16 goals in 24 league appearances during the 2003–04 season, before the following two seasons saw the Bulgarian raise awareness of his talent by netting 46 goals in the league over the two seasons and five times in the 2004–05 Champions League. During this time, he was linked with numerous foreign clubs, including Celtic, Atlético Madrid and Liverpool.
Tottenham Hotspur reached an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen for Berbatov's transfer in May 2006; the fee of €16 million (£10.9 million) made him the most expensive Bulgarian footballer ever. Once he was granted a British work permit, the transfer was completed on 1 July 2006. After Tottenham lost 2–0 to Bolton Wanderers in Berbatov's first league match in England on 19 August 2006, he scored his first goal for Spurs three days later in a 2–0 home victory against Sheffield United.
Berbatov's seven goals in eight European games during his debut season for Tottenham helped the club to secure top spot during the UEFA Cup's group stage, making his third European debut in October 2006, scoring a goal during a 2–0 victory against Beşiktaş. He made a total of eight appearances, scoring seven goals as Tottenham were eliminated 3–4 on aggregate against Sevilla. However, he took a while to adapt to the Premier League, taking a few months to regain the league form he had shown at Leverkusen. He gave a strong performance against Wigan Athletic in November 2006, scoring one and creating the other two in a 3–1 win for Spurs, and began to score regularly. He scored his first FA Cup goals on 18 February 2007 when he came on as a second-half substitute in a 4–0 win over Fulham and netted two of the four goals. Berbatov and Spurs teammate Robbie Keane were named joint winners of the Premier League Player of the Month award for April 2007, and in doing so became the first players to share the award since February 2004. He ended the 2006–07 season with 12 goals in 33 appearances in the Premier League, and won both the Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Season award and a place in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Berbatov scored his first Premier League hat-trick on 29 December 2007, scoring four in a 6–4 win over Reading. His first cup final for Tottenham came on 24 February 2008 in the Football League Cup; Spurs faced Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. Berbatov scored an equalising penalty as Tottenham went on to win the game 2–1 after extra time. He ended the season with 15 league goals. Before the next season, 2008–09, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was quoted by newspapers as saying he expected to sign Berbatov; Tottenham submitted a complaint to the Premier League alleging that Manchester United had broken league rules. Ongoing rumours of a substantial bid by Ferguson's club unsettled him, and Berbatov was dropped for the games against Sunderland and Chelsea during August, the season's first month.
