- The forward of “Loco” (Sf) is one of the few with 5 goals in one game for KESH
- In 37 minutes he scored 4 for CSKA in the eternal derby
What do Uwe Olsson, Bent Loftqvist, Jose Altafini, Raymond Crawford, Florian Albert, Paul van Himst, Gerd Muller, Claudio Sulser, Søren Lerby, Lionel Messi, Luis Andriano, Erling Holland – some of the biggest names in football – have in common? Bulgaria? The question is about a rather serious amount in “Get Rich”. Someone will say – the national team, someone else will come up with something different. And the answer is Nikola Kotkov. He and these great players are the only ones in history to have scored five goals in a single match for the European Champions Cup and the successor Champions League. The company is more than prestigious – world and European champions, Golden Ball winners, and a single Bulgarian.
Kotkov is also in another ranking along with some of the biggest names in local football – Dimitar Yordanov-Kukusha, Nasko Sirakov and Hristo Stoichkov. These are the only players in the history of the eternal derby “Levski” – CSKA with 4 goals in one match. And he does it within 37 game minutes, the fastest in history.
Along with the film about Georgi Asparuhov-Gundy, some asked where Kotkov was in it. The answers are several and elementary. First of all, it is about Gundy’s relationship with his wife and mother of his son Lita Markova. Kotkov has no place there, unless he had an affair with Lita, which never happened. In second place is the fact that the leftists never accepted Koteto as their own. He went to them at the end of his career and only because of Gundy. Everyone knows about the strained relationship between the two families after their tragic deaths following the Vitinia crash. However, no one asks the question
why not make a tape about Kotkov
Because it deserves to, at least because of the two facts stated above. It is unlikely that a Bulgarian football player will appear soon who will be equal to Messi in anything. Even if by goals in one game.
Kotkov was born on December 9, 1938 and grew up in the capital’s “Draz Mahala”, which is next to the locomotive depot. His father Todor is a locksmith in BDZ. And normally, even as a student, he gets into the Lokomotiv school.
In 1956, he debuted in the elite and quickly became one of the leaders of the team. He is actually the first modern left winger in Bulgarian football, before Stoichkov appeared. Incredibly accurate pass, extremely powerful and solid left-handed shot. He often scores from direct free kicks or straight from a corner.
Three years after his debut with the men, and somewhat illegally, he was included in the junior national team, which won the European title at the championship in Bulgaria.
“Lokomotiv” is a factor in the championship, taking the bronze medals in 1960 after CSKA and “Levski”. This is how the breakthrough came in the 1963/1964 season. The coach of the “railwaymen” was Georgi Berkov. It has a permanent composition that changes only in case of injury or punishment. In goal, the starter is Ivan Deyanov, who arrived from “Miner” (Dimitrovgrad) before the start of the championship. Vasil Metodiev-Shpaidela is the right back, and Apostol Chachevsky is on the left in defense. The national Ivan Dimitrov is in the center of the defense, and Dimitar Penev, who is not yet 18 years old, plays a little in front of him as a stopper. The three main midfielders are Ivan Kotsev, Vasil Vasilev-Veso and Hristo Lazarov-Richka, and Tsvetan Milev, Spiro Debarski and Nikola Kotkov are active in attack.
At the end of the championship, Lokomotiv was three points ahead of Levski and won the title for the first time since 1940. Kotkov scored 14 goals in 28 matches.
And September 16 comes exactly 60 years ago. In Sofia, the Swedish “Malmö” is visiting, which at that time was a middle European class. The visitors have won a tournament in France, have a bunch of internationals and the confidence that they will win against the debutant in the tournament. And by the 11th minute they were already losing 0:3 after two goals by Koteto and one by Debarski. Jan Eström pulled one back in the 13th minute, but at halftime the score was already 5:1, with Kotkov having a hat trick and Debarski with two goals. After the break came two more lightning goals by Kotkov and the Bulgarians lead 7:1. Bo-Joren Larsson returns one goal, but Tsvetan Milev scores the eighth goal for Lokomotiv. Shortly after, Larsson again fixed the final 3:8. The rematch in Sweden is formal and the Bulgarians lose 0:2, but they are already among the 16 best teams on the continent. In the next round, however, they meet the Hungarian “Raba ETO” (Gör). By the 80th minute, the away score was 3:3, when Laszlo Povašaj scored two goals for the final 5:3. Nikola Kotkov scores 2 goals in Hungary, and the third is again for Debarski. The match in Sofia is also incredible. László Görfi opened the scoring in the 9th minute, but at the break the score was already 3:1 for Lokomotiv and they only needed one more goal to advance. Two goals were scored by Debarski and one by Peci Kirilov. In the first seconds of the second half, Povashay scores again and the task becomes difficult. In the 80th minute, Milev brought the score to 4:2 and 16 thousand people at “Vasil Levski” went crazy. The Bulgarians go on the attack, but on the counter Laszlo Keglović scores for 3:4 and everything ends.
CASH was won by the Italian “Inter”, which beat “Benfica” in the final. But in the final ranking Kotkov
shares second place with Liverpool legend Roger Hunt with 7 goals each
With 9 first are the aces of the Portuguese Eusebio and Jose Augusto Torres. Deburski is fourth along with names such as Paco Gento (Real Madrid), Jose Augusto (Benfica) and Ian St John (Liverpool). The four have 5 goals each. They are ahead of Real Madrid’s Amancio and Glasgow Rangers’ Jim Forrest with 6 each.
Because of his incredible season, he was Bulgaria’s number 1 footballer for 1964.
In the 1967/1968 season, Kotkov scored 28 goals in “A” group. His achievement is a club record for “Lokomotiv” to this day, but in the scorer’s list for the season he remains in second place after Petar Zhekov (Beroe). On his account, Kotkov recorded a total of 276 matches for the “railway players” in the elite, in which he scored 142 goals.
He made his debut for the national team on September 30, 1962 in control against Poland. Rudolph Vitlachil included him in the squad for the World Cup in England in 1966, playing him only in the 1:3 loss to Hungary. He played his last, 26th game for Bulgaria in 1968. He finished with 12 accurate hits.
However, here comes one of the biggest madnesses in the history of local football. By decision of the Central Committee of the BKP, the sports associations are changing from a territorial to a departmental principle. CSKA “September Banner” and “Levski-Spartak” appear. And on January 25, 1969.
here comes the monster ZSK Slavia – the united club between Slavia and Lokomotiv
He continued his participation in the “A” group in the 1968/1969 season with the asset of points won by the “whites” and the championship ended with 15 teams. ZSK “Slavia” plays its home matches at the stadium in “Ovcha Kupel”, the coach remains Dobromir Tashkov, who leads the “Whites”, and from “Lokomotiv” only Nikola Kotkov, Atanas Mihailov, Todor Kolev, Ivaylo Georgiev, Georgi Hristakiev, Atanas Gerov, Georgi Manolov, Boris Angelov.
Disagreeing with the unification, in the summer of 1969 Kotkov transferred to “Levski” also because of his friendship with Georgi Asparuhov, with whom he was inseparable. Legends of the “railway workers” such as Ivan Deyanov and Spiro Debarski were forced to end their careers. The kitten scored only 3 goals in 10 games for the united team.
Fans of both teams are extremely unhappy. Letters are written to the Central Committee of the BKP, but no amalgam is obtained.
Kotkov never lived to see the revival of his team. At the end of his first season, the united team was in fifth place in the standings and he moved to the “blues”. In the next championship, the united team is third, and “Levski” is the champion. And after sixth place in the 1970/1971 season, it all came to an end on August 16, 1971. Unfortunately, that was 16 days after Gundy and the Cat’s crash.
In just 2 seasons in Levski, Kotkov managed to lead the team to a double in 1970, scoring all 4 goals in the eternal derby. The date is July 7. The first minute has not yet passed when Koteto scores on Yordan Filipov. Petar Zhekov levelled, but the blond bomber made it 4-1 in the 37th – the fastest four goals in the derby. In the 69th minute, Tsvetan Veselinov-Metsi made it 5:1, and 2 minutes before Vitlachil started Pavel Panov in place of Koteto. In the 73rd, Zhekov again signed for the “reds”.
Nikola left two orphaned children, and his wife Katya – a widow. Katya and his daughter Maria have been working at “Levski” for many years. His son Borislav died of lung cancer in 2011 and was buried in his father’s grave. Maria works in the Metropolitan Municipality.