Velizar Kostadinov Dimitrov (; born 13 April 1979) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Dimitrov previously played for Minyor Pernik, Lokomotiv Sofia, Marek Dupnitsa and CSKA Sofia, and was part of the Bulgarian UEFA Euro 2004 team. He has worked as a pundit since his retirement.
Career
He joined CSKA Sofia in 2002, brought in the team by the manager Stoycho Mladenov..
In 2003, when Dimitrov won a number of individual awards as one of the best players in the A PFG, he was close to securing a move to FC Porto, but the deal eventually fell through due to financial reasons.
Metalurh Donetsk
On 11 June 2008, Dimitrov signed with Metalurh Donetsk on a 2+1-year deal for a reported fee of €500,000. He made his Ukrainian Premier League debut against Karpaty Lviv on 19 July, playing the full 90 minutes.
On 17 November 2012, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Dynamo Kyiv. He marked his 100th league appearance for Metalurh against Hoverla Uzhhorod on 20 April 2013, by scoring a winning goal for a 2–1 home win.
International career
Dimitrov played for the league based national side in an unofficial friendly against Azerbaijan on 21 February 2002, scoring a goal for a 3–0 home win. He made his competitive debut for the national team in a 1–0 away loss against Spain on 20 November 2002, coming on as a second-half substitute. On 20 August 2003, Dimitrov opened his senior international goals tally, scoring twice for a 3–0 win over Lithuania.
He was included in the Bulgaria Euro 2004 squad in May 2004 by Plamen Markov and came on as a second-half substitute in Bulgaria's opening game against Sweden on 14 June. He was brought on once again in the match against Italy.
Career statistics
Club
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|League
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="2"|League
!colspan="2"|Cup
!colspan="2"|Continental
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
!Apps
!Goals
|-
|Lokomotiv Sofia
|rowspan="5"|A Group
|1997–98
|3||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||4||0
|-
|Minyor Pernik
|1998–99
|23||4||?||?||colspan="2"|—||22||4
|-
|Litex (loan)
|1999–00
|0||0||0||0||2||0||2||0
|-
|Minyor Pernik
|1999–00
|5||2||?||?||colspan="2"|—||5||2
|-
|Lokomotiv Sofia
|2000–01
|2||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||2||0
|-
|rowspan="3"|Marek Dupnitsa
|B Group
|2000–01
|8||4||?||?||colspan="2"|—||8||4
|-
|A Group
|2001–02
|35||14||0||0||colspan="2"|—||35||14
|-
! colspan=2 | Total
!43!!18!!?!!?!!0!!0!!43!!18
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!78!!10!!5!!2!!0!!0!!83!!12
|}
International goals
:Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first.
{|class="wikitable collapsible"
|-
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
|1||rowspan="2"|20 August 2003||rowspan="2"|Vasil Levski, Sofia, Bulgaria||rowspan="2"|||align=center|2–0||align=center rowspan="2"|3–0||rowspan="2"|Friendly
|-
|2||align=center|3–0
|-
|3||17 November 2007||Vasil Levski, Sofia, Bulgaria||||1–0||1–0|| Euro 2008 qualifier
|}
Honours
Club
;CSKA Sofia
- A PFG: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2007–08
- Bulgarian Cup: 2005–06
- Bulgarian Supercup: 2006
;Metalurh Donetsk
- Ukrainian Cup: Runner-up 2009–10, 2011–12
- Ukrainian Super Cup: Runner-up 2012