Velizar Emilov Popov (Велизар Емилов Попов), born 7
February 1976, is a former Bulgarian football player and current
UEFA PRO Licensed Football Head Coach.

𝐈𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 Career as a player 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐅𝐂 𝐋𝐨𝐤𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯 𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐝𝐢𝐯, 𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐜 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧, 𝐏𝐅𝐂 𝐇𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐳𝐡𝐢𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐅𝐂 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐤 𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐝𝐢𝐯.

The only Bulgarian Head Football Coach to have managed abroad 11
different teams in 8 different countries including 2 National Teams and one
of the best ambassadors of the Bulgarian football coaching guild abroad.
Known for an aggressive attacking high intensity football style which brings
in results and development to his players and teams. The first Bulgarian
who won historic treble with 100% winning record in 2013 abroad and won
the group stage in AFC Cup reaching the quarterfinals and top 8 in AFC
Cup. Also, the first Bulgarian who has ever worked in Moldova Premier
League in 2011, Thailand Premier League in 2014 and 2017, Malaysian
Super League in 2016, and Vietnam League 1 since 2022. In 2019 became
the first Bulgarian to win the Group Stage and a medal from Southeast
Asian Games. In 2023 once again made a history as the first and only
coach in the club’s history of the modest Vietnamese team Thanh Hoa FC
who won 2 historic trophies for the club – Vietnamese National Cup and
Vietnamese Super Cup. In 2024 won again back-to-back Vietnam
National Cup for the second consecutive year becoming the most
successful team in the history of the club with three trophies in two seasons.
In 2026 passed the impressive quota of 100 official matches in Vietnamese
football leading Thể Công – Viettel FC to silver medals and participation in
the AFC Champions league 2 as runner-up with a record number of points
in a single campaign, the best defense in the league with most clean
sheets and 38 consecutive official matches in which the team always
scored a goal since he is in charge, records in the history of Thể Công –
Viettel FC. Highly qualified and ambitious professional head coach with
over 26 years experience coaching across the world with extensive stints
in Europe, Asia and Middle East, gained tremendous experience with
more than 300 official games as a Professional Head Coach in senior
Premier Leagues and international competitions last 16 years, in Europe –
Bulgarian Premier League, Denmark, Moldova Premier League, in Asia –
Thailand Premier League, Malaysian Super League, Vietnam League 1,
Maldives National Team, Myanmar Olympic National Team, and in the
Middle East – Oman Premier League. Participated in highest level of
international competitions such as World Cup Qualifiers, UEFA Europe
League, AFC Champions League 2, AFC Cup, AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers,
AFF Clubs Championship, AFF Championship and Southeast Asian Games – an incredible career journey and forged a formidable reputation for
improving players and transforming team.

Current team: 𝐓𝐡𝐞̂̉ 𝐂𝐨̂𝐧𝐠 – 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐅𝐂

Link to transfermarkt page: