The Bulgarian football legend, Hristo Stoichkov in April paid a visit to Vietnam and met with officials of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) in Hanoi.

Hristo Stoichkov and VFF Chair Nguyen Trong Hy.

Stoichkov came to Vietnam with a delegation of Bulgarian businessmen. He was received by top VFF officials, including Chair Nguyen Trong Hy, Vice Chairs Pham Ngoc Vien and Nguyen Lan Trung and Secretary General Tran Quoc Tuan.

Stoichkov was among candidates for the position of chief coach of the Vietnamese national football team. However, VFF said several weeks ago that the former coach of the Bulgarian team cannot become the coach of the Vietnamese national squad because he claimed up to $200,000 a month.

Two German coaches, Falko Goetz and Jurgen Gede, are brilliant candidates because they accept monthly pays of $25,000 and $15,000.

At the time VFF is about to announce the name of the new coach, Stoichkov suddenly appeared in Hanoi. He came to Hanoi with a group of businessmen to seek investment opportunities in Vietnam.

VFF Chair Nguyen Trong Hy said that Stoichkov asked him about the recent achievement of the Vietnamese national team, but they didn’t talk about the position of the coach of Vietnam’s football team.

The new coach will be responsible to bring U23 Vietnam to the championship of the Southeast Asian Games 2011, and to help the national team and Olympic team play well at the qualifier rounds of World Cup 2014, and 2012 Olympics.

Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov,45, is a retired Bulgarian footballer. He is the son of a goalkeeper who played for the local side Spartak. He was a member of the Bulgaria national team that finished fourth at the 1994 World Cup. Apart from his football talent, he was notable for his on-pitch temper. He was honored as European Footballer of the Year in 1994. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony in 2004.

In the 2003–04 season, Stoichkov started a coaching career, serving as a forwards coach at Barça. After Bulgarian national team coach Plamen Markov resigned in the wake of the team’s first-round exit from Euro 2004, the Bulgarian Football Union named him as the new national team coach on 15 July.

On 10 April 2007, the Bulgarian Football Union announced they had accepted the resignation of Stoichkov from the post of national coach. He had a short disappointing stint as manager at Celta Vigo, for which he was sacked following the team’s slump that took them to the lower reaches of the Spanish Second Division. On 8 October 2007, he was replaced by ex-Real Madrid manager Juan Ramón López Caro. On 12 March 2009, Stoichkov visited the Manchester City training ground after requesting a visit.

On 14 May 2009, Iranian club Abu Moslem reported the signing of Stoichkov as coach. However Stoichkov then changed his mind due to the tense political situation in Iran, instead opting to move to Mamelodi Sundowns, where he replaced Henri Michel on 29 June 2009. On March 16, 2010, he quit Mamelodi Sundowns, with the former South African national team manager Trott Moloto named caretaker until a full-time replacement is found.

PV