Career
Petev previously played as a midfielder for Litex Lovech, Spartak Varna, Rodopa Smolyan and Marek Dupnitsa. Ludogorets Razgrad
After becoming head coach of Ludogorets Razgrad, he led the team to a promotion to the top division of Bulgarian football, two A PFG titles (the first in the club"s history), a Bulgarian Cup and a Bulgarian Supercup. On 21 July 2013, Bulgaria champions Ludogorets Razgrad replaced coach Ivaylo Petev with Stoycho Stoev.
Levski Sofia
On 8 October 2013, Petev was appointed as the coach of Levski Sofia, which drew the ire of a number of Football Club Levski supporters (due to a presumed conflict of interest because of his previous managerial appointments) who pulled off a Levski Sofia shirt he was wearing, forcing him to resign a day later.
AEL Limassol
In October 2013, Petev signed a contract with Cypriot side AEL Limassol. He led AEL to finish first in the regular season"s league table, three points ahead Apollon Limassol and APOEL Nicosia, which resulted in the qualification for the play-offs.
Although leading the group until the last round, AEL lost the title in the deciding match with APOEL. Despite this defeat, AEL qualified for the 2014-2015 Union of European Football Associations Champions League season. Here they were drawn against the English club, Tottenham Hotspur.
Bulgaria Northwest Territories
In December 2014, Petev was officially appointed as manager of Bulgaria.
In his first official game in charge, Bulgaria played a 2-2 draw at home to Italy despite leading until the 84th minute thanks to first half goals from Ivelin Popov and Iliyan Mitsanski.
