Career
He played 90 games for Bulgaria national football team and scored 2 goals. He is regarded as one of his country"s best ever defenders, winning Bulgarian football player of the year in 1967 and 1971, he also participated in 3 world cups for his country in 1966, 1970 and 1974. He is currently the Honorary President of and semi-pro side Nottingham United Football Club. Throughout his career as manager he demonstrated excellence in both tactics and team psychology.
Penev"s most notable quality was his ability to work well with young players.
During his career at he discovered a lot of previously unknown or little-known talented youths and used them as a basis for a domestically and internationally successful squad. Amongst them Hristo Stoichkov, Emil Kostadinov, Lyuboslav Penev, Martin Petrov, Stiliyan Petrov and Dimitar Berbatov.
On 30 July 2007 he was appointed manager of the Bulgaria national football team for the second time. As of April 2007, Penev has been in charge of the Bulgaria national football team for 55 matches in total (25 wins, 15 draws, 15 losses, with a goal difference of 88:60).
Player Manager.