Career
He is known for his passing, aerial ability and tackling. He is a central midfielder who plays in the holding midfield role or as an attacking midfielder. Despite often being used in a defensive position he is mainly an attacking player.
As a youngster, Yankov supported Real Madrid and modelled himself on Zinedine Zidane and Edgar Davids.
His nickname is Chack. Yankov began his football career as a youth at Slavia Sofia.
He made his debut in professional football on 7 September 2001, in a 0–1 loss against Lokomotiv Sofia. In the 2001-2002 season, Yankov played in seven matches for Slavia.
He started to make his name two years later when he scored six goals in 30 league games and was called to the Bulgarian national team by then coach Hristo Stoichkov.
In summer 2005, Yankov moved to German Bundesliga side Hannover 96, initially on a loan, but made permanent in summer 2007 for a fee of around €1.30 million. In summer 2009, he was loaned to MSV Duisburg. On 8 January 2010, Yankov joined Ukrainian Premier League club Metalurh Donetsk on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
On 13 August 2010, Yankov was loaned out to Russian Premier League club Football Club Rostov.
In July 2012, Yankov signed as a free agent for his boyhood club Slavia Sofia on a one-year contract. Yankov made his debut for Bulgaria in 2004 after the participation on the team in 2004 European Football Championship.
On 13 October 2004, Yankov scored his first goal for Bulgaria in a World Cup 2006 qualifying match against Malta. He scored a goal in the 87th minute.
As of October 2010, the midfielder has 31 matches and five goals for the national team
International goals.