Career
His preferred position on the pitch is right-back, but he can play as a central defender as well. Club
= Early career in Bulgaria He started his professional football career with CSKA Sofia in the 1999/2000 league season and was quickly loaned out to Beroe Stara Zagora to gain more playing time. The following season he was loaned out once more to Naftex Burgas, however he was unable to establish himself and returned to CSKA Sofia during the league season.
= Belarus and Lithuania Yanko Valkanov joined reigning Belarusian Cup winners MTZ-RIPO Minsk during the 2006 league season and while he was a squad regular he could not establish himself as a first team regular.
By the following season he would move to Lithuanian football club FBK Kaunas during the 2007 league season, however his time with them was not the most productive and halfway through the 2008 league season in July he would returned to MTZ-RIPO Minsk. = Move to China At the beginning of the 2009 China Super League season he would transfer to Shanghai Shenhua.
At first he was criticized for poor performances by both fans and the media, but he began to gain popularity on the other end of the pitch. He has so far scored 5 goals (3 in Chinese Super League, 2 in AFC Champions League), becoming the top scorer of his team
On 17 April, he scored two goals using his right shoulder in a Chinese Super League match against Shenzhen.At the end of 2009 season,his position was transformed to striker by Jia Xiuquan.But he played unbelievable jobs that he had made two assists to Aleksander Rodić at critical moment.
Valkanov transferred to Shenzhen Ruby on 28 February 2010. He was released by Shenzhen in July 2010 after New Zealand defender Ivan Vicelich joined the club = Return to Belarus On 8 September 2010, Valkanov signed with Football Club Dinamo Minsk until the end of the 2010 Belarusian Premier League season.
= Later career In 2011 Valkanov had a short spell with A PFG club Beroe.
He signed with Kazakhstani club Akzhayik in February 2012. International career
He earned his first call-up to the national side for the friendly match against Azerbaijan, which was held on 17 November 2004.
