Mario Kirev

Mario Kirev

Personal information
Full name	Mario Kirev
Date of birth	15 August 1989 (1989-08-15) (age 22)
Place of birth	Dupnitsa, Bulgaria
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Politehnica Timişoara
Number	12
Youth career
	FC Germanea
	Slavia Sofia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2007–2009	Slavia Sofia	6	(0)
2009–	Juventus	0	(0)
2009	→ Grasshopper (loan)	0	(0)
2010	→ FC Thun (loan)	0	(0)
2011–	→ Politehnica Timişoara (loan)	0	(0)
National team‡
2008–2009	Bulgaria U21	4	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 5, 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of September 5, 2011

Mario Kirev (Bulgarian: Марио Кирев) (born 15 August 1989 in Dupnitsa) is a Bulgarian football goalkeeper who currently plays for Politehnica Timişoara on loan from Italian Serie A giants Juventus FC. Kirev is a part of Bulgaria national under-21 football team.

Club Career

Youth career

Kirev started playing football in the little amateur club FC Germanea from Sapareva Banya. His first coach was Georgi Stanchev. At the age of fourteen he started training in the junior team of Slavia Sofia.

Slavia Sofia

In August 2007 Kirev signed his first professional contract with Slavia. He made his competitive debut for the club on 25 April 2008 against Spartak Varna in the twenty five round of the Bulgarian top division. In next season (2008–09) Kirev was the first choice for goalkeeper of the coach Stevica Kuzmanovski. He earned 7 appearances playing in the A PFG.

Juventus FC

From August 2008 Mario is a part of Bulgaria national under-21 football team. Because of his good displays in a match against Romania U 21 on 19 November, he caught the eye of Juventus F.C. scouts. In December 2008 he was invited by Juventus F.C. to join trial period, which began on 12 Dec.^{[citation needed]} On 30 January 2009, Mario officially signed with Juventus on a four-and-a-half years contract. In the next days Kirev was loaned for six months in the Swiss team Grasshopper-Club Zürich. In June 2009, he returned to Juventus. However he started for the clubs Primavera youth squad helping lead them to a second consecutive Viareggio Championship. In February 2010, Kirev signed for FC Thun in Switzerland, in attempt to gain first team experience. On July 1, 2010, Kirev returned to Juventus and became the 5th keeper, behind injured Buffon, new signing Marco Storari, Alex Manninger and new signing Marco Costantino. He was called-up to the first team, for the first time on 29 October 2010, against A.C. Milan. In September 2011, Kirev joined Romanian Liga II side, F.C. Timişoara, on a season long loan deal.

International career

From August 2008 Mario is a part of Bulgaria national under-21 football team and he is the only player on the team plying his trade outside of Bulgaria.

References

External links

• Profile at BulgarianPlayers.com
• 2007–08 Statistics at PFL.bg
• Transfermarkt profile

Persondata
Name	Kirev, Mario
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	15 August 1989
Place of birth	Dupnitsa, Bulgaria
Date of death
Place of death