UNESCO HONOURS BULGARIAN FOOTBALL LEGEND HRISTO STOICHKOV CHAMPION FOR SPORT

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, designated the Bulgarian football legend, Hristo Stoichkov, as a UNESCO Champion for Sport in a ceremony, which was held in Grand Hotel Sofia on 18th of May.

Bokova said that Stoichkov was one of the most successful Bulgarian sports athletes of all time and all Bulgarians were proud of his career. “This is a tribute to your talent, an expression of my pride that there is such a Bulgarian", Bokova said and assigned Stoichkov some tasks, which he has to implement as a champion for sport.

Stoichkov said he would happily fulfill the tasks and expressed his satisfaction with joining the family of UNESCO Champions for Sport, which includes prominent personalities such as the Brazilian football icon Pelé; Olympic champions David Duiye (judo) and Sergey Bubka (pole vault); the great hockey player Vyacheslav Fetisov; Ukrainian boxing champions, Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko; tennis player Justine Henin; the seven-time world champion in Formula 1, Michael Schumacher and others.

The Champions of the sport of UNESCO are goodwill ambassadors who promote the messages of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and support its efforts to provide a better future for young people and promote the values that physical education and sports can teach the younger generation.

Hristo Stoichkov has won numerous prestigious distinctions during his career.

Playing for Bulgaria, he was the top scorer at the 1994 World Cup.

He won the European Golden Shoe in 1990, the European Golden Ball in 1994, the World Cup Golden Boot in 1994, three times Champion of Bulgaria with his club CSKA Sofia, five times Champion of Spain with FC Barcelona, and winner of the Champions League in 1992.