HRISTO STOICHKOV

Hristo Stoichkov was born in Plovdiv (Bulgaria) in 1966. He left CSKA Sofia to join Barça in 1990 and stayed until 1998, although for one season, 1995-96, he was at Parma in Italy.

Hristo was one of the stars of the Dream Team and one of the fans’ most popular players of the 1990s, both for his football and his extraordinary fighting spirit. He was versatile, and could play either on the left or in the middle, making him a highly efficient forward player, with great speed and a goalscoring instinct. He was considered one of the best players in the world for his time, and is the only Barça player to have won the European Cup (1992), the Golden Boot (1990) and the Balon d’Or (1995)

He was a charismatic person both on and off the pitch, and sincerely felt the Barcelona colours, which he was always ready to bravely and intensely defend.