EUROPEAN QUALIFIERS - 2014/16 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski - Sofia Thursday 3 September 2015 Bulgaria 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Norway Group H - Matchday -6 Last updated 12/07/2021 17:48CET Official Partners of UEFA EURO 2020 Previous meetings 2 Match background 4 Squad list 5 Head coach 7 Match officials 8 Competition facts 9 Match-by-match lineups 10 Team facts 12 Legend 14 1 Bulgaria - Norway Thursday 3 September 2015 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Match press kit Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, Sofia Previous meetings Head to Head 2016 UEFA European Championship Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached T. Elyounoussi 13, 13/10/2014 QR (GS) Norway - Bulgaria 2-1 Oslo Nielsen 72; Bodurov 43 1984 UEFA European Championship Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached Hareide 4; Mladenov 07/09/1983 PR (GS) Norway - Bulgaria 1-2 Oslo 11, Sirakov 51 Velitchov 13, Nikolov 27/10/1982 PR (GS) Bulgaria - Norway 2-2 Sofia 68; Thoresen 17 (P), Økland 66 1972 UEFA European Championship Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached Iversen 80; Bonev 26, 09/06/1971 PR (GS) Norway - Bulgaria 1-4 Oslo 42 (P), Zhekov 29, Vasilev 37 Atanasov 29; Fuglset 15/11/1970 PR (GS) Bulgaria - Norway 1-1 Sofia 83 1968 UEFA European Championship Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached 29/06/1967 PR (GS) Norway - Bulgaria 0-0 Oslo Zanev 18, 43, Zhekov 13/11/1966 PR (GS) Bulgaria - Norway 4-2 Sofia 42, 85; Hasund 59, 86 FIFA World Cup Stage Date Match Result Venue Goalscorers reached Iliev 6, 60, 74, Panayotov 29, 32, 03/11/1957 QR (GS) Bulgaria - Norway 7-0 Sofia Yanev 59, Debarski 77 Hennum 47 (P); 22/05/1957 QR (GS) Norway - Bulgaria 1-2 Oslo Dimitrov 38, 75 Final Qualifying Total tournament Home Away Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA EURO 2 Bulgaria - Norway Thursday 3 September 2015 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Match press kit Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, Sofia Final Qualifying Total tournament Home Away Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA Bulgaria 3 1 2 0 4 2 1 1 - - - - 7 3 3 1 14 9 Norway 4 1 1 2 3 0 2 1 - - - - 7 1 3 3 9 14 FIFA* Bulgaria 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 - - - - 2 2 0 0 9 1 Norway 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 - - - - 2 0 0 2 1 9 Friendlies Bulgaria - - - - - - - - - - - - 4 1 1 2 3 4 Norway - - - - - - - - - - - - 4 2 1 1 4 3 Total Bulgaria 4 2 2 0 5 3 1 1 - - - - 13 6 4 3 26 14 Norway 5 1 1 3 4 0 2 2 - - - - 13 3 4 6 14 26 * FIFA World Cup/FIFA Confederations Cup 3 Bulgaria - Norway Thursday 3 September 2015 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Match press kit Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, Sofia Match background With the top two playing the bottom two elsewhere in Group H, Bulgaria and Norway are in urgent need of three points as they battle for third place in their UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying section. Previous meetings • Substitute Håvard Nielsen scored the winner as Norway defeated Bulgaria 2-1 in Oslo in their first Group H meeting on 13 October 2014. • Martin Ødegaard came on as a substitute for Norway in that game, aged 15 years and 300 days, to become the youngest player to feature in a UEFA European Championship game. • Bulgaria's record in 13 internationals against Norway is W6 D4 L3 (W3 D2 L0 in Sofia – W3 D2 L3 in Norway). Norway have won both of the nations' 21st century meetings 2-1. Disciplinary • Bulgaria defender Veselin Minev and midfielder Svetoslav Dyakov are both a yellow card away from a suspension. • Norway's Håvard Nordtveit and Jone Samuelsen are both a booking away from a one-game ban. Form guide • Bulgaria ended a four-game win-less run in Group H with a 1-0 success in Malta last time out; they are unbeaten in two competitive outings (W1 D1) since Ivaylo Petev took charge. • Bulgaria have not won in four competitive home fixtures (D2 L2) since a 6-0 success against Malta in FIFA World Cup qualifying in March 2013. • Norway's away results in Group H (W2 D0 L1) have been better than their home results (W1 D1 L1). Trivia and links • Bulgaria midfielder Aleksandar Tonev and Norway counterpart Stefan Johansen were team-mates in Scotland at Celtic FC before the former moved to Frosinone Calcio this summer. • Bulgaria have had the better of the nations' eight UEFA age-group competition meetings: W4 D2 L2. • In terms of club competition meetings, Bulgarian sides' record in seven meetings with Norwegian counterparts prior to the start of the 2015/16 season was W3 D3 L1. Most recently, PFC CSKA Sofia beat Viking FK 2-0 in a 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage game. 4 Bulgaria - Norway Thursday 3 September 2015 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Match press kit Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, Sofia Squad list Bulgaria Current season Overall Qual. FT Team No. Player DoB Age Club D Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Goalkeepers - Nikolay Mihaylov 28/06/1988 27 Mersin - 2 0 0 0 31 - - Bozhidar Mitrev 31/03/1987 28 Sheriff - 1 0 0 0 2 - - Blagoy Makendzhiev 11/07/1988 27 Beroe - 0 0 0 0 - - Defenders - Ivan Bandalovski 23/11/1986 28 Partizan - 1 0 0 0 14 - - Stanislav Manolev 16/12/1985 29 Kuban - 6 0 0 0 44 4 - Veselin Minev 14/10/1980 34 Levski * 3 0 0 0 23 - - Aleksandar Aleksandrov 13/04/1986 29 Ludogorets - 2 0 0 0 5 - - Nikolay Bodurov 30/05/1986 29 Fulham - 6 1 0 0 31 1 - Georgi Terziev 18/04/1992 23 Ludogorets - 1 0 0 0 5 - - Yordan Minev 14/10/1980 34 Ludogorets - 4 0 0 0 21 - - Ivo Ivanov 11/03/1985 30 Beroe - 0 0 0 0 - - Midfielders - Hristo Zlatinski 22/01/1985 30 U Craiova - 0 0 0 0 10 - Spartak - Ivelin Popov 26/10/1987 27 - 5 2 0 0 54 10 Moskva - Svetoslav Dyakov 31/05/1984 31 Ludogorets * 6 0 0 0 24 - CSKA - Georgi Milanov 19/02/1992 23 - 6 0 0 0 24 2 Moskva - Ivaylo Chochev 18/02/1993 22 Palermo - 1 0 0 0 2 - - Simeon Slavchev 25/09/1993 21 Apollon - 1 0 0 0 4 - - Todor Nedelev 07/02/1993 22 Mainz - 1 0 0 0 6 - - Mihail Alexandrov 11/06/1989 26 Ludogorets - 5 0 0 0 8 - Forwards - Dimitar Rangelov 09/02/1983 32 Konyaspor - 0 0 0 0 30 3 Suwon - Ilian Mitsanski 20/12/1985 29 - 5 2 0 0 15 4 Bluewings - Alexandar Tonev 03/02/1990 25 Frosinone - 3 0 0 0 18 3 - Ventsislav Hristov 09/11/1988 26 Skënderbeu - 2 1 0 0 5 1 Coach - Ivaylo Petev 09/07/1975 40 - 2 0 0 0 3 - 5 Bulgaria - Norway Thursday 3 September 2015 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Match press kit Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, Sofia Norway Current season Overall Qual. FT Team No. Player DoB Age Club D Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Goalkeepers - Rune Jarstein 29/09/1984 30 Hertha - 0 0 0 0 37 - - Ørjan Nyland 10/09/1990 24 Ingolstadt - 6 0 0 0 13 - - André Hansen 17/12/1989 25 Rosenborg - 0 0 0 0 1 - Defenders - Tom Høgli 24/02/1984 31 København - 3 0 0 0 46 2 - Even Hovland 14/02/1989 26 Nürnberg - 1 0 0 0 4 - - Omar Elabdellaoui 05/12/1991 23 Olympiacos - 5 0 0 0 15 - - Vegard Forren 16/02/1988 27 Molde - 6 0 0 0 22 - - Stefan Strandberg 25/07/1990 25 Krasnodar - 0 0 0 0 3 - - Martin Linnes 20/09/1991 23 Molde - 3 0 0 0 12 - - Haitam Aleesami 31/07/1991 24 Göteborg - 0 0 0 0 - - Midfielders - Jone Samuelsen 06/07/1984 31 Odd * 4 0 0 0 8 - - Per Ciljan Skjelbred 16/06/1987 28 Hertha - 6 0 0 0 32 1 - Alexander Tettey 04/04/1986 29 Norwich - 5 1 0 0 24 1 - Håvard Nordtveit 21/06/1990 25 Mönchengladbach * 6 1 0 0 24 2 - Stefan Johansen 08/01/1991 24 Celtic - 6 0 0 0 18 1 - Markus Henriksen 25/07/1992 23 AZ - 0 0 0 0 16 1 - Valon Berisha 07/02/1993 22 Salzburg - 0 0 0 0 11 - - Ruben Yttergård Jenssen 04/05/1988 27 Kaiserslautern - 1 0 0 0 31 - - Martin Ødegaard 17/12/1998 16 Real Madrid - 3 0 0 0 6 - Forwards - Jo Inge Berget 11/09/1990 24 Malmö - 0 0 0 0 3 - - Alexander Søderlund 03/08/1987 28 Rosenborg - 2 0 0 0 17 - - Håvard Nielsen 15/07/1993 22 Salzburg - 5 1 0 0 13 2 - Veton Berisha 13/04/1994 21 Fürth - 0 0 0 0 - - Coach - Per-Mathias Høgmo 01/12/1959 55 - 6 0 0 0 19 - 6 Bulgaria - Norway Thursday 3 September 2015 - 20.45CET (21.45 local time) Match press kit Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, Sofia Head coach Ivaylo Petev Date of birth: 9 July 1975 Nationality: Bulgarian Playing career: PFC Litex Lovech (twice), PFC Olympic Teteven (loan), PFC Spartak Varna (loan), PFC Cherno More Varna, PFC Spartak Varna, PFC Rodopa Smolyan, PFC Dunav Ruse, PFC Marek Dupnista, FC Trikala, PFC Lyubimets 2007, PFC Etar 1924 Coaching career: PFC Lyubimets 2007, PFC Ludogorets Razgard, AEL Limassol FC, Bulgaria • Midfielder Petev's best days were at Litex Lovech in the late 90s, when he was part of the squad that won the league in 1998 and 1999.