Born on 28 March 1981 in Petrici, Bulgaria, he played football at a young age, but an injury led him to retire before turning to professional.

He went into business and his participation in a wedding reality show of the Bulgarian TV along with his partner Foca sent his popularity through the roof. Meanwhile he continued climbing the referee charts and made it to the elite.

He earned his FIFA bagde in 2012 and since then has been officiating games of youth national sides, UEFA Youth League encounters and qualifiers of the UEFA Europa League. He hasn’t made it to the group stage yet. In July 2014, he took charge of the encounter between Atromitos and Sarajevo in Bosnia for the UEFA Europa League 3rd qualifying round, a match the Peristeri outfit won 2-1.

The 36-year-old will be accompanied on Thursday by Ivo Kolev and Veselin Dobriyanov, the assistant referees, with Stefan Apostolov acting as fourth official. Israeli Jacob Erel is the UEFA Delegate appointed for the match and Englishman Peter Jones the Referee Observer.