To fully comprehend the personality of Dimitar Berbatov, one needs to go back in time. When the Bulgarian player of PAOK wasn’t yet a football star, but just a kid from Blagoevgrad. He would seldom share his thoughts and would express himself through painting, through black-and-white sketches on a notebook he was always carrying with him.

Rewind ««

As a kid playing with a ball at Blagoevgrad

Let’s turn back the clock to the late ‘80s. PFC CSKA Sofia came to his hometown for a Bulgarian Cup tie. His father Ivan, a former player of the Sofia club, made good use of his connections so that Dimitar would sneak into the dressing room. As soon as the youngster saw Hristo Stoichkov before him, he took out his notebook and asked for his autograph. This simple signature would change his lie. Since that evening, Dimitar would think of nothing else than joining PFC CSKA Sofia and follow on the footsteps of his idol.

Fast Forward »»

Cue to Sofia. Teenager Dimitar sets out on the lonely path of professional football. His mother Margarita managed to visit her son once in the capital. When she reached the dorms of the club, she found him there all alone. All his teammates were on vacation. “It’s one of the most distressing experiences of my life”, she said, adding: “The whole neighbourhood looked deserted. There were only some stray dogs there. And he was lying on his bed, listening to music and painting”.

Ever since he was a young boy, Berbatov would read literature and express himself through painting

As all mothers would do, Margarita thought that a disappointment in love was behind her son’s gloomy face. But he wasn’t painting some girl’s face. He was sketching the logo of PFC CSKA Sofia. “Such was his love for the club”…

Such love however can lead to vulnerability and CSKA Sofia became Berbatov’s soft spot, that would freeze his smile and hurt his heart.

A dagger to the heart

He quickly established himself in the squad and fulfilled his dream, but he was unhappy. PFC CSKA Sofia were going through crisis and he became the player that fans loved to hate. He was devastated by the intense booing and banners against him. As one of his childhood friends said, “CSKA Sofia struck forever a cold dagger to his heart”.

But there was worse to come. His life became a nightmare when he was kidnapped by the Bulgarian mafia. Thugs working for notorious gangster Georgi Iliev grabbed him outside of his club’s training centre and threatened his family. Their aim was to convince him to sign for Iliev’s outfit. His father worked out a costly compromise with the gang and Dimitar was set free.

“He was devastated”, his mother said. “He would not answer his phone and didn’t want to talk to anybody. He was in pain. He was even thinking of abandoning football. We convinced him to continue”.
Τι λέει ο ίδιος; «Ηταν μια πολύ δύσκολη περίοδος. Απαγωγή, αποδοκιμασίες. Όταν οι οπαδοί, οι δικοί σου οπαδοί, στρέφονται εναντίον σου, είναι δύσκολο να το αποδεχτείς. Αρχίζεις να σκέφτεσαι το μέλλον σου. Στην περίπτωσή μου όλα αυτά που συνέβησαν ήταν που με οδήγησαν στην απόφαση να εγκαταλείψω την πατρίδα μου».
In his own words: “It was a very tough period. Kidnapping, booing. When the fans, your own fans turned against you, it’s difficult to handle. One starts to think about their future. In my case, all these events led to my decision to leave my homeland”.

«Escaping» Bulgaria

Hardship shaped him into the man he is today. It’s another thing to watch the “Godfather” –his favorite movie that improved his English- and admire Robert De Niro as a ruthless mafia lord and another thing to experience the mafia ways in real life.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen presented him with the opportunity to escape a distressing environment, to fight with his demons and to play top-level football. “Everything was new to me, but I didn’t have the necessary inner balance yet to cope. I couldn’t even master a “good morning” in German. It was tough. To be honest, I would prefer to return home, but I stayed and fought as I didn’t want to disappoint my parents”.
 

All for his parents

Family is one of the most important chapters in his life. His father taught him how to evade defenders and finish swiftly. He even gives him pointers nowadays, in his own way.

“We talk about my errors and how to avoid repeating them. For instance, when I shoot wide or miss a control, I listen to him. When I was younger, I was asking myself why he would lecture me always. As time passed by, I realised that he was right. When he wanted to ciriticise me, he wouldn’t say “you’re dumm”. He would encourage me. “Try to make it next time”. I am doing the best I can not to let him down. If I manage to make my parents proud of me, I will be a successful man”.

Fast Forward »»

A successful man would never leave his people unprotected. In 2009, when the Bulgarian mafia nightmare returned threatening his mother, his partner and his newborn child asking for 500.000 pounds from the Manchester United star, Dimitar was ready to face them. As “Godfather” would do.

He left police out of it, because his informants told him that high-ranked officials of the Bulgarian Domestic Affairs Ministry were involved in the affair. He chartered a flight with the help of Sir Alex Ferguson and helped his family flee to Manchester.
 

Boheme and cool, Berbatov experiences football in his own special way

Rewind ««

It was tough for him to adjust to Germany, but it was equally tough for Germans to warm up to him. He was silent and introvert. With the ball at his feet, everything worked like clockwork. But off the pitch, he seemed like carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, as his coach Klaus Toppmöller put it. “He isn’t part of the group, he never participates in team events”, Klaus Augenthaler added.

Despite his young age, Berbatov has a zen mentality. He never stresses, not even when he came off the bench to play in the UEFA Champions League final. “My coach said ‘You must go’. I was young and unimpressed”.

Finally a smile on his face

As he grows up, Berbatov manages to compromise with Dimitar.He finds himself and the dagger comes off his heart. At Tottenham Hotspur, a smiling Berbatov makes his appearance. At Manchester United he tastes success, always in his own bohemian way. Deep inside he still remains that little boy who dreamt of playing for PFC CSKA Sofia and represent his country.

The rest are still having a hard time getting used to his own ways, to his unique style. “When one is blessed with huge potential, they don’t have to apply the same level of effort”, he said on Manchester United TV. “Sometimes I may seem lazy, but it’s not my style to run around aimlessly on the pitch”. He didn’t have to…

The national team

Berbatov can boast that he fulfilled his childhood dreams. He became as famous as Stoichkov, he wore the jersey of PFC CSKA Sofia and he is the all-time leading scorer of the Bulgaria national team.

But he experienced a hard time as international as well. A tale just like the CKSA Sofia one… As skipper, Berbatov was held accountable by fans for Bulgaria’s failure to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals and the UEFA Euro 2008. Yordan Letchkov, a member of the golden generation of 1994 and nowadays a member of the federation, accused him in 2008, after a encounter against Italy, that “he run just 2 kms in 90 minutes”.

The press would write that he pretended to be injured. His teammates would accuse him of primadonna manners. He tried to turn the tide around, but to no avail. He chose to retire in 2010 with an open letter aimed at his critics.

Stoichknov became a role model for Berbatov since the age of 9

Huge charity and humanitarian work

He is successful off the pitch as well. He might appear as world football’s Big Lebowski, but Berbatov does care. In 2008, he founded his own charity institution in Bulgaria. He aspires to provide help to young children blessed with talent but lacking the means to distinguish themselves through sports.

Whenever given the opportunity, he also contributes in human rights issues as Unicef ambassador. In 2007, he starred in the attempt to acquit 5 Bulgarian nurses who were charged with spreading the HIV virus in Libya and condemned to death.

In 2012, UNESCO hailed the excellent work of Berbatov Foundation and selected him as their ambassador. However fans still fail to understand Dimitar Berbatov. He realises it: “Those who don’t know me, think I am a weird fellow. Perhaps they are right. They just don’t realise that I am basically shy and not very sociable”.