Bozhidar Kraev

#11 BOZHIDAR KRAEV – DOB 23/6/97

Bozhidar Kraev arrived in Wellington in July 2022 after signing a two-year contract with the Phoenix.

The attacking midfielder has been capped 24 times by Bulgaria at international level and has played against the likes of Liverpool and Ajax in the Champions League.

Kraev started his professional career in Bulgaria at Levski Sofia. He spent three years at the club, scoring 28 goals in 94 matches.

He joined FC Midtjylland in 2017 and helped them win the Danish Superliga in his first season.

After 37 first team appearances in two seasons in Denmark, Kraev spent the 2019-20 season on loan at Gil Vicente in Portugal’s Primeira Liga and scored nine goals in 36 matches.

He started the 2020-21 campaign at Midtjylland and made a further 16 first team appearances, including four in the Champions League, before returning to Portugal to spend the second half of the season on loan at FC Familicao.

Kraev endured a frustrating final season in Denmark.

He made just one first team appearance for Midtjylland in the Danish Cup, which they went on to win.

Kraev played three times for the reserves and scored two goals.

> 2022-23 season

Bozhidar Kraev marked his club debut in August by scoring the final goal in the Phoenix’s 4-0 Australia Cup win over Devonport City Strikers.

He started their next two Cup matches, including the quarter-final defeat to eventual champions Macarthur FC.

Kraev made a fast start to the A-League season, scoring five goals in the opening eight rounds.

A contentious red card against Sydney FC in round 11 interrupted his season but he featured in the Nix’s remaining 15 league matches, scoring a further two goals.

Kraev’s stand-out performance came against Western United in round 17 when he scored one goal and created two others in the 3-0 win.