Quiet retirement should be followed by quiet debut. Probably you will be surprised – Christo Stoichkov played his first official match this season. Great players make their debut early, so nothing different – he was barely 16-years old. Great talents are usually noticed early – and so his was. But he was no Maradona… Stoichkov debuted for 3rd Division clib – Hebros (Kharmanly). No fuss, no pictures, no journalists. Third division… that is, nobody noticed. And it was also mysterious debut, for Stoichkov is from the city of Plovdiv, where he trained and played in the youth system of Martitza. An old club, but lowly – ranks forth in the city. Which means that talented juniors were more than likely to move to one of the biggies – Botev (than Trakia) or Lokomotiv. Both had excellent youth systems at the time, producing tons of talents, who quickly became stars. So, how talented Stoichkov really was? The big clubs did not take him. Even his club was not eager to play him – Maritza was not much, but at least was Second, not Third, division club at the time. And something else – at 16, he was still at school. Moving to another city, even if not far away from home, as was the case, was still unlikely – unless his family moved for some reason to the small town. The mysteries remain, but the fact is Stoichkov debuted this season.
And nothing was heard of him for a few more years. Pretty much until this photo was taken – in 1985, at his almost first First division match. The ill-fated derby between CSKA and Levski in the spring of 1985, which ended in disgrace. Stoichkov, playing for CSKA, participated eagerly in the fights and red-carded. Did not want to leave, so had to be ‘helped’ by Levski’s stuff and players. After this match there were heavy penalties – both clubs and many players were banned. One of them was Stoichkov – he was banned for life! His career was over before it even started. He was still a nobody. But CSKA and 1985 were still far away in the unknown future – for the moment, he played third level football.