The Bulgaria national football team were formed in 1922 and played their first match in 1924. It was a comprehensive 6-0 win over Austria. Although the team were invited to the inaugural 1930 world cup the team did not make it to Uruguay because of various travel problems. This started a period for the Bulgaria national football team where they could not make it to a world cup finals tournament. The side always came close but could not quite make it through qualifying. It was not until 1962 that the side finally made it to a world cup.
Hristo Stoichkov is regarded as the greatest Bulgarian footballer of all time. During his playing career he was part of the successful Barcelona squad which was Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team. He was also part of the 1994 Bulgaria national football team’s world cup squad that achieved the country’s best result to date. That year he received the world cup Golden Boot as the joint top goal scorer in the tournament. He managed six goals.