Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( his full name) was born in Blagoevgrad on 30 Janurary 1981.He is bulgarian football player who now plays in Manchester United.Dimitar is from sports family - his mother Margarita was handball player, his dad Ivan was footballer.Also his granddad was a football player & his brother too.When he was 8 years old in school he was training athletics & long jump.At the age of 10, his youth football career started with his home-town club, Pirin.
CSKA Sofia
Berbatov joined the youth squad of his father's former club, CSKA Sofia, after being spotted by scout and manager Dimitar Penev in 1998. He signed his first professional contract with the club and made his début during the 1998–99 season, at the age of 18. He won the Bulgarian Cup with CSKA at the end of that season. He made his debut on March 3 in a 2:3 loss against Levski. The first goal of Berbatov in an official game for CSKA came just four days later - in the 2-1 victory against the "hammers" (Miner Pernik) Cup of Bulgaria. His debut on the European stage again with the team of CSKA was against Portadown,and against Konstruktorul Berbatov set a record for most goals in one match for CSKA in Europe, scoring five goal. Berbatov scored 37 goals for CSKA in 65 matches and won one trophy - the Cup of Bulgaria in 1999 after victory against Litex Lovech 1-0 in the final.
Bayer Leverkusen
A run of nine goals in eleven games during the first half of the 2000–01 season was enough to persuade German club Bayer Leverkusen to pay €1.3 million to sign a four-year contract with Berbatov on 1 January 2001. Berbatov played for the club's reserve team in the Oberliga Nordrhein at first, and scored six goals in seven appearances before being promoted to the first team. He made his team début in a 4–3 pre-season friendly win against D.C. United, scoring a hat-trick.His league début for the first team came on 10 February 2001, replacing Ulf Kirsten in a 4–1 victory against 1. FC Köln. Berbatov found himself being used as a substitute by manager Berti Vogts, making six appearances and scoring no goals as Leverkusen finished fourth and qualified for the following season's UEFA Champions League.
During the next season, Berbatov scored 16 goals and made important contributions to the club's Champions League campaign, scoring in a 4–2 win over English club Liverpool in the quarter-finals as Leverkusen eventually reached the final. In the final itself, against Real Madrid, Berbatov came on as a substitute for Thomas Brdarić after 38 minutes before Leverkusen lost 2–1.Leverkusen also finished as runners-up in the Fußball-Bundesliga behind Borussia Dortmund,and lost the DFB–Pokal final 4–2 to Schalke 04, thus completing an unusual treble of runners-up finishes. Berbatov established his place as the first-choice forward during the next season, 2002–03, and netted his team's goal against Manchester United on 24 September 2002, during a 2–1 defeat for Leverkusen. He scored 16 goals in 24 league appearances during the 2003–04 season, before the following two seasons saw the Bulgarian raise awareness of his talent by netting 46 goals in the league over the two seasons and five times in the 2004–05 Champions League. During this time, he was linked with numerous foreign clubs, including Celtic, Atlético Madrid and Liverpool.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur reached an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen for Berbatov's transfer in May 2006;the fee of €16 million (£10.9 million) made him the most expensive Bulgarian footballer ever.After he was granted a British work permit, the transfer was completed on 1 July 2006. After Tottenham lost 2–0 to Bolton Wanderers in Berbatov's first league match in England on 19 August 2006, he scored his first goal for Spurs three days later in a 2–0 home victory against Sheffield United.
Berbatov's seven goals in eight European games during his début season for Tottenham helped the club to secure top spot during the UEFA Cup's group stage, making his second European debut in October 2006, scoring a goal during a 2–0 victory against Beşiktaş.He made a total of eight appearances, scoring seven goals as Tottenham were eliminated 3–4 on aggregate against Sevilla.However, he took a while to adapt to the Premier League, taking a few months to regain the league form he had shown at Leverkusen. He gave a strong performance against Wigan Athletic in November 2006, scoring one and creating the other two in a 3–1 win for Spurs, and began to score regularly. He scored his first FA Cup goals on 18 February 2007 when he came on as a second-half substitute in a 4–0 win over Fulham and netted two of the four goals.Berbatov and Spurs team-mate Robbie Keane were named joint winners of the Premier League Player of the Month award for April 2007, and in doing so became the first players to share the award since February 2004. He ended the 2006–07 season with 12 goals in 33 appearances in the Premier League, and won both the Tottenham Hotspur Player of the Season award and a place in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
Berbatov scored his first Premier League hat-trick on 29 December 2007, scoring four in a 6–4 win over Reading.His first cup final for Tottenham came on 24 February 2008 in the Football League Cup; Spurs faced Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. Berbatov scored an equalising penalty as Tottenham went on to win the game 2–1 after extra time.He ended the season with 15 league goals.Before the next season, 2008–09, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was quoted by newspapers as saying he expected to sign Berbatov; Tottenham submitted a complaint to the Premier League alleging that Manchester United had broken league rules.Ongoing rumours of a substantial bid by Ferguson's club unsettled him, and Berbatov was dropped for the games against Sunderland and Chelsea during August, the season's first month.
Manchester United
Berbatov moved to Manchester United on 1 September 2008, costing the club £30.75 million and signing a four-year contract.Tottenham had also accepted a bid from Manchester City, but Berbatov claimed after signing for United that he "would not even have thought about Manchester City".Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, meanwhile, accused Tottenham of having used the complaint to the Premier League to negotiate a higher price for Berbatov from Manchester United.
Berbatov marked his Manchester United début at the age of 27, with an assist to a Carlos Tévez goal away at Liverpool, but United lost the game 2–1.His first two goals for the club came in the 3–0 win away to Aalborg BK in the Champions League group stage on 30 September 2008.He netted his first league goals in Manchester United colours during a 4–0 victory over West Bromwich Albion. Alex Ferguson defended Berbatov after he was criticised for missing a penalty during the 2008–09 FA Cup semi-final against Everton, which Manchester United eventually lost by a penalty shoot-out. Soon after, Berbatov scored the fifth of United's goals as they came back from 2–0 down at half-time to win 5–2 against his former team, Tottenham Hotspur.When Manchester United won the Premier League on 16 May 2009, Berbatov became the first Bulgarian to win an English league title.After Berbatov struggled to make an impact during the 2009–10 season, Berbatov was linked with away from Old Trafford, but this was denied by Ferguson.
Berbatov scored United's third goal in the 92nd minute of their 3–1 win over Chelsea in the 2010 Community Shield on 8 August.Eight days later, Berbatov scored his and United's first league goal of the season, opening the scoring in their 3–0 home victory over Newcastle United in the club's first match of the campaign.He scored his first hat-trick for United on 19 September, scoring all three of his team's goals in a 3–2 home win over rivals Liverpool; the second goal, an overhead kick, became a contender for the league's Goal of the Season.It was the first treble by a Manchester United player against Liverpool in 64 years.He made his 100th appearance for United on 10 November in a 0–0 away league draw in the Manchester derby on 11 November 2010.Sixteen days later, Berbatov tied a league record by scoring five goals in a game during a 7–1 home victory over Blackburn Rovers; he was the first non-Englishman to net five in a Premier League match, and joined Andrew Cole, Alan Shearer and Jermain Defoe as the only players overall to do so.He was named Bulgarian Footballer of the Year for a record seventh time on 20 December.
Berbatov netted his first goals of the 2011 calendar year with his third hat-trick of the season in a 5–0 home win over Birmingham City on 22 January.This made him the first United player since Ruud van Nistelrooy (in 2002–03) to score three hat-tricks in the same season.In January 2011, Berbatov was named by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics as Europe's most popular footballer among active players for 2010. After being dropped to the bench for games against Arsenal and Marseille, Berbatov returned as a second half substitute for Javier Hernandez against Bolton Wanderers on 19 March and scored the winner in the 88th minute (his 20th goal of the season), giving United a 1–0 victory.He scored his 21st in a following Premier League start against Fulham where United won 2–0. As top scorer of Premier League, Berbatov was a member of the PFA Team of the Year for the 2010–11 season alongside Carlos Tévez. Berbatov also shared the Premier League Golden Boot award with his former Manchester United teammate.On 28 May 2011, he was left out of the Manchester United squad for the Champions League Final, in which United lost 3–1 to Barcelona.
Berbatov played his first game of the season in an away match against West Bromwich Albion, coming on as a substitute replacing Danny Welbeck, a game which United won 2–1. Berbatov appeared from the substitute's bench against Chelsea, replacing the injured Javier Hernández. United won the game 3–1. Berbatov made his first start of the season in the following game, a Carling Cup third round clash with rivals Leeds United. He played the full game and was required to play at centre back for the last 10 minutes, when youngster Ezekiel Fryers picked up an injury and United had already used all three permitted substitutes. Berbatov struggled for chances on the night, but United did win the game 3–0. On 25 October 2011, he scored the first goal, after a neat passing build-up and also helped set up a goal for Michael Owen in a 3–0 win against Aldershot Town in the fourth round of the Carling Cup.On 22 November, Berbatov ended his long run without a goal in the Champions League by scoring the equaliser in a home game against Benfica in a 2–2 draw. On 21 December 2011, he came on as a second half substitute during a Premier League match against Fulham replacing Danny Welbeck. He scored his 50th goal for Manchester United in all competitions, thus becoming Manchester United's 50th player to score 50 goals for the club. This was also his first goal of the 2011–12 Premier League season. On 26 December 2011, Berbatov scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 win against Wigan Athletic. This was Berbatov's fourth Premier League hat trick for Manchester United and 5th overall in the division. In the next league game against Blackburn Rovers, Berbatov gave away a first half penalty when he dragged Chris Samba to the ground. In the second half, after going 2–0 behind, United responded quickly with two goals from Berbatov. The first he directed his header past the keeper after Rafael Da Silva's mishit cross and then he fired home Antonio Valencia's pullback to level the game. However United went on to lose the game 3–2. In the 2012 January transfer window, Berbatov was linked with a move to German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich, but this rumour was recently squashed by Sir Alex Ferguson who has decided to extend his contract for another year.On 31 January, Berbatov scored a goal in a 2-0 league win at Old Trafford against Stoke City, scoring the second of two penalties on the night.
Bulgarian National Team
Dimitar Berbatov played his first game for the youth national team in April 1999 against Russia, but a month later he was called in by the then youth coach Stoicho Mladenov for the match against Romania. Several months later, the striker received call-up for first team, led by Dimitar Dimitrov Hero for control match against Greece in November 1999, in which Berbatov made his debut after he came in as a substitute in the 66th minute. He scored first goal for Bulgaria on February 13, 2000 in the friendly against Chile (2-3), and his first official goal in the coming World Cup qualifier against Denmark as a guest 1:1. In qualifying for the World Cup in 2002 in Japan and South Korea Berbatov notes two goals but the team failed to qualify.He scored a hat-trick in the 6–2 home win in a 2010 World Cup qualification match against Georgia in October 2009, enabling him to bring his goal tally for the national side to 46 goals, just one short of the then all-time top scorer for Bulgaria, Hristo Bonev; after scoring two goals against Malta during a 4–1 friendly away win during the following month, he took the record.Berbatov captained the team from 2006 until May 2010,when he announced his retirement from international football, leaving his tally for Bulgaria standing at 48 goals from 77 matches.In February 2012, newly appointed Bulgaria head coach Luboslav Penev revealed that Berbatov was willing to consider coming out of international retirement and participate in an upcoming friendly match against Hungary. Berbatov eventually decided against accepting a call-up for the match, as he didn't feel that he was in top shape, but has not ruled out a return to the national side at some point in the future.
