Hebros Harmanli

Hebros Harmanli are a small but historically significant Bulgarian club from the Thracian town of Harmanli, whose name is forever linked to one of football's all-time greats. It was at Hebros that a teenage Hristo Stoichkov, who would become European Footballer of the Year in 1994 and claim the World Cup Golden Boot that same summer, first made his name in professional football between 1982 and 1984. That single connection places this modest southern Bulgarian club in a story that stretches all the way to Camp Nou and the top of the world game. Founded in 1921, Hebros Harmanli play at the Hebros Stadium in Harmanli and currently compete in the lower tiers of Bulgarian football. The club provided the earliest professional stage for Hristo Stoichkov, one of Eastern Europe's greatest-ever players. They wear green and white and represent the quiet footballing culture of the southern Bulgarian region. Green and white are Hebros Harmanli's colours and they have been worn with modest but genuine pride throughout the club's existence. The kit carries little continental glamour but enormous historical weight for Bulgarian football fans who know that Stoichkov wore these colours before the world had heard of him. The green shirts of the early 1980s, worn by a young Stoichkov as he scored the goals that announced him to the Bulgarian game, are the most significant garments in the club's wardrobe.