Bozhidar Mitrev (; born 31 March 1987 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Mitrev began his career at Levski Sofia. In early 2013 he moved to Lokomotiv Sofia, where he made more than 60 league appearances, before moving to Moldovan National Division club Sheriff Tiraspol in 2015. In early 2017 Mitrev re-signed for Levski.
Mitrev came through the youth ranks at Levski Sofia. For 2006âÂÂ07 season he was promoted to the first squad as third choice behind Georgi Petkov and Nikolay Mihaylov. He made his debut in a 3âÂÂ0 home loss against Werder Bremen in the group stage of the Champions League on 31 October 2006, replacing Nikolay Mihaylov at half-time. On 4 November, he started for first time, keeping a clean sheet in a 3âÂÂ0 home league win over Beroe Stara Zagora. On 5 December, Mitrev played in Levski's 2âÂÂ0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, making several excellent saves, including one reaction save from a Michael Essien header. However, he received criticism from the Chelsea faithful for a bad challenge on Didier Drogba, clearly fouling him. Chelsea were not offered a penalty, however Drogba accepted the apologies of the goalkeeper. Mitrev collected his first A Group title winner's medal at the end of the 2006âÂÂ07 season, playing 12 matches in all competitions.
On 10 March 2009, Mitrev scored 90-meters goal for the second team of Levski in a game against Vihren Sandanski. On 9 May 2009, he kept a clean sheet in a 2âÂÂ0 win in the Eternal derby of Bulgarian football against CSKA Sofia. Mitrev finished the season with 7 appearances in the league, as Levski clinched the A Group.
On 17 December 2009, Mitrev played in a 1âÂÂ0 Europa League away win over Lazio at Stadio Olimpico.
Mitrev left Levski on 1 July 2012 after his contract with the club expired. He spent six seasons of his career with Levski, mainly as a backup. He played 52 competitive games in all competitions.
After six months without a club, Mitrev joined Lokomotiv Sofia on 28 December 2012. He made his debut in a 2âÂÂ0 away loss against Lokomotiv Plovdiv on 2 March 2013. Mitrev left the team from the Nadezhda district after the 2014/2015 A PFG season when it was administratively relegated to the V group, as it was unable to obtain a license for professional football due to failing to meet the deadlines to pay for or provide sufficient guarantees regarding its debts.
In June 2015, Mitrev moved abroad for the first time, joining Moldovan club Sheriff Tiraspol.
In March 2017, Mitrev was signed by Levski urgently since the starter Bojan Jorgacevic will be unavailable for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury and the other two goalkeepers being too young and inexperienced. Mitrev signed for 1,5 years. At the beginning of 2017âÂÂ18 season, he was appointed as the captain of the team.
On 27 February 2019, Mitrev signed with Romanian club FC Voluntari until the end of the season with an option for extension.
On 7 February 2015, Mitrev made his first appearance for Bulgaria, in the 0âÂÂ0 draw with Romania in a non-official friendly match, playing the first 45 minutes. He earned his first cap on 8 June 2015, in the 0:4 loss against Turkey in another exhibition game, being between the sticks for the entire duration of the match. His official debut followed a few days after, keeping a clean sheet the whole match in a 0âÂÂ1 away win against Malta, for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Best goalkeeper in the Bulgarian First League - 2017.