Dobromir Zhechev would have turned 84 today. The Spartak Sofia and Levski defender was the only Bulgarian player picked for four World Cup squads.

Zhechev was born in Sofia on 12 November 1942, in the middle of the war. He played for Spartak from 1958, and a year later, before his 17th birthday, he won the European title with Bulgaria's youth team.

At 19 he was at the 1962 World Cup in Chile. He then played at the 1966 and 1970 tournaments. In 1974 he was in the squad again in West Germany, though as a reserve. Twelve years separated his first and last World Cup, a very long time for a defender. He won 67 caps for his country.

He won the Bulgarian Cup with Spartak in 1968 and moved to Levski in early 1969. In all, he won three domestic cups and two league titles as a player.

After he stopped playing, Zhechev stayed in football as a coach. He was briefly an assistant at Levski, then managed Aris, PAS Giannina, Veria and Botev Vratsa. In 1981 he returned to Levski as head coach and won the Bulgarian Cup the next year. He lifted the trophy both as a player and as a coach, 14 years apart.

Dobromir Zhechev died in Sofia on 12 October 2025, a month before his 83rd birthday.