New games! PlayTrivia andBirthle.

The Most Famous

WRESTLERS from Bulgaria

Icon of occuation in country

This page contains a list of the greatest Bulgarian Wrestlers. The pantheon dataset contains 700 Wrestlers, 8 of which were born in Bulgaria. This makes Bulgaria the birth place of the 24th most number of Wrestlers behind Netherlands and India.

Top 8

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Bulgarian Wrestlers of all time. This list of famous Bulgarian Wrestlers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Aleksandar Tomov

1. Aleksandar Tomov (1949 - )

With an HPI of 43.03, Aleksandar Tomov is the most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Aleksandar Tomov Lazarov (Bulgarian: Александър Томов Лазаров, born 3 April 1949) is a former Bulgarian Greco-Roman wrestler, in the heavyweight class. He is in the FILA Hall of Fame as a five-time champion of the World and five-time champion of Europe. He won silver medals at the Olympics in the +100 kg class in 1972, 1976, and 1980.

Photo of Valentin Yordanov

2. Valentin Yordanov (1960 - )

With an HPI of 41.25, Valentin Yordanov is the 2nd most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Valentin Dimitrov Yordanov (Bulgarian: Валентин Димитров Йорданов; born January 26, 1960), also transliterated Jordanov, is a retired Bulgarian freestyle wrestler who competed in the up to 52 kg weight class. He is an Olympic gold medalist, seven-time World Champion, seven-time European Champion, and the only wrestler to hold 10 medals (seven gold, two silver and one bronze) from the World Wrestling Championships.

Photo of Rusev

3. Rusev (1984 - )

With an HPI of 33.87, Rusev is the 3rd most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Miroslav Petrov Barnyashev (Bulgarian: Мирослав Петров Барняшев, [miroˈslɑf pɛˈtrɔf bɑrˈnjɑʃɛf]; born December 25, 1985) is a Bulgarian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Miro and is a one-time AEW TNT Champion. He is also known for his decade-long career in WWE under the ring name Rusev, where he became the first and so far, only Bulgarian wrestler to have worked for WWE. In 2010, Barnyashev signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), which was rebranded as NXT in 2012 (WWE's developmental territories). He performed on NXT until 2014, when he and his manager Lana were called to WWE's main roster. He is a three-time WWE United States Champion. He was released by WWE in April 2020, debuting in AEW as Miro in September of that year.

Photo of Stanka Zlateva

4. Stanka Zlateva (1983 - )

With an HPI of 31.47, Stanka Zlateva is the 4th most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Stanka Zlateva Hristova (Bulgarian: Станка Златева Христова; born 1 March 1983 in Krushare, Sliven Province) is a retired female Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, winning silver medals in the latter two events. She was named World Female Wrestler of the Year in 2006 and 2007 and Bulgarian Sportsperson of the Year in 2007, 2010 and 2011.

Photo of Kiril Terziev

5. Kiril Terziev (1983 - )

With an HPI of 27.15, Kiril Terziev is the 5th most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Kiril Stoychev Terziev (Bulgarian: Кирил Стойчев Терзиев; born 1 September 1983, in Petrich) is a Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. He won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in his category (up to 74 kg). He is a representative for Bulgarian company TRYMAX.

Photo of Taybe Yusein

6. Taybe Yusein (1991 - )

With an HPI of 24.11, Taybe Yusein is the 6th most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Taybe Mustafa Yusein (Bulgarian: Тайбе Юсеин Мустафа; born 4 May 1991 in Kubrat) is a Bulgarian wrestler. She competes in the 59 kg division and has won a total of six World championship medals, and eight European championship medals.In 2021, Yusein won a bronze medal in her event at the Poland Open held in Warsaw, Poland. She also won a bronze medal in the women's freestyle 62 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. In her spare time, Yusein enjoys reading, especially crime fiction.In 2022, she won the silver medal in the 62 kg event at the Dan Kolov & Nikola Petrov Tournament held in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. She lost her bronze medal match in her event at the Yasar Dogu Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey. She won the gold medal in the 62 kg event at the 2022 European Wrestling Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.She won the gold medal in the women's 65 kg event at the Grand Prix de France Henri Deglane 2023 held in Nice, France.

Photo of Yavor Yanakiev

7. Yavor Yanakiev (1985 - )

With an HPI of 23.95, Yavor Yanakiev is the 7th most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Yavor Dimitrov Yanakiev (Bulgarian: Явор Димитров Янакиев; born 3 June 1985 in Stara Zagora) is a Bulgarian wrestler who won the bronze medal in the Men's Greco-Roman 74kg at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Yanakiev currently competes for Slavia Litex, where his coach is Stoyan Dobrev; his first coach was Petar

Photo of Elitsa Yankova

8. Elitsa Yankova (1994 - )

With an HPI of 22.13, Elitsa Yankova is the 8th most famous Bulgarian Wrestler.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Elitsa Atanasova Yankova (Bulgarian: Елица Атанасова Янкова, 18 September 1994) is a Bulgarian freestyle wrestler. She participated in the 48 kg competition in 2016 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal. This became the first 2016 Olympics medal for Bulgaria.As an adolescent, Yankova had ambitions for short-distance running in track and field, but later switched to freestyle wrestling. Her father, Atanas Yankov, is a former Greco-Roman wrestler.In 2009, Yankova, though she failed to secure a spot at the European Championships, was noticed by coach Petar Kasabov, who convinced her to start training under him with the Levski sports club. In 2013, she became a junior world champion. She also holds a number of national titles. In 2015, Yankova damaged her spine, but recovered and returned to wrestling.Yankova's hobby is folk dancing. She is a student at the South-West University.

Pantheon has 8 people classified as wrestlers born between 1949 and 1994. Of these 8, 8 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living wrestlers include Aleksandar Tomov, Valentin Yordanov, and Rusev. As of April 2022, 1 new wrestlers have been added to Pantheon including Taybe Yusein.

Living Wrestlers

Go to all Rankings

Newly Added Wrestlers (2022)

Go to all Rankings