Previous encounters
We've picked out four previous games with Bulgaria from down the years and age groups
Previous encounters
Bulgaria 1-1 England
9 June 1999
Sofia, Bulgaria
The Three Lions had to settle for a point during qualification for EURO 2000, after a 1-1 draw in Sofia. Kevin Keegan’s team had to come back from a goal down too, as Georgi Markov put the hosts ahead after 15 minutes.
It didn’t take long for England captain Alan Shearer to level things up soon after, but Keegan’s side couldn’t find a breakthrough against a ten-man Bulgarian team following Martin Petrov’s sending off.
England: David Seaman, Phil Neville, Michael Gray, David Batty, Sol Campbell, Gareth Southgate, Jonathan Woodgate (Ray Parlour), Jamie Redknapp, Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Fowler (Emile Heskey)
England MU21s 2-0 Bulgaria
16 November 2007
Stadium MK
Stuart Pearce’s Young Lions were in the early stages of their qualifying campaign to reach the U21 Euro Finals in Sweden, when they hosted a group game in Milton Keynes.
And a goal in each half from Gabby Agbonlahor and James Milner proved enough to seal victory for the MU21s on this occasion, with a line-up containing a number of future senior internationals.
England: Joe Hart, Craig Gardner, Joe Mattock, Steven Taylor (c), David Wheater, Lee Cattermole, James Milner, Tom Huddlestone (Adam Johnson), Theo Walcott, Gabby Agbonlaho (Grant Leadbitter), Matt Derbyshire (Fabrice Muamba)
Bulgaria 0-2 England MU19s
3 July 2017
Mikheil Meskhi Stadium Tbilisi
The Young Lions won the U19 EURO title in 2017 and their campaign in Georgia began in fine style with a 2-0 victory over Bulgaria in their opening game.
Keith Downing’s side went ahead in the first minute thanks to Mason Mount’s goal before Ryan Sessegnon doubled the advantage early in the second half on what was a sweltering night in Tbilisi.
Mason Mount and Ryan Sessegnon helped get the Young Lions up and running at the UEFA U19 European Championship in Georgia.
England: Aaron Ramsdale, Dujon Sterling, Jay Dasilva (C), Tayo Edun, Trevoh Chalobah, Easah Suliman, Andre Dozzell, Ben Brereton (Lukas Nmecha), Mason Mount, Ryan Sessegnon (Isaac Buckley-Ricketts), Marcus Edwards (Jacob Maddox)
England 4-0 Bulgaria
7 September 2019
Wembley Stadium
Our last encounter with Bulgaria came just a few weeks ago, as a Harry Kane hat-trick and a goal from Raheem Sterling meant England’s unbeaten start to UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying continued apace.
Kane opened the scoring midway through the half before firing home a penalty just before the break. Sterling added a third in the 55th minute and Kane completed his treble with a second spot kick of the afternoon to wrap up the win.
Watch the goals and highlights from this game in the video player above.
England: Jordan Pickford, Kieran Trippier, Michael Keane, Harry Maguire, Danny Rose, Jordan Henderson (Mason Mount), Declan Rice, Ross Barkley, Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane (c) (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain), Raheem Sterling (Jadon Sancho)
Euro Qualifying head-to-head
Six in Sofia
The Three Lions pick up a convincing win on the road in Sofia in their 999th international game
Three Lions back on track
England got their UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying campaign back on track in Sofia with a convincing win over Bulgaria.
A thunderous first-half performance saw the Three Lions rattle in four fine team goals to put themselves on the road to victory thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford, a brace apiece for Ross Barkley and Raheem Sterling and a final goal to wrap things up from Harry Kane.
But it came with an unsavoury taste, with the later stages of the half being played against an uncertain backdrop of how the evening might end.
The game had to be halted twice in the first half due to the reporting of racist abuse towards England players from sections of the home crowd.
With the match officials following the UEFA protocol of halting the game to enforce an announcement to the crowd midway through the first half, it then took the intervention of England’s players and bench to alert them to continuing abuse and the match was stopped again.
While that seemed to die down after the break, it had left a sour taste and England will be glad to be leaving Sofia with a big victory and three points in the bag.
Just as they did in Prague last week, England took an early lead but this was a fine goal. A long, diagonal pass from Harry Maguire found Rashford on the left, and when he traded passes with Barkley, he broke into the box past both Georgi Pashov and Kiril Despodov.
A cross looked the most obvious option, but after cutting past Pashov again from the by-line, Rashford looked up before firing an unerring shot past Plamen Iliev.
Iliev had even less chance in the 20th minute, when the Three Lions doubled their advantage thanks to a fine team move which saw the ball moved forward before Sterling took control and burst into the area. He drove a low cross-shot to the far post where Barkley arrived with precise timing to tap home from close range.
And Barkley got his second of the night ten minutes later when he ghosted into the area to nod home Kane’s curling left-foot cross, moments after the game had been halted for the first time following alleged racist abuse towards the England players from the home crowd.
There was time for a fourth goal for England in stoppage time, when Trippier and Kane combined well on the right before the captain’s centre was finished by Sterling from close range.
England continued to dominate after the break, but it took until the later stages before they added to their tally with Sterling getting his second after being sent clear by Kane and finishing well past Iliev.
Kane was still awaiting his own goal, seeing a low shot bounce off the bottom of the post, before he got what he deserved when he took advantage of a Bulgarian mix-up to burst through and fire home the sixth.
England had done their job on the pitch in their 999th international game, now it’s back to Wembley in November when a win over Montenegro will secure qualification.
