When England and Bulgaria were drawn in the same Euro 2020 qualifying group last December there was one player who was particularly excited about facing England.

Bulgaria may not have much hope of qualifying for next year’s tournament after defeats by the Czech Republic and Kosovo in June but the captain, Ivelin Popov, is hoping to draw inspiration from one of the most famous players in the country’s history before their game at Wembley.

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Recently Popov was lucky enough to get his hands on one of the most valuable pieces of memorabilia in his country’s football history. At an auction, organised by West Ham, Popov and his brother managed to secure the Bulgaria shirt Georgi Asparuhov wore when he scored his famous goal against England in a friendly at Wembley in December 1968. The striker’s solo run started in Bulgaria’s half, continued with him outrunning the entire England defence and culminated in a neat finish into the bottom left corner.

Asparuhov’s story is one of great success and even greater sorrow, for the man, who once got an offer from Milan while playing in communist Bulgaria, died tragically aged 28 in a car crash, in June 1971. A few days later hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Sofia and, even though the prolific striker left this world in the early 70s, in 1999 he was voted Bulgaria’s best ever football player ahead of Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgaria’s sole Ballon d’Or winner.

Having scored 150 goals in 247 Bulgarian league games, Asparuhov not only illuminated the domestic stage but made a name for himself in Europe, finding the net against Eusébio’s Benfica and Nereo Rocco’s Milan.

His love affair with the national team began in 1962 when aged 19 he scored the country’s first ever World Cup goal in Chile. They also drew against England in that tournament and six years later the Levski striker, whom people used to call The Artist because of his elegant style, would produce his finest footballing magic against the Three Lions.

Some people still wonder what would have happened had the striker waited for that change

In front of 80,000 spectators Bulgaria faced an England side with Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Bobby Charlton. Against all odds Asparuhov’s dream goal arrived in the 32nd minute, giving Bulgaria the lead. He needed five touches and 12 seconds to hit the target, silencing the home crowd.

The game ended 1-1, with Hurst equalising minutes after Asparuhov’s effort. The England players were impressed by Asparuhov’s performance, with Charlton saying: “Players as gifted as him are not born every day. He was an incredible striker.”

After the final whistle Asparuhov swapped shirts with Martin Peters, who would later donate Asparuhov’s shirt to West Ham’s club museum. When the Hammers left Upton Park for the London Stadium in 2016 it ended up being part of an auction.

It was the perfect opportunity for Popov, who began his career at Levski and idolised Asparuhov while growing up, to bring the shirt home. “When the shirt went up for sale, some Bulgarians living in the UK made me and my brother aware of the auction,” he said. “This shirt is priceless because of the symbolic significance it possesses. We offered around £8,000 and were extremely happy to learn that ours was the highest bid. This shirt was worn by one of the greatest ever Bulgarian players and it belongs to Bulgaria. Its place is here.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Georgi Asparuhov fires past Hungary’s Kalman Meszoly to score in Bulgaria’s 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford during the 1966 World Cup. Photograph: AP

Less than a month before scoring at Wembley Asparuhov was the star of a derby between his Levski Sofia side and CSKA. He got a hat-trick, with Levski winning 7-2, their second-biggest win in that match.

Asparuhov’s last game would also be against his team’s greatest rivals. On 28 June 1971, furious with the CSKA players and their ruthless way of playing, he retaliated and was sent off. It was a flash of temper that would play a part in costing his and his teammate Nikola Kotkov’s lives two days later. With Asparuhov suspended he decided to accept the invitation from the town of Vratsa, 112km away from Sofia in northwest Bulgaria, where the local football team Botev were preparing for their 50th anniversary.

In order not to drive to Vratsa on his own Asparuhov asked Kotkov, another fantastic footballer and a close friend, to keep him company. On their way Asparuhov decided to stop at a petrol station and fill up his Alfa Romeo. There the Levski striker was approached by a stranger who asked if he could travel with them. Asparuhov agreed.

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The legend has it that the petrol bill was 9.20 leva, the football star paid with a 10-leva note and told the woman who was working at the station she could keep the change. Yet she insisted on giving him the rest of the money back and went inside to get the change. By the time she came back, Asparuhov’s car was gone. Some people still wonder what would have happened had the striker waited for that change. Just a few minutes after they had left the petrol station his car would suffer a horrific crash with a truck. In the blink of an eye Asparuhov’s car caught fire and all three people inside died.

The funeral of the two football stars was attended by people from all corners of Bulgaria. According to different estimations of eyewitnesses and media reports between 150,000 and 550,000 people took to the streets of Sofia to bid farewell.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Kiril Ivkov, one of Asparuhov’s Levski teammates, remembers. “People who were older than me told me the only time they had witnessed a crowd that big was during the funeral of Tsar Boris III (Bulgaria’s last ruling king) in 1943. It turned out Asparuhov was just as loved by the people.”

The Communist regime was shocked – and afraid of what this huge crowd was capable of. The government officials were also upset with the fact that the entire nation was paying tribute to two football players instead of mourning the death of three Soviet astronauts who had been buried recently.

For fear of anti-government protests breaking out the ruling party sent members of the secret police to rip Asparuhov’s obituaries up. The people in charge of the country were afraid that Asparuhov and what he used to stand for could even inspire the nation to rebel against the regime. That is why they did their best to make the ordinary people forget Asparuhov and his legacy. But they failed.

Almost 30 years later, in 1999, Asparuhov was voted Bulgaria’s greatest player of the 20th century. And now with his Bulgaria shirt, the one he wore at Wembley, back where it belongs, his footballing legacy will continue to inspire the country’s future generations. “Maybe Asparuhov’s shirt will become our team’s lucky charm against England,” Popov says.

Popov knows better than anyone else this is much more than just a shirt. It is class, it is history, it is magic. And, above all, it represents The Artist’s greatest masterpiece.