PLACE OF BIRTH : Montana, Bulgaria
HEIGHT: 5" 10
WEIGHT: 77kgs
His first club was FC Montana and he debuted for them in the Bulgarian Premier League when he was just 15 years old. He began to make a name for himself as a striker and his performances attracked attention from bigger clubs. In 1996 cash-strapped Montana sold him to CSKA Sofia.
Stan never made a real impact in the CSKA Sofia First Team for the next two seasons. He only played a handful of first team games and spent the rest of his time as the Youth Team's star striker.
Stilian began to make his break through into the first team in 1998 when Dimitar Penev took charge of the club. Penev is famous for managing Bulgaria to 4th place in the World Cup USA '94 , but perhaps is not so well known for his ability to discover young talent. Penev was the man who found Bulgaria greatest footballer - Hristo Stoichkov. Penev gave Petrov a chance in the first team but surprisingly played him in midfield.
At just 18 years old Stan wore the number 8 jersey (previously worn by Stoichkov) and made a fantastic impact in the CSKA team that season and made his debut for the National side.
Stilian was already known in Bulgaria as a promising youngster but he became known internationaly when Bulgaria played England in a Euro 2000 qualifier in the Summer of 1999. England expected to go to Bulgaria and pick up an easy 3 points but they struggled badly and could only draw with Bulgaria with Stan one of the main reasons behind the result.
Celtic's Football Director Kenny Dalgish was analizing the match for Channel 5 at the time and decided to sign Petrov after his magnificant performence. Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin were reportdly interested in him as well. Stilian signed for Celtic though and all Celtic fans hoped that Dimitar Penev had found another world class Bulgarian.