| | NEW YORK -- Hristo Stoichkov, the hero of Bulgaria's run to the 1994 World Cup semifinals, was introduced as the newest member of the Chicago Fire at Major League Soccer's First Kick 2000 Luncheon on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old striker, named FIFA Footballer of the Year in
1994 and runner-up in 1992 while playing for Barcelona, has been retired for eight months. He agreed to return to play for the Fire on a one-year contract believed to be worth $250,000, or the MLS maximum base salary.
Stoichkov retired from the Bulgarian
national team with 84 caps and 37 goals -- second all-time for
Bulgaria behind Hristo Bonev's 47 international goals.
"Hristo has been one of the great soccer players in the
world the past 10 years," Chicago general manager Peter Wilt
said in a statement released by the team. "He is a very skilled exciting attacking player that will
electrify the crowds at Soldier Field and all around Major
League Soccer."
Stoichkov will be familiar with his new home stadium, having
led Bulgaria to victory over Greece in the 1994 World Cup at
Soldier Field.
ESPN The Magazine's Jeff Bradley reported Tuesday that MLS will sell San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Eddie Lewis to Fulham of the English First Division for a transfer fee of nearly $2 million, an MLS record. In return, San Jose will get one major and one minor allocation from MLS.
The Fire will trade four draft picks (all three of the second-round picks they own in next year's draft and a first-round pick in 2002) to San Jose in exchange for the minor allocation.
MLS will allow the Fire to acquire Stoichkov with the minor allocation, because he has been retired for a year and because he's likely to only play one year.
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