Maritsa Plovdiv Kirov started his career as assistant manager at his hometown club
Maritsa Plovdiv. He was soon promoted to manager but in January 2007 became assistant again when the much more experienced
Petar Zehtinski was appointed as manager. However, he resigned in two months and Kirov was restored as manager.
Spartak Plovdiv On 13 June 2007, Kirov was appointed as manager of
Spartak Plovdiv. He left the club after the 2010–11 season due to the continuing financial crisis.
Botev Plovdiv On 14 June 2011, Kirov was announced as the head of youth department of
Botev Plovdiv, a position he held until 10 January 2017. Kirov served as assistant manager of
Velislav Vutsov in 2014 and
Ermin Šiljak in 2015.
2016-17 On 1 September 2016, following
Nikolay Mitov's short tenure, Kirov was appointed as interim manager – an assignment made permanent in January 2017. His first new signing was
Omar Kossoko who joined the club on a free transfer on 29 September. Nikolai Kirov and his assistant manager Ivan Kochev, stabilized and improved the performance of the team. The most memorable and impressive game in 2016 was the tremendous 3–4 away win over
Beroe Stara Zagora with spectacular goals by
Todor Nedelev,
João Paulo and
Omar Kossoko. During the winter break Kirov brought several new key players to Botev Plovdiv:
Antonio Vutov,
Victor Genev,
Ivan Čvorović and
Fernando Viana.
Lazar Marin returned to the club after a short and unsuccessful stay at
CSKA Sofia. In the meantime, due to financial difficulties
João Paulo, the most valuable player from the first part of the season, was sold to
Ludogorets Razgrad. With Nikolay Kirov in charge Botev failed to qualify for the championship round playoffs of the
Bulgarian First League. However the club finished second in
Group A of the relegation rounds and after that defeated
Beroe Stara Zagora in the
European play-offs. The 7–1 win over
PFC Montana from 7 April 2017 is memorable not only as the biggest win during the season but also because the first goal scored by the then 15-year-old
Kris Dobrev who become the youngest goalscorer in Bulgarian league history. Under the guidance of Kirov Botev Plovdiv eliminated
Neftochimic Burgas,
Pirin Blagoevgrad and
FC Vereya to reach the
Bulgarian Cup final. On 24 May 2017 Kirov lead Botev to a 2–1 victory in the
Bulgarian Cup final against Ludogorets winning the club's first trophy in 36 years. Due to the win Botev managed to qualify for the
2017-18 UEFA Europa League.
2017-18 Due to financial difficulties most of the first team players from the previous successful season were sold by the end of 2017.
Antonio Vutov decided to join his previous team
Levski Sofia for the new season. The goalkeeper
Georgi Georgiev was upset for not being in the starting lineup for the
Bulgarian Cup final and he left immediately because his contract expired. After winning the
Bulgarian Supercup Victor Genev left to sign with an Israeli club. At the beginning of August
Omar Kossoko was sold to
Al-Fujairah. A few months later
Fernando Viana was also sold.
Krum Stoyanov,
Yaya Meledje and
Tsvetomir Panov left during the winter break. Kirov had to fill the gaps in his squad and during the summer and the autumn several new players joined on free transfers:
Plamen Dimov,
Álvaro Juliano,
Daniel Kajzer,
Steven Petkov,
Daudet N'Dongala, and
Gustavo Sauer. The start of the season was very successful - on 9 August 2017, Nikolay Kirov and his team won the first
Bulgarian Supercup in the history of Botev Plovdiv following a 1–1 draw and a victory through penalty shootout against Ludogorets. During the winter break Nikolay Kirov brought two ex-players back to Botev Plovdi:
João Paulo on a loan until the end of the season and the right-back
Filip Filipov. The other new signings were the Brazilian forward
Diogo Campos Gomes and the defender
Dimitar Pirgov. In the last official home game from the season of
First League, 2–0 win over
FC Vereya, Kirov made a substitute and allowed
Stanislav Shopov to make an official debut for the first-team just at the age of 16. Botev Plovdiv finished 5th in
First League and was eliminated by
Slavia Sofia at the semi-finals of the
Bulgarian Cup after several controversial refereeing decisions.
Beroe Kirov served as manager of
Beroe Stara Zagora between September 2022 and June 2023. ==Honours==