Stefani Stoeva

Stefani Stoeva (Стефани Стоева; born 23 September 1995) is a Bulgarian badminton player specializing in doubles. Her current partner is her older sister, Gabriela Stoeva. They competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. The duo together have won gold medals in the 2015 and 2023 European Games and also three successive European Championships in 2018, 2021 and 2022 editions. Stefani Stoeva has also won some individual titles in women's singles competition.

Career
Stoeva started playing badminton at age 9 at the Haskovo School Club in 2007. She won gold medals at the U17 European Championships in the girls' singles and doubles. At the 2014 Scottish Open Grand Prix, she won in the women's doubles event, partnered with Gabriela Stoeva. They beat Heather Olver and Lauren Smith of England in the finals round with the score 21-7, 21-15.

In 2015, she won the Dutch Open in women's doubles against the top seeds, World No.7 Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of Nederlands with the score 24–22, 21–15 in the final. She won the Russian Open against Johanna Goliszewski and Carla Nelte of German 21–15, 21–17. She competed in the European Games, and won gold in the women's doubles alongside her sister.

In 2016, Stoeva competed at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, but did not advance to the knocked-out stage after placing third in the group D stage.

In 2017, she became the women's doubles runner-up at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold. They lost to China pair Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan with the score 16–21, 15–21. The sisters also won the silver medal at the European Championships.

2020–2021: Second European Championships title
Stefani and her partner Gabriela were lost in the initial rounds in two opening tournaments in 2020. They lost in the first round to Chang Ye-na and Kim Hye-rin at the Indonesia Masters, and to world number 1 Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan in the Thailand Masters. The Stoeva then reached the final in the Spain Masters, losing the final to Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu in a close rubber games. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tournaments on the 2020 BWF World Tour were either cancelled or rescheduled for later in the year, they then felt the atmosphere of a tournament in Sofia in October, at the Bulgarian International, where she and her partner emerged victory at that tournament. The duo then ended the season by winning the Super 100 event at the SaarLorLux Open.

The Stoevas opened the 2021 season as the finalists in the Swiss Open, losing the title to the rising Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. They then finished runner-up in the Orléans Masters this time losing to Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand. The duo then clinched their first title of the year by winning their second European Championships title in Kyiv, Ukraine. The duo competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but were eliminated in the group stage.

2022: 3rd European Championships title
Stefani and her partner Gabriela opened the 2022 season with quite satisfactory results, by becoming finalists in the German Open. They then won 3 consecutive tournaments, in the Swiss Open, Orléans Masters and in their third European Championships.

Stefani and Gabriela ended the year on poor form, exiting four of their final six tournaments in the first round. Her sister, Gabriela, stated that their partnerships were lost communication on court, only arguing, and the energy around them was pretty negative.

2023: Second European Games gold
In the first semester of 2023, Stoeva has not been able to win any single titles, as her best results with Gabriela was being quarter-finalists in the Malaysia, India and the German Opens. Stefani and Gabriela claimed their first title of the year by winning the gold medal at the European Games, beating Dutch pair Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen in the finals. They also competed in the BWF World Championships, but had to be knocked out in the early rounds by Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong. In the remaining tournaments in 2023, they were able to win the International Challenge titles in Scotland, Bahrain and Wales, as well as finished runner-up in the Irish Open.

2024
Stoeva won her first international title in 2024 at the Azerbaijan International. She and her partner reached the finals in the German Open, but lost to Chinese pair Li Yijing and Luo Xumin. As the defending champion at the European Championships, Stoeva unable to defend their title after lost to French pair Margot Lambert and Anne Tran in the final.

European Games
Women's doubles

European Championships
Women's doubles

European Junior Championships
Girls' singles

Girls' doubles

BWF World Tour (8 titles, 7 runners-up)
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Women's doubles

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 3 runners-up)
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Women's doubles
 * BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
 * BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (32 titles, 10 runners-up)
Women's singles

Women's doubles
 * BWF International Challenge tournament
 * BWF International Series tournament
 * BWF Future Series tournament