Petkov began his career at FC Lulin, training in the youth team between 1976 and 1986.

[citation needed] Petkov was youth coach at Septemvri from 1995 until 2008.

He helped Septemvri to win a total of eighteen awards during his stay in the club.

He discovered a number of talented players, including Ivan Ivanov, Ivan Karadjov, Stefan Pavlov, Georgi Sokolov, Trifon Trifonov, Alexander Tonev, Alexander Vasilev, Bojidar Lazov, Hristo Surmov, Veselin Mitrev, Spas Popov, Apostol Delev and Garra Mladenov.

[citation needed] He was appointed manager of CSKA 1948 in August 2018.