14.05.2003 – The first relegated teams are already known
The championship enters its decisive phase and with that the first teams to be relegated or promoted already become known.
Three rounds before the end the two teams to be relegated from the Premier League are already known. These are Rilski sportist (SAMOKOV), despite their 0:0 draw away to Naftex, and Dobrudzha (Dobrich) following a crushing 0:5 defeat away to Marek. Both teams were promoted from the First League last season.
Meanwhile in the First League, also three rounds from the end, following round 27, the second team to be relegated to the third level became known too. Following a 1:5 home defeat by Vidima-Rakovski, Dunav (Ruse) joins Botev (Vratsa), who pulled out at mid-season, on their way down. Dunav should compete in the Northeastern "V" AFG next season, while Botev, because they were excluded from the league, must compete at the fourth level.
Two of the winners of the "V" AFGs are also known. Slanchev bryag (Nesebar) in the Southeastern "V" AFG and Vihren (Sandanski) in the Southwestern "V" AFG have earned promotion three rounds from the end.
01.04.2003 – Decisions of the STC
The Sports-technical commission of the BFU decided at its meeting today that the Premier PFL round 19 match Botev (Plovdiv) – Rilski sportist (SAMOKOV) will be played at the “Bulgarska armia” stadium in Sofia. Botev have to play the game at a neutral venue, because of their one-game home match ban
The commission also scheduled the PPFL round 16 match Litex – Cherno more for Wednesday, 9th of April, at 17:00 h. The match was initially postponed because of the assassination of Cherno more’s president and owner Iliya Pavlov a day before the original fixture was scheduled.
In relation to this, the commission has also rescheduled the PPFL round 20 match CSKA – Cherno more from Friday to Saturday, 12th of April at 17:45 h.
24.03.2003 - Botev (Plovdiv) sanctioned
The Sports-technical commission of the BFU imposed a one home match ban on Botev (Plovdiv) at its meeting today.
This comes because of the crowd throwing dangerous objects onto the field, including parts from broken seats and heavy mobile phones during this round’s match Botev – Levski (Sofia) which the Plovdiv team lost 0:3. Some of the objects also almost hit a player from Levski, which was the main reason for the decision.
Now Botev will have to play at a neutral venue their crucial match against Rilski sportist (SAMOKOV) in round 19. Botev are just above the relegation zone, while Rilski sportist is one place below them and despite the 7 point gap between the two teams, a defeat for Botev could prove fatal given Rilski sportist easier schedule until the end of the championship.
This is the second home match ban imposed on a Premier PFL club this month, with the other Plovdiv team – Lokomotiv – suffering from the first. Lokomotiv (Pd) were also banned following a match against Levski too, though it was part of the Cup of Bulgaria competition and not the championship.
19.03.2003 – National team squad announced
Bulgarian national team coach Plamen Markov has announced today five players from the Bulgarian championship to join the 13 foreign-based players already announced for Bulgaria’s squad for its friendly against Serbia and Montenegro on the 27th of March in Krusevac and the Euro 2004 qualification match against Estonia on the 2nd of April in Tallinn.
Two players each represent second placed Levski (Sofia) and Litex (Lovech) in the squad, while leaders CSKA have only goalkeeper Stoyan Kolev called up for the national team. Compared to the more expanded squad for the last match – the unfinished friendly against Hungary in Cyprus – two CSKA players have been left out of the squad – midfielder Svetoslav Petrov and forward Velizar Dimitrov. Another former CSKA player – Lille OSC striker Vladimir Manchev is the one missing compared to the squad against Hungary from the foreign-based players. Meanwhile Portsmouth’s Svetoslav Todorov is called up for a third consecutive time and for the first time will be in the squad for a non-friendly match.
Here is the full list of players:
Goalkeepers:
Zdravko Zdravkov – Istanbulspor (Istanbul, TUR)
Stoyan Kolev – CSKA (Sofia)
Defenders:
Ivaylo Petkov – Istanbulspor (Istanbul, TUR)
Radostin Kishishev – Charlton Athletic (London, ENG)
Predrag Pazin – Shakhtyor (Donetsk, UKR)
Iliyan Stoyanov – Levski (Sofia)
Rosen Kirilov – Litex (Lovech)
Zlatomir Zagorcic – Litex (Lovech)
Midfielders:
Georgi Peev – Dinamo (Kiev, UKR)
Stilyan Petrov – Celtic (Glasgow, SCO)
Milen Petkov – AEK (Athens, GRE)
Daniel Borimirov – Munich 1860 (Munich, GER)
Krasimir Balakov – Stuttgart (Stuttgart, GER)
Forwards:
Zoran Yankovic – Dalian Shide (Dalian, CHI)
Dimitar Berbatov – Bayer (Leverkusen, GER)
Martin Petrov – Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg, GER)
Svetoslav Todorov – Portsmouth (Portsmouth, ENG)
Georgi Chilikov – Levski (Sofia)
10.03.2003 – Slavoljub Muslin leaves Levski
Following a meeting of Levski (Sofia)’s Executive committee on Monday evening it was decided that Levski’s coach Slavoljub Muslin is going to immediately terminate his contract with the club on mutual agreement. The Executive committee has pointed out former Levski assistant coach Georgi Todorov as a replacement at the head coach position until the end of the season.
In addition to that the entire Executive committee resigned, with the resignations due to be reviewed by the Overseeing committee of the club. At the press conference following the meeting it was admitted that appointing foreign coaches was a mistake on the club’s behalf and that Levski needs a Bulgarian coach given the conditions in Bulgaria.
Slavoljub Muslin came to power at the club in the middle of March 2002, following the terminating of the contract of previous coach Reudiger Abramczik. Now just 8 days before Muslin was due to complete his first year at the club, he will leave the club in the same way as his predecessor did.
Georgi Todorov, who was assistant coach at Levski for a long time, ironically was the coach who also led the club for about a month in the period between the leaving of Abramczik and the coming of Muslin. After Muslin took to the helm of the team he once again became assistant coach of the club, until he was forced to leave at the end of 2002 mainly because of Muslin’s constant attacks towards him.
Though he was pointed as Muslin’s successor until the summer, the return of Georgi Todorov at the club is still uncertain, as he is currently working in the BFU as coach of the Bulgaria’s U19 national team and probably won’t be able to work in both places.
10.03.2003 – Foreign-based players to be called up for the national team announced
Coach Plamen Markov has announced the foreign-based players that he is going to call up for national team duty for the friendly away to Serbia and Montenegro on the 27th of March and for the Euro 2004 qualification away to Estonia on the 2nd of April.
There are no changes with the squad compared to the players, called up for the last friendly match against Hungary, with the exception of Vladimir Manchev, who wasn’t called up this time. Portsmouth striker Svetoslav Todorov is called up for a third consecutive time, and for the first time in a match from the European qualifications.
Here is the list of players:
Zdravko Zdravkov – Istanbulspor (Istanbul, TUR)
Ivaylo Petkov – Istanbulspor (Istanbul, TUR)
Radostin Kishishev – Charlton Athletic (London, ENG)
Predrag Pazin – Shakhtyor (Donetsk, UKR)
Georgi Peev – Dinamo (Kiev, UKR)
Stilyan Petrov – Celtic (Glasgow, SCO)
Milen Petkov – AEK (Athens, GRE)
Daniel Borimirov – Munich 1860 (Munich, GER)
Krasimir Balakov – Stuttgart (Stuttgart, GER)
Zoran Yankovic – Dalian Shide (Dalian, CHI)
Dimitar Berbatov – Bayer (Leverkusen, GER)
Martin Petrov – Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg, GER)
Svetoslav Todorov – Portsmouth (Portsmouth, ENG)
03.03.2003 – New additions to the site
Dear visitors, as you may have noticed, we have made a few additions to bul foot in the past week. Firstly we have created “Geography” pages for the Premier and First PFL. Though minor, we feel that this is a nice additional touch to our coverage of those leagues and may provide you with another interesting perspective to the competition.
Secondly and perhaps more significant, from this round on, we start to provide you with short match reports of the games in the Premier PFL. For now we will be trying this only as test, though we hope we will eventually manage to make this a tradition.
We would really appreciate if you can share your opinions and impressions on these new additions to the site at the site forum.
Previous headlines
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The Sports-technical commission of the BFU decided at its meeting today that Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) will host CSKA in a match from the upcoming 17th round of the Premier PFL at the “Iskar” stadium in SAMOKOV. This is because of Lokomotiv’s ban to play one home match on a neutral venue following the crowd incidents in their match at home against Levski (Sofia) in the 2nd leg of the 1/4 finals of the cup of Bulgaria.
The Sports-technical commission of the BFU excluded the team of Botev (Vratsa) from the First PFL at its meeting yesterday. The STC also awarded a 3:0 win for Vidima-Rakovski (Sevlievo) for the 17 round match against Botev that didn’t took place.