from Bulgaria
| Radostin Kishishev has finally joined Litex (Lovetch). Litex, with 6 points in front of FC Levski in A PFG, are most likely to be the new Bulgarian champion. |  |
Jordan Letchkov is still without any club affiliation. This might lead to an exclussion from the Bulgarian team for France'98. A possible new team must pay $350000 to Besiktas in compensations. |  |
| From Reuters: Sofia, March 29 - Bulgaria's national captain Trifon Ivanov
(on the right) apologised to CSKA Sofia fans on Sunday for refusing to accept
the captaincy of the club side in a fit of pique on Saturday.
Ivanov's World Cup team mate Hristo Stoichkov, who rejoined CSKA less than two
weeks ago, began Saturday's Bulgarian first division match as captain but was
substituted in the 65th minute.
Before leaving the field he ran to hand the captain's armband over to Ivanov
but the defender, angry that Stoichkov had replaced him as starting skipper so
soon after his return, threw it to the ground.
"This was an ugly act due to emotions and tension," Ivanov told a news
conference on Sunday. The 15,000 fans at the game hissed at Ivanov every time
he touched the ball after the incident. Another international, striker Emil
Kostadinov, picked up the discarded armband and wore it on his wrist for the
remainder of the match. Stoichkov, whose contract with Barcelona was
terminated on March 13, was making his first appearance back at the club
where he started his career, against Metalurg Pernik.
Ivanov himself returned to CSKA only last month, on loan from Austria Vienna. Bulgarian playmaker Krassimir Balakov, furious at charges he is at odds with striker Hristo Stoichkov, has vowed not to talk to the media until after this summer's World Cup finals. Balakov published the statement after local media reported he had told national coach Hristo Bonev after a midweek friendly against Macedonia in Skopje that he should choose between him and Hristo Stoichkov in the future. "What was published in the media...is a great speculation with my name and the name of my colleague," Balakov said on state television. "Obviously somebody wants the name I built up thanks to a 10-year-long consistency and professionalism in soccer to be a weapon in the hands of someone's interests," he said. The Bulgarians were widely criticised in local media for their poor performance in the warm-up against Macedonia, which they lost 1-0. Stoichkov, who has out of touch, played only in the first half of the match. Stoichkov, whose contract with Barcelona was cancelled on March 13, is included for the first time in CSKA Sofia line-up for Saturday's match against Metalurg Pernik in the Bulgarian first division championship. |
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Bulgaria lost to Macedonia a friendly 0:1 (0:1) in Skopie.
Hristo Stoichkov hit the post but could not avoid the humiliating defeat.
Lubo Penev did not show most of his potentials, neither did the team as a
whole. Hristo Bonev made a statement that he would not call Houbtchev
anymore to the national side. The best players for Bulgaria were Stoitchkov
and Nankov. Scorer: Gjorgi Hristov 40, Attendance 8,000, Teams : Macedonia - 1-Petar Miloshevski; 2-Goce Sedloski, 3-Mitko Stojkovski, 4-Nedzmedin Memedi, 5-Igor Sasa Nikolovski (13-Igor Gjuzelov 85), 6-Ljubomir Milosevic, 7-Srgjan Zaharievski, 8-Toni Micevski (15-Vlatko Gosev 89), 9-Gjorgi Hristov, 10-Viktor Trenevski (14-Dzevdet Shainovski 87), 11-Artim Sakiri. Bulgaria - 1-Zdravko Zdravkov; 2-Radostin Kishishev (14-Gjorgi Bachev 45), 3-Trifon Ivanov, 4-Ivailo Petkov, 5-Gosho Ginchev, 6-Adalbert Zafirov, 7-Marijan Hristov (17-Daniel Boromirov 77), 8-Christo Stoitchkov (15-Ilian Iliev 45), 9-Ljubo Penev, 10-Krasimir Balakov (19-Stoicho Stoilov 83), 11-Svetoslav Todorov (16-Anatoli Nakov 45) U-21Macedonia - Bulgaria 0:1 (0:0), Telkiiski 76'. |
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| Bulgaria's national football team doctor Mihail Iliev explaining to the coach Hristo Bonev what exactly is the injury that Trifon Ivanov has (by MM). |  |
Hristo Stoichkov and his new coach Peter Zehtinski. |  |
March news #3, March news #2 and March news #1.
January & February news.
Old news: October news and yet more October (A), October (B) and October (C) news.
Older news: [May 1997], [June-July 1997], [August 1997], [September 1997].
Bulgarian Football News from
Meridian Match.
Acknowledgement: Most of the infomation (along with the pictures) is from the Bulgarian Press (Meridian Match, 24 hours, etc.)