Building bridges in Bulgaria

Leading club officials in Bulgaria have gathered for a major meeting to discuss the future of football in the country.

Good turnout
Wealthy PFC CSKA Sofia owner Vasil Bozhkov called the meeting together on Tuesday, with chairman and representatives of 13 of the 14 Premier League teams in attendance. Among those present were Grisha Ganchev of PFC Litex Lovech, Georgi Iliev of PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv, PFC Slavia Sofia's Mladen Mihalev and Mitko Sabev of PFC Naftex Burgas.

Fair play aim
Bozhkov said "two decisions" were made from the meeting, with the aim of improving the spirit of fair play in the domestic championship a key objective. "We all agreed for fair play in the next championship - both on and off the pitch," he said. "This means that there will be no bribing of referees or players and no buying of matches."

Meeting wanted
The second outcome of the meeting was a united request for an "urgent meeting of the Bulgarian Football Union" before it selects its new ruling body on 31 May. Bozhkov added: "If this demand is not met, the new championship will not start. All clubs were unified behind the idea to boycott the championship if we don't get what we want."

Positive response
The meeting was given a positive response by all who attended. "Better later than never," said Ventseslav Stefanov, Slavia's director of football. "I think that the decisions we made are for the good of Bulgarian football." On the matter of fair play, Naftex chairman Hristo Portochanov said it was time for all to come together. "We have all made mistakes and violated the rules of fair play," he said. "However, there has to be fair play if we want to save Bulgarian football."