ITALIAN team Roma are ready with an offer of 10 million euro for 18-year-old football phenomenon Valeri Bojinov, according to Bulgarian-language media reports.

Roma is said to be not the only outfit interested in Bojinov.

Italian newspaper Tutosport reported on October 29 that "the European grand teams are after Bojinov".

Also said to be interested is Barcelona, which may have an advantage given its cordial relationship with Bulgarian football giant Hristo Stoichkov.

However, Rico Semeraro, president of Lecce - the team for which Bojinov is currently playing - was said to be reluctant to part with the star player, Roma sports director Franco Baldini was confident that Semeraro would change his tune once he saw 10 million euro on his desk.

While this was going on, Stoichkov compiled a formal report for Barcelona on Bojinov.

Writing in his regular column in the newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, Stoichkov said, "In football Italy it is being very much talked and written that Barcelona are interested in Valeri Bojinov.

"I can't say anything on this issue. It is an honour to me as a Bulgarian that a team as grand as Barcelona is interested in Bojinov.

"If Bojinov starts playing for Barcelona one day, I will myself feel quite content and happy," Stoichkov said.

Also reported to be interested in Bojinov are Italian grand teams Inter and Juventus.



SPORT BRIEFS



l Youth and Sports Minister Vassil Ivanov will on November 16 open a Bulgarian-French information centre. This transpired after a meeting on October 29 between Ivanov and French ambassador Yves Saint-Geours. Bulgaria is an active member of the community of Francophone nations and the centre is expected to improve two-way relations in the field of sport. "The centre was to become operative in the end of the summer but its opening had to be postponed for mid-November because of commitments for the summer Olympic Games," Ivanov said.



l A report in Kapital weekly on October 26 said that the Sports Ministry had proposed draft amendments to the law, to transform state-run sports facilities into private state property from public state property.

This move is said to be aimed at attracting fresh investments since the state budget is not enough for maintaining the facilities.

The state is reported to be wanting to gradually withdraw from the sector, since the state subsidy to the sports facilities for 2005 will be only 600 000 leva, five times lower than the subsidy in 2004. A solution to the problem of sports facilities has been sought since 1997 and in the meantime many of the premises have become severely run down.



l Gymnast Yordan Yovchev, winner of a silver and a bronze Olympic medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, was elected Man of the Year 2004 in the 15th ranking by Club M magazine.

A total of 7011 people took part in the internet poll, to choose their favourite from among three nominees: President Georgi Purvanov, Finance Minister Milen Velchev, and Yovchev.

The award ceremony is scheduled to take place at the end of November.



l Litex dismissed head coach Stoicho Mladenov one day after the team lost to CSKA 1:3.

"We have parted with Stoicho Mladenov. He handed in his resignation and the management accepted it. We are now looking for a new head coach. I would like to specially point out one thing. Professionalism and partiality must not be mixed. This is a frequent case in Bulgaria. It is hardly seen in Europe or around the world. The mixing of these two things makes me even more furious than when Litex loses a match," Litex president Grisha Ganchev said.