IS Bulgarian football legend Hristo Stoichkov ready to step down as head coach of Bulgaria's national team to defect to Barcelona?
Reports to this effect, based on remarks he made in his regular column in Spanish sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, caused a major stir in Bulgaria.
Bulgarian-language newspaper reports this past week quoted Stoichkov as having written: "I am the head coach of the Bulgarian football team and my thoughts are completely concentrated on qualifying for the Football World Cup finals in Germany in 2006. But regardless of that, I may terminate my contract at any moment I like, in order to return to Barcelona if the team needs me".
The Bulgarian media gave the story some prominence, given that it was only this past July that Stoichkov signed a contract as head coach with a pledge to gear the national team for victory in Germany.
It was not the first time that his name had been mentioned in connection with another team. In November last year, Stoichkov had a meeting with the bosses of the Chicago Fire team, who offered him a reported $2 million to become the head coach of the US team. He turned down the offer.
Responding to the media furore about his apparent intentions to move to Barcelona, Stoichkov said his remarks had been misunderstood.
After his denial, attention turned to the next big event for Bulgarian national football, the friendly against Serbia and Montenegro scheduled to be played in Sofia on February 9.
At a news conference in Sofia, Stoichkov named the Bulgarian team as including Zdravko Zdravkov, Dimitar Ivankov, Ivaylo Petkov, Radostin Kishishev, Mihail Venkov, Rossen Kirilov, Georgi Markov, Elin Topuzakov, Assen Karaslavov, Stilian Petrov, Chavdar Yankov, Blagoy Georgiev, Assen Bukarev, Martin Kamburov, Dimitar Berbatov, Martin Petrov, Zdravko Lazarov, Vladimir Manchev and Valeri Bojinov.
The last-mentioned, Bojinov, was in ebullient spirits on January 23, when he scored his eleventh goal in the Italian football championship for the season. Bojinov, 18, who plays for Lecce, scored a 33rd minute winning goal in a match against Atlanta. In the stands to witness the event was Stoichkov, who even if he is not going to Barcelona himself, is said to be involved in efforts to get Bojinov to move there.
Other football moves reported in this past week included that Martin Petrov, who plays as a striker for Wolfsburg of Germany, has accepted a transfer to Spain's Atletico Madrid.
Meanwhile, the biggest "football game" of them in all at the moment meandered on.
The group of Bulgarian veteran football stars who want to oust Ivan Slavkov, formerly Bulgaria's representative on the International Olympic Committee, from his post as head of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU), were reported to be seeking a meeting with Slavkov.
Reconciliation that would see Slavkov retain his BFU post appeared a less than likely scenario, because the group from the "golden generation" of Bulgaria's 1994 World Cup stars has made it clear that they want Slavkov to be replaced as BFU head by his current deputy, Borislav Mihailov, who was the goalkeeper of the 1994 squad.
It appeared unlikely that, should such a meeting take place, Slavkov would attempt to talk the group out of their campaign that he be replaced. Several media reports have suggested that Slavkov has accepted that he must step down.
The election of the head of the BFU is on the agenda for the forthcoming BFU congress, for which a date has not yet been announced.