NOTWITHSTANDING Bulgarian national football team head coach Hristo Stoichkov's prediction of victory, the friendly on February 9 between Bulgaria and Serbia-Montenegro played to a goalless draw.
The match was played in sub-zero temperatures, and the Ministry of Defence stepped in to provide 1000 blankets to chilly spectators at Sofia's Vassil Levski stadium.
The previous day, a fixture between the junior teams of Bulgaria and Serbia-Montenegro was cancelled because of temperatures under minus 10 Celsius in Sofia. Serbia-Montenegro refused to play, saying its players could get ill from the cold.
The match started out in lacklustre fashion and ended largely the same way. Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov hit the post from a free kick in the 18th minute.  
However, even through the match ended in a draw, the Bulgarians came across as stronger than their neighbours. In the second half of the game, the Serb goalkeeper was challenged a number of times by Berbatov and Valeri Bojinov, the teenaged football wonder recently in the news for his lucrative transfer, while Martin Petrov, who turns out for Wolfsburg, displayed speed and determination.
At a news conference on February 7, Stoichkov described Serbia-Montenegro as "a good opponent" and predicted a tough match.
The friendly against Serbia-Montenegro aimed to prepare the team for its March 26 World Cup qualifier with Sweden.
Stoichkov said that the Serbs play similar football to Sweden's.
"I think we should win - we are the hosts, after all," he said.
"The main task is to prepare well for the match with Sweden, and we will have to make some changes there."
He said that the match against Sweden would be "probably the most important one for the team this year".
It would be a stepping stone to the World Cup finals in Germany, he said. A victory against Sweden would secure a place for the team in the World Cup finals.
The favourable match schedule that was to follow, including away matches with Sweden and Malta and home matches with Iceland, Hungary and Croatia, would help.
Berbatov said he was hoping for a victory against Sweden on March 26 and against Hungary several days later.
"I don't believe the Swedes will always win. A moment will come when this long and bad tradition (of losses to Sweden) will be reversed," Berbatov said.

· Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva beat Luxembourg's Claudine Scholl 7-6, 7-6 in Paris on February 8 in the first round of the $585 000 Open Gaz de France

· Ukrainian Kiev beat Bulgaria's CSKA 96-92 in a Group A match of FIBA's European league in Sofia on February 8.

· Women will play for blue thongs in a unique football tournament dedicated to Saint Valentine's Day, Bulgarian-language daily reported. The thongs, with a sign Danube Forever on each pair, will be granted as a prize to the best and most attractive players on February 14, said Danube FC president Sevdalin Petrov. The collection of white and blue thongs for the female fans of Danube FC of the town of Rousse was released on the market before the New Year. The collection was sold out in a few days and it was necessary to release a second batch of thongs on the market.

· The appointment of a new administrative director of the national football team would set Hristo Stoichkov and Bulgarian Football Union chiefs at odds, according to a February 8 report in Standard. Stoichkov was reported to be "taken aback" after the BFU had signed a contract with Georgy Midilev, who is an administrator for FC Slavia, while Stoichkov was all for Alexander Dinev. The two have been good friends since the time Stoichkov was still a playing football.

· Nine-year-old Victoria Tomova (Bulgaria) was the unquestioned winner of legendary coach Nick Bollettieri's Girls 12s championship, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on February 9. Tomova won four victories in Bradenton in the United States. In the finals, she won 6:1, 6:1 against Carolina Berry of the US. Berry, 12, was placed No. 1 in the main scheme and had the advantage of playing before an enthusiastically supportive audience. Tomova was born on February 25, 1995, in Sofia. She began playing tennis at the age of six.

· Football teams FC Levski and CSKA will meet on April 23, it emerged after the spring program of the A Professional Football Group was worked out. The derby will again take place at the Vassil Levski National Stadium, where the two teams met last autumn. Then, the CSKA were the symbolic hosts and the match ended 2-2. This spring, the two teams meet in the 24 round of the championship. The match starts at 6pm. Bulgarian National Television will broadcast live 20 matches from the spring semi-season. Eight matches of Levski will be broadcast live against six matches of the current leader, CSKA.