The arrest, at the instance of the State Agency for National Security, of State Agency for Sport and Youth deputy head Ivan Lekov has thrown into sharp relief the deepening controversy surrounding Bulgarian football.

Lekov was detained in connection with alleged abuse of office, the latest twist following allegations by a group of Bulgarian referees of foul play, including improper conduct by other referees in the handling of matches.

Bulgarian football is in a sorry state. It has been a long time since a Bulgarian made the grade to referee a match for Uefa.

Fans and other astute observers on the sidelines of the sport speak of the in-built problems at the moment, including the core role played by a contest over the potentially lucrative property associated with football stadiums, and the fact that the top table is overcrowded with teams hardly meriting being there.

Structurally, it would be hard for the Bulgarian Football Union to reform itself and the way that the sport is run in Bulgaria, in large part because no one of influence has any vested interest in doing so.

The very fact that small clubs have an equal say as large clubs in dealing with any proposal for reform appears to smother at birth any hope of genuine change.

Similarly, there appears to be little prospect of Bulgaria emulating other countries in identifying and fast-tracking young, potentially great referees to inject fresh blood into the system and free it from the dead hand of the refereeing establishment.

Further, it is hardly appropriate to call for political intervention to clean up Bulgarian football, because such intervention would be anathema to Uefa and Fifa, as the experience of other countries has shown.

Whatever motivated them to go public with their allegations, the referees who had the courage to do so must be applauded. It is a pity that, unless sterling work is done to uncover the truth of alleged abuses and take appropriate action, the current controversy will die away in time, and hope of reform will die with it.