CSKA Sofia head coach Lyuboslav Penev has barred nine players from training with the first team following reports of inappropriate conduct the night before a key league match against Litex Lovech, the club's official website has said on November 2 2009.

CSKA were beaten 2-0 in Lovech and a major reason for the fiasco, according to Penev, was that nine first-team players were seen partying away late on the night before the match, breaking curfew.

The players are Ivan Karadjov, the starting goalkeeper for all but three league matches this season; defenders Kiril Kotev, Pavel Vidanov and Ivan Ivanov; midfielders Marquinhos, David Silva, Yordan Todorov, Todor Timonov and Svetoslav Petrov.

Five of the players were in the starting eleven and a sixth was used as the substitute. Silva was the only player not included in the 18-player squad for the match. Worse yet, four of those players – Karadjov, Ivanov, Todorov and Kotev – are also Bulgarian internationals.

At a news conference on November 2, Penev did not say how long the players would be kept away from the first team. The club will fine the players in question, but the amounts had not been decided yet, he said.

Despite the defeat, CSKA did not lose any ground on leaders Chernomorets Bourgas, who lost at home against Minyor Pernik, the side that handed CSKA their first league defeat a week earlier.

Chernomorets top the standings with 26 points from 11 matches, one point ahead of Litex, who have a match in hand, and CSKA. Defending champions Levski Sofia continued their recovery from a poor start to the season, winning a second consecutive match to rise to fifth place with 16 points from 10 matches.