Sat, Jul 04 2009

CSKA Sofia a matter of national security

Thu, Jun 05 2008 20:31 CET byPetar Kostadinov 121 Views
CSKA Sofia a matter of national security

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev has asked the State Agency for National Security to perform a thorough check into who owns Bulgaria's football champions CSKA Sofia, the Government's press service said in a statement on June 5 2008.

Stanishev has also asked National Revenue Agency (NRA) to check CSKA's finances for the 2002/07 period. NRA will also check the sources of income for CSKA's entire management for the same period.

Stanishev's move comes hours after Uefa said that CSKA would not be allowed to take part next season's Uefa Champions League.

As champions, CSKA were to take part in the June 27 draw for the first and second qualifying rounds of Uefa's Championship League, but because of its financial problems, the club will miss on participating in the tournament.

The problem surfaced on June 3, when Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) said that CSKA was denied a license to play in Bulgaria's top division, called Group A, next season.

CSKA's president Alexander Tomov already resigned as result of the row. Fans threatened to go out on Sofia's street and protest against the Government.

According to Dimitur Angelov, chairperson of the official CSKA fan-club, it was the Government that allowed CSKA president Tomov pile up the club's debt.

With CSKA out of the Uefa Champions League, it is arch-rivals Levski Sofia that would take their place in the tournament. Levski came second to CSKA last season and, having already secured an Uefa licence, will make the step up from the Uefa Cup, Dnevnik daily quoted BFU spokesperson Borislav Konstantinov as saying.

It was Levski's president Todor Batkov who first raised the issue about CSKA's financial problems. Batkov claimed that CSKA has not paid millions of leva to the state in mandatory social security contributions.

In the meantime, BFU's president Borislav Mihailov was quoted by Bulgarian news agency Focus as saying that CSKA had by the end of the month to get its finances in order. This means that CSKA would still most likely stay in Group A, rather than be relegated to the third and lowest tier of professional football in Bulgaria.

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