Bulgaria's newly-crowned football champions CSKA Sofia will end the season with a new owner, club president Alexander Tomov told private broadcaster Nova Televisia on May 7 2008.

Negotiations have already been concluded, Tomov said, refusing to reveal the identity of the new owner before the deal was finalised.

The new owner will take over from Indian tycoon Pramod Mittal, who bought CSKA at the same time he took over Kremikovtzi steel maker in 2005 in what was seen as a public relations move at the time. He appointed former social democrat politician Tomov as CSKA's president and executive director of Kremikovtzi.

Today, Tomov is still at CSKA, but no longer in charge of Kremikovtzi, shaken by numerous workers' strikes and facing insolvency. With Mittal looking to sell the steelworks, he no longer needs CSKA to boost his image in the country.

In contrast to Mittal's failure at Kremikovtzi, CSKA had one of its best seasons ever, winning the title with three games to spare without a single lost game and 17 points ahead of cross-town arch-rivals Levski.

According to Tomov, CSKA had a new structure that would help make the club financially stable and independent. He even said that CSKA's budget for next season would be bigger than last year's five million euro.

On the same day Tomov announced the news about CSKA's new mysterious owner, President Georgi Purvanov awarded the team on the occasion of its 60th anniversary and its record 31st domestic title.