The beginning of the 2007/08 championships set the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) on fire. CSKA, the most successful club, demanded that referee committee head Borislav Alexandrov resign. The next target is BFU president Borislav Mihailov himself.
CSKA’s representative in the BFU’s executive board, Еmil Kostadinov, has insisted on calling a special meeting at which he will propose that the disciplinary panel’s privileges be revoked.
The August 12 game played in Lovech between Litex – CSKA, with a final score of 1:1, ignited the first spark after highly disputed calls by the referees (12 yellow, three red cards) and the unprofessional attitude of the managers of the home team towards game officials.
Referee Tsvetan Georgiev rightfully took Litex’s Sandrinho out of the game but took pity on CSKA’s Velizar Dimitrov at the end of the first half, which provoked sharp protests from the home team. In the second half the ref adhered to strange criteria and sent off CSKA captain Alexander Tunchev with two bookable offences after just 12 minutes. Litex took the lead in the 75th minute, but CSKA managed to even out the score although they lost another player. After the game, the headquarters of the Sofia club divulged that the bosses of Lovech-based Litex threatened the referees during half-time, thereby affecting their decisions.
Head referee Borislav Alexandrov also faced up to inappropriate treatment, but later denied that something had gone wrong. CSKA accused Alexandrov and his referees of succumbing to pressure and being afraid to tell the truth.
The BFU’s disciplinary panel levied severe penalties on CSKA, which were accounted for by the behaviour of the team’s fans in Lovech – two games behind closed doors and a fine of 40 500 leva. At the same time, Litex was fined only 5000 leva because “club president Angel Bonchev attempted to deal with the matter on his own accord”.
Litex owner Grisha Ganchev’s rude behaviour will be reviewed during the next session because his status remains unclear. Did the businessman have the right to try to contact the officials in the tunnel or should he be treated as a pitch invader?
Ivelin Popov, a member of Litex and the national team, was fined 3000 leva for arousing chaos from CSKA fans. The provocation constitutes CSKA’s motive to appeal against the penalty. Half of the penalty is for inflicting damages to the stadium and tossing objects into the field, and the other half is for discriminatory and insulting slogans. The Sofia club defended its fans and denied racist behaviour on their part.
If Litex is punished to play at a neutral venue, the penalty will come into effect for the upcoming game against the champion Levski. The BFU was accused of tolerating the Blues from Sofia. The Lovech team is sure to bring this up if it is penalised.
Levski also has claims towards former team member Borislav Mihailov and threatens to “reassess” its stance on him. The champions accused the BFU of not supporting them in the dispute with the Bundesliga’s Energie Cottbus over the player Stanislav Angelov. FIFA adjudged Angelov to Energie and Levski will appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. The Blues’ leadership believes that this decision was made under pressure from the German Football Union, while the Bulgarian Football Union showed servile behaviour.
