Holding the presidency of a football club can be hazardous - even deadly - in Bulgaria. Dozens of examples over the past 19 years attest to this. The latest is that of Yordan Andreev, president of second division Marek football club from the small southern town of Doupnitsa.

On October 27 he was attacked by two unidentified men in Sofia and admitted to hospital with minor injuries. Andreev told Bulgarian National Radio that he had no idea of the motive behind the attack. He also said he would not file a complaint to the police because he had could not describe his assailants and so saw little point in making police officers question him. His business, he said, was entirely transparent and above board. Andreev suggested that disgruntled football fans could have been behind the assault.

Indeed Andreev's business does not raise any suspicions about his off-field activity. However, he was embroiled in a recent public row after four football referees claimed that certain middle-ranked teams in the championship were involved in match fixing. One of the teams in question was Belasitsa football club from Petrich. Marek's name was not cited by the referees but was mentioned by Ventsislav Stefanov, president of Slavia Sofia football club. In September Stefanov hinted that Marek was one of the clubs involved in the scheme, something which Andreev denied. 

Belassitsa has more to worry about than mere match fixing. On September 2 the club's president Kostadin Hadjiivanov was arrested while entering Greece. Greek police had prepared a European arrest warrant for Hadjiivanov on the request of a German judge from Augsburg. The arrest warrant related to a cigarette smuggling investigation involving Bulgaria, Germany and the UK. After a short stay in a Greek prison he was extradited to Germany to stand trial. Meanwhile, his party took part in an ad-hoc local election for municipal councillors in Petrich.

Another case of a football president "suffering" from the long arm of the law is the October 17 arrest of Ivan Slavkov, president of Spartak Varna football club. He was charged with a long list of offences ranging from people trafficking to money laundering, possession of drugs and forcing people into prostitution. Coincidentally, Slavkov, just like Hadjiivanov, is entrenched in Varna's political life as a member of the city's municipal council from the quota of the Movement for Rights and Freedom, the junior partner in the ruling coalition.

A particularly high profile case earlier this year was the kidnapping of Angel Bonchev, president of Litex Lovech football club, and, later, that of his wife Kamelia Boncheva. 

The Bonchevi family drama started on May 22, when Bonchev was abducted outside his Sofia home. This was the first kidnapping of a major public figure in years. It was particularly surprising because nothing in his past suggested he was involved in anything illegal. For 50 days he was kept in an unknown location while police foundered. Then, suddenly, on July 10, police issued a statement that Bonchev had been released but his wife Kamelia had been seized in his place while attempting to make a "down payment". Bonchev was found by a police patrol in Sofia's Knyazhevo neighbourhood and taken to hospital. He was missing two of his fingers and had been under the influence of strong drugs administered by his kidnappers.

On July 30 Kamelia Boncheva was found in apparent good health by police. Nothing further was revealed about the couple's ordeal and both husband and wife declined to comment.This lack of publicity on the incidents as it is in Andreev's case who prefers not to complain to the police is what has been the link between all incidents involving football presidents. The media and the society only see the consequences but not the reasons for their actions which they prefer to keep to themselves.