Further plans to turn Varna into a year-round sport centre were made public by the city’s mayor Kiril Yordanov on February 28. Considered as the summer capital of Bulgaria, the Black Sea city aims to attract visitors not just in the high summer season but every day of the year.

Yordanov, who won his fourth consecutive term in office last year, said the municipality was ready to invest in building a ski slope and an ice rink. The later would operate throughout the year and would be the home of a hockey team that would play in the national championship.

Although temperatures in the summer can reach 37 degrees C and above, the idea for a ski run is not that farfetched because winter temperatures vary between -10 and +10 degrees C. The idea for a “ski slope-on-sea” is not a new one. Ten years ago the mayor of the nearby town, General Toshevo, inaugurated a ski run. Even a drag lift was opened. The idea, however, did not last long because of the lack of snow. Varna and the surrounding region have a relatively mild winter climate, and get little snow during the winter months. Artificial snow is an option only when temperatures fall below freezing, low enough for the snow cannons to work.

To avoid the same fate, Yordanov said that the new ski run in Borovets area, on the road from Varna to Bourgas, would be an artificial slope and would be able to be used throughout the year. Yordanov also discussed building several all-year-round skating rinks in the city. They would be covered in ice in the winter and used by roller skaters in the summer. One of the ice rinks will be built in the Mladost neighbourhood. As well as being the home of an ice hockey team, the rink could also be used for figure skating tournaments. At present with its two main ice rinks, built during communist times, Sofia is the centre of team winter sports in the country and Yordanov is determined to challenge Sofia’s supremacy.

The first idea for ice rink in Varna was announced in 2006 when the investor in one of the city’s shopping malls, Interserviz Uzounov, said that the mall would have an ice rink. Later Uzounov found it difficult to find a company to build and maintain the facility and for now it seems that Varna Mall will remain ice rink-less.

The winter facilities will add to the other projects of the municipality, aimed at capturing sports-based spending in the city.

In a time when new sport facilities are a rare site in the country, Yordanov wants to offer Varna’s residents and visitors a variety of sport venues covering all disciplines. The city has already effectively become home to the Bulgarian national volleyball team. They play most of their home games there and enjoy the never ending support of local fans. The venue for these games is the Sport Palace complex, built in the 1980s. Once the pride and joy of communist architecture, today the venue can only host volleyball and basketball matches and has proven insufficient for even these, according to Yordanov’s plans.

In 1925, Varna’s Vladislav football team became the first-ever football champion of Bulgaria. Although the team ceased to exist in 1945 after merging with another local team to form Cherno More, Yordanov wants to follow the tradition and put Varna back on the football map.

Today, the city has two professional football clubs: Cherno More and Spartak. Both teams have achieved little or no successes over the past 19 years. Their stadiums were built during communism and are far from suitable for hosting any kind of a major football game, let alone an international match. Up until 1989 Varna often hosted games played by the Bulgarian national football team at its city stadium, Yourii Gagarin.

The stadium had a athletic track, which was perfect for outdoor events, and the 23 000 seats were almost always fully occupied. The record attendance was set in 1983 when Manchester United played Varna’s Spartak. On that occasion, 40 000 people crowded the stadium.

Unfortunately Gagarin does not meet the current Fifa regulations and after 1989 was left out of Bulgaria’s sporting calendar. This changed last year. On September 12 2007, the ground-breaking ceremony of the future, brand-new football stadium in Varna took place. The investors’ aim is to host international events at the stadium, such as football qualifier for European and world championships. Again, Yordanov is behind the ambitious project. It is also supported by the company Sport Complex Varna (SCV). The municipality is providing the seven ha of land for the complex. The project is expected to cost about 30 million leva and will be financed by Chimimport, who own the majority of shares in SCV. The news that the company won the deal was not a surprise because Chimimport is owned by the Varna-based industrial group TIM which has always enjoyed a strong economic position and influence in Varna.

The project for the all-football, 30 000-seat stadium is expected to be completed within three years, meaning Varna should be ready to host international football games in 2010.