Bulgarian Football Union

Български футболен съюз
UEFA
Founded1923; 101 years ago (1923)
HeadquartersSofia
FIFA affiliation1924
UEFA affiliation1954
PresidentGeorgi Ivanov
Websitebfunion.bg
The old BFU headquarters in Sofia

The Bulgarian Football Union (Bulgarian: Български футболен съюз, romanized: Bǎlgarski futbolen sǎyuz; BFS) is the governing body of association football in Bulgaria, and a member of UEFA since 1954. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian Parva Liga, and fields its Bulgaria national football team in UEFA and FIFA-authorised competitions.

History

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A legal entity that it claims descent from was founded in 1923 as the football department of the Bulgarian National Sports Federation, which existed until the Soviet invasion of 1944. The football governing body was then known as the Central Football Committee until 1948, the Republican Section for Football from 1948 until 1962 and the Bulgarian Football Federation from 1962 until 1985. On 27 June 1985, the organization was renamed the Bulgarian Football Union, the name that it carries today.

Resentment against Mihaylov (2015–2024)

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Borislav Mihaylov became president of the union in 2004. The results of the national team and leading clubs in the country gradually started to decline in the following years, particularly after UEFA Euro 2004 and fans wanted Mihaylov to leave. On 15 October 2019, after long resentments because of the bad results of the national team and lowering of club level football, coupled with a scandal with the national team in the match against England, which involved racist chants from a group of Bulgarian fans aimed at English players. Following this incident, the sports minister announced that they will not work with the BFU until Mihaylov is in charge.[1] After the England game, Mihaylov resigned.[2] Mihail Kasabov become an interim president, but due to the Covid 19 pandemic, there was not a regular vote for Mihaylov to resign.

In 2021, to the surprise of many, Mihaylov announced he withdraws his resignation and will be joining the elections for a 5th mandate in 2021.[3] At this point Dimitar Berbatov become a huge opposition of Mihaylov and also joined the elections. On 12 October 2021, Mihaylov won the elections despite the fact few voting violations were noted.[4] In March 2023 the city count dropped lawsuits against Congressional decisions and Mihaylov was confirmed as the president, despite the fact that a few football clubs were kicked out from the vote, because they showed support for Berbatov.[5]

In October 2023, football fans started a stronger resentment, having banners against Mihaylov on every match. As an answer, BFU started to punish clubs almost every match. The football fans announced they will have a big resentment, uniting ultras from every big football club in the country for the match against Hungary on 16 November 2023.[6] In response to that, BFU and UEFA announced on 6 November that the match will be moved from National stadium to Hristo Botev Stadium in Plovdiv and will be behind closed doors.[7] This decision was taken even harder, as for the first time, a football union didn't want their own fans on the stadium. The resentment was forseen to move in Plovdiv outside the stadium.[8] The Hungarians were also not happy with the decision for playing under closed doors and the fans announced they will still go for the match and join the protest against BFU.[9]

On March 17th 2024 Georgi Ivanov was elected president. The election was held amid a lot of controversy in regards to the legitimacy of the outcome.

Presidents

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President Years in power
Pavel Grozdanov 1923–1933
Tsvetan Genov 1933–1934
Ivan Batandzhiev 1934–1939
Lyubomir Sokerov 1940–1942
Docho Hristov 1942–1944
Georgi Stoyanov 1946–1948
Isaac Catalan 1948
Ivan Nikolov 1948–1949
Mladen Nikolov 1949–1951
Petar Kolarov 1951–1952
Stefan Petrov 1952–1959
Lachezar Avramov 1959–1961
Kiril Nesterov 1961–1962
Nedyalko Donski 1962–1970
Danail Nikolov 1970–1975
Ivan Nikolov 1975–1979
Krum Vasilchev 1979–1982
Dimitar Nikolov 1982–1984
Ivan Shpatov 1984–1986
Andon Traykov 1986–1990
Slavcho Tapavicharov 1990–1991
Dimitar Largov 1991–1993
Valentin Mihov 1993–1994
Hristo Danov 1994–1995
Ivan Slavkov 1995–2005
Borislav Mihaylov 2005–2019
Mihail Kasabov (interim) 2019–2021
Borislav Mihaylov 2021–2023
Mihail Kasabov (interim) 2023–2024
Emil Kostadinov (interim) 2024
Georgi Ivanov 2024–

Competitions

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See also: Bulgarian football league system

It organizes the following competitions:

Men's football
Youth football
  • Elite League; First league for academy sides, with three age categories, Under 17s, Under 16s and Under 15s sides
Women's football

National teams

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The Bulgarian Football Union also organizes national football teams representing Bulgaria at all age levels:

Position Name Nationality
Men's
Bulgaria national football team Ilian Iliev Bulgaria
Bulgaria U21 national football team Aleksandar Dimitrov Bulgaria
Bulgaria U19 national football team Todor Simov Bulgaria
Bulgaria U18 national football team Angel Stoykov Bulgaria
Bulgaria U17 national football team Petar Karachorov Bulgaria
Bulgaria U16 national football team Vladislav Vutov Bulgaria
Bulgaria U15 national football team Vladislav Vutov Bulgaria
Women's
Bulgaria women's national football team Silvia Radoyska Bulgaria
Bulgaria women's U17 national football team Trayan Radulov Bulgaria
Futsal
Bulgaria national futsal team Bogomil Marev Bulgaria

References

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  1. ^ Бойко Борисов призова Борислав Михайлов да подаде оставка като президент на БФС
  2. ^ Официално: Борислав Михайлов подаде оставка!
  3. ^ Официално: Издигнаха Борислав Михайлов за президент на БФС
  4. ^ Конгресът на БФС: Михайлов остава президент, Бербатов ще оспорва
  5. ^ Съд отхвърли две от жалбите на опозицията срещу Борислав Михайлов
  6. ^ Феновете се обединяват на протест срещу Борислав Михайлов и сие
  7. ^ Фенският протест стресна БФС: Преместиха България - Унгария в Пловдив. Мачът е без публика
  8. ^ БФС финтира феновете, те отвърнаха: Протестът ще е в Пловдив
  9. ^ И унгарците протестират срещу Боби М. и БФС
  • Paytashev, Rumen (2001). World Football Encyclopedia, 1st edition. Trud. ISBN 954-528-500-1.
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