Bulgarian League and Cup round up

[Tichy_Blacks_Back]

Having now witnessed a full season of Bulgarian Football I thought it is time to produce a little travelogue.

Sofia has four teams in the top league (i) Levksi (reached the last eight of the UEFA Cup this season) - known as the team of the people and have just picked up their 24th league title this season, (ii) CSKA - the old army team, (iii) Lokomotiv (what can I say apart from they play in Black and Red stripes), and (iv) Slavia (what can I say....).

So to get the pain over with early I went to visit all 4 grounds in the first few weeks of the season. Although the grounds are like throw backs to the days when you watched British teams on the TV in the 1980s playing mid-week Euro Footie in large expansive stadia teams like Schalke 04 (Germany) etc have had these monoliths replaced with brand new state of the art stadia. None of this has reached Bulgaria as yet but there are plans afoot I believe for a new Levski Sofia stadium - we shall see. Also if any of the Sofia teams play anybody of a decent standing in European competitions they will probably switch the game to the National Stadium (Vassil Levski Stadium) as the CSKA v Liverpool game (Champions League) and the Levski games v Artmedia, Udinese, Schalke 04 (UEFA Cup) were last season.

Levski Sofia

Stadium - Georgi Asparoukhov Stadion (built in 1963)

Capacity - 28150

Colours - All Blue (H) All Yellow (A)

Sponsor - M-tel (large Bulgarian Mobile Telecoms Operator)

Out of the four league stadia this is probably the best - at least the seats are fairly clean - interesting atmosphere when it is full - hard core fans are mad and known as the Ultra Blues - have a passion for blue flares and have an ability to throw them a very very long way as Barthez found out when Marseilles came to town for a UEFA Cup game. I must admit though other than Liverpool beating Alaves 5-4 that night was probably the best atmosphere at any UEFA Cup game I have ever been at (not sure whether UEFA would agree though).

CSKA Sofia

Stadium - Balgarska Armiya Stadion (built in 1951)

Capacity - 22015

Colours - All Red (H) All Black (A)

Sponsor - Vivatel (large Bulgarian Mobile Telecoms Operator)

If there is such a thing here in Sofia they would be classed as my local team. There stadia is fairly close to the city centre a stone throw from the national stadium in one of the many parks. Played all their group matches in the UEFA Cup here and its interesting that only 2 to 3,000 turn up for a league game when the tickets range from £1 to £2 but the stadia is full for all European games where the tickets cost between £5 and £12. Also nearly left my fist ever game before full-time at this stadia. Just before the winter-break at a mid-week league game I experienced the coldest football match I have ever been to - only going for a walk around the stand for the 2nd half generated enough heat to keep the early signs of Hypothermia at bay. Hard really to describe how cold it was but the monkeys had all scarpered by the time the full-time whistle blew.

Lokomotiv Sofia

Stadium - Lokomotiv Stadion (built in 1985)

Capacity - 22000

Colours - Red and Black Stripes (H)

Sponsor - Delta G (????)

Club assocaited with the Railway. Must say although it looks the best of the stadia on all photographs I had seen in reality it was something else. Many of the seats were encrusted in about two inches of bird droppings (not bad for an area with a worry about Bird Flu) and it looks like somebody has stolen large parts of the outside of the stadium (i.e it had been looted). Considering it is only just over 20 years old it has not fared well. Depeche Mode are playing there in June - that should be interesting.... Oh and some worrying Swastikas and other such like memorabilia worn by their Ultra support.

Slavia Sofia

Stadium - Slavia Stadion (built in 1932)

Capacity - 18000 or 32000 (depends who you believe)

Colours - All White (H)

Sponsor - None on strip

Known as the 'White Pride' this is the most relaxing ground to watch football in on a Saturday afternoon when the sun is out mostly because the crowds are so small and it it feels more like a cricket ground than a football ground.

League

Levski won the league for the 24th time after being 5 points behind CSKA at the winter break so will be in the Champions League next season. Most of the league was played with only 15 teams as Pirin Blagoevgrad were expelled after 2 games for fininacial irregulatities and lost their licence. Both the Levski v CSKA derbies were played at the National Stadium as they do too much damage to each other's stadia.

Bulgarian Cup Final - CSKA Sofia V Cherno More

Well I thought I had seen it all but I recently have just been to the Bulgarian Cup Final. I spent my 3 Lev (£1) and went along with a few mates and went to sit in the sun to watch what should have been a nice relaxing day of football as there were only about 7,000 in a stadium that holds 44,000. CSKA went 3-0 up by half-time and after losing the last two cup finals their fans obviously got bored and a full scale battle ensued with the releasing of about 5,000 CSKA fans from their caged area who ran the length of the stadium to get at the 100 or so Cherno more fans (you have never seen so many stewards just dissapear). It was like the days of Luton all over again. The good old riot police were called in and after a small delay order was restored and the game was played to a finish. It was one of the hottest days that I have ever watched a football match and the 2nd half was pretty pedestrian. A far cry from the sub-zero temperatures experienced at the CSKA stadium a few metres away only a few months previously.

Europe Next Season

Levski Sofia - Champion's League

CSKA Sofia - UEFA Cup

Litex Lovech - UEFA Cup

Lokomotiv Sofia - UEFA Cup

Lokomotiv 1936 Plovdiv - Inter-Toto Cup (2nd Round)

Having said all that the experience was a good one and I am looking forward to the World Cup, the new Bulgarian season starting on the 5th August and the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Romania :017: .

[Yngwie]

Very interesting - although I don't think Charlie will be persuaded to take the boys there on a pre-season tour.

[The Mantis]

Yes, very interesting. Never been to Bulgaria, rest of my family go regularly for beach holidays, but maybe I can persuade Mrs Mantis to have a city break some time.

I have 2 or 3 of Simon Inglis' books and it appears that in Europe, the 4-sided stadium is known as the 'English Design'. There's still a great number of these stadia with running track, and it seems even more the further east you go.

Of course, oldies like me can remember when Ibrox and Parkheid were this shape too.

[Yompa]

And Meadowbank, not that Pearce Flynn will have ever heard of the place... :024:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Saw Scotland draw 1-1 in Sofia, many moons ago, in European Championship Qualifier. Ally McCoist scored the goal. It was a very intimidating atmosphere. Hope Sofia has changed. It was the pits. Poverty, prostitutes and gypsies roaming everywhere, queues fer the food, a police state. Sounds just rite fer an old Jeggie.