On December 6, Wednesday, another meeting of the Executive Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union was held, which scheduled a date for an extraordinary election congress and determined the agenda for the General Assembly - it will be held on March 15 at 10:30 a.m. in the capital's Marinela Hotel ". We have a date, time and place for the Congress, but will the BFU have a new president in just over three months? To date, this continues to hold more questions than clear and concrete answers. However, one thing is certain - all scenarios are possible in Bulgaria.
Last week, the Executive Committee of the Football Union met in Boyana, and after the meeting, Borislav Mihailov resigned as president. Resignation, which is yet to be voted on by the Congress on March 15 - Wednesday's agenda revealed that this will be the fourth item, followed by the release of the members of the Executive Committee. The sixth and seventh points are respectively related to the election of a new leadership of the BFU - president and Executive Committee. However, here comes the first question mark - if Mihailov's resignation is not voted on, then what comes next?
According to the member of the Executive Committee, Petar Velichkov, who is part of the team of the candidate for president of the Football Union, Dimitar Berbatov, Boyana is preparing a scenario in which Mihailov will eventually continue to rule. Velichkov expressed the opinion that his colleagues from the Executive Committee plan to appeal to the upcoming Congress, and that Borislav Mihailov should remain registered in the Commercial Register and continue to lead Bulgarian football. At the moment, the acting president of the BFU is Mihail Kasabov, but his name is not entered in the Commercial Register. Velichkov added that Dimitar Georgiev, who was also present at yesterday's meeting, will appeal to Congress in an attempt to keep Mihailov in power. Georgiev, who is a former deputy from the PG of the BSP, has also announced his intention to run for president only and only so that he can later appeal to the General Assembly to leave Mihailov in office.
So, we return to the scenarios that we can see on March 15 next year - among them, of course, we can see those with the possible stay of Borislav Mihailov in the presidential seat. The former national goalkeeper has already resigned once in charge of domestic football in 2019, when he stepped down after a heavy 6-0 defeat by England amid racist abuse from a group of fans in the then match at the National Stadium. However, Mihailov continued to govern subsequently, and at the Congress in October 2021, he was elected to a new four-year term after a controversial vote – the results of this General Assembly continue to be appealed. A third item on the agenda of the Congress in March next year is consideration of appeals to the General Assembly.
There is, of course, an option for Mihailov not to continue ruling. We still practically do not know whether he will run for president in the upcoming presidential elections in the BFU. In a recent interview, the former international was evasive, saying he would "rather not run", adding that he was already preparing his replacements for the hot post. Who they are remains unclear at this stage. But judging by the 18 years that have passed, it is likely to be a person or group of people to continue the line of management since 2005 - a line that has never brought us more new stadiums or a ranking at a major international forum.
In all probability, there will be no shortage of candidates for the presidency of the Bulgarian Football Union, and the names of several curious persons have already been floated. Bookmakers' favorite is Dimitar Berbatov - this is not a surprise to anyone, at least against the background of all the statements and actions of the former Manchester United striker in the direction of the much-desired change in Bulgarian football. Among the candidates are the names of people such as Lachezar Tanev, Ivaylo Tsvetkov "Noyzi", Valentin Mihov and Hristo Krusharski - the last two have more or less confirmed that they will fight for the presidential seat on March 15. Many candidacies are yet to be formalized, and we should not forget that people like Valeri Bozhinov were among the bookmakers' possible options.
This only clearly shows and proves one thing - that a number of names of people who are directly involved in football, but not all of them have managerial experience, are being put forward for the post of president. Management experience, which is needed for such a responsible position - this may exclude many people, and our attention should be directed to those who have an understanding of both sports management and business. The football community in Bulgaria is hungry for change, but it will take many years before our country gets back on its feet both at club and national level.
History suggests that Borislav Mihailov is capable of leading Bulgarian football, as he demonstrated in 2019 during the racial controversy surrounding the England match. Nobody will be surprised by this, since the former goalie said "a lot more could have been done for Bulgarian football, but this was not allowed" when he resigned. It will take our nation just eighteen years to be able to claim brand-new, state-of-the-art stadiums, a first-rate infrastructure, consistent qualification for European club championship groups, and participation in global and European championships. After a new president is chosen, Bulgarian clubs and our national team won't start placing higher in European tournament groups or earning spots in prestigious international forums. But now that Bulgaria has lately hit rock bottom, it may begin to go in that direction. Things won't happen instantly, but why not give them a shot? We deserve our fate if we don't succeed even then. /BGNES
---------------------------------------------------
Stefan Ignatov, BGNES Sports Department
