Bulgarian Football Union ( 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 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) 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.Бойко Борисов призова Борислав Михайлов да подаде оставка като президент на БФС After the England game, Mihaylov resigned.Официално: Борислав Михайлов подаде оставка! 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.Официално: Издигнаха Борислав Михайлов за президент на БФС 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.Конгресът на БФС: Михайлов остава президент, Бербатов ще оспорва 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.Съд отхвърли две от жалбите на опозицията срещу Борислав Михайлов
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.Феновете се обединяват на протест срещу Борислав Михайлов и сие 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.Фенският протест стресна БФС: Преместиха България - Унгария в Пловдив. Мачът е без публика 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 foreseen to move in Plovdiv outside the stadium.БФС финтира феновете, те отвърнаха: Протестът ще е в Пловдив 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.И унгарците протестират срещу Боби М. и БФС
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
PresidentYears in powerPavel Grozdanov1923–1933Tsvetan Genov1933–1934Ivan Batandzhiev1934–1939Lyubomir Sokerov1940–1942Docho Hristov1942–1944Georgi Stoyanov1946–1948Isaac Catalan1948Ivan Nikolov1948–1949Mladen Nikolov1949–1951Petar Kolarov1951–1952Stefan Petrov1952–1959Lachezar Avramov1959–1961Kiril Nesterov1961–1962Nedyalko Donski1962–1970Danail Nikolov1970–1975Ivan Nikolov1975–1979Krum Vasilchev1979–1982Dimitar Nikolov1982–1984Ivan Shpatov1984–1986Andon Traykov1986–1990Slavcho Tapavicharov1990–1991Dimitar Largov1991–1993Valentin Mihov1993–1994Hristo Danov1994–1995Ivan Slavkov1995–2005Borislav Mihaylov2005–2019Mihail Kasabov (interim)2019–2021Borislav Mihaylov2021–2023Mihail Kasabov (interim)2023–2024Emil Kostadinov (interim)2024Georgi Ivanov2024–
Competitions
It organizes the following competitions: Men's football First League, 1st level Second League, 2nd level Third League (4 divisions), 3rd level Regional Groups, 4th and 5th level Bulgarian Cup Bulgarian Supercup Cup of AFL (amateur cup)
Youth football Elite League; First league for academy sides, with three age categories, Under 17s, Under 16s and Under 15s sides
Women's football Bulgarian Women's League (or Swiss Capital League); First Women's Division Bulgarian Women's Cup
National teams The Bulgarian Football Union also organizes national football teams representing Bulgaria at all age levels: PositionNameNationalityMen's Bulgaria national football team Aleksandar Dimitrov Bulgaria U21 national football team Todor Yanchev Bulgaria U19 national football team Atanas RibarskiBulgaria U18 national football team N/ABulgaria U17 national football team Svetoslav PetrovBulgaria U16 national football team Petar KarachorovBulgaria U15 national football team Petar KarachorovWomen's Bulgaria women's national football team Silvia RadoyskaBulgaria women's U17 national football team Trayan RadulovFutsal Bulgaria national futsal team Bogomil Marev
Current sponsorships Efbet Hörmann Volkswagen Vivacom Macron
References
External links
Bulgaria at FIFA site Bulgaria at UEFA site