Bulgarian football club Levski Sofia manager Stanimir Stoilov and sports director Nasko Sirakov resigned late on Sunday after a derby defeat.

Levski chairman and owner Todor Batkov was reported to be incensed after the 0-1 loss against arch-rivals CSKA, which derailed Levski's title defence bid.and asked for resignations from the entire management team.

Sirakov and Stoilov, as well as his assistants Tsanko Tsvetanov, Emil Velev, Valentin Zahariev and Yassen Ekimov all tendered their resignations to chief financial officer Konstantin Bazhdekov on Monday.

Batkov is out of the country until Wednesday and is expected to make a decision when he returns.

In a brief statement on the club's website, the management team said: "In our loyalty and the desire to be correct with the club, we have all submitted our resignations to the managing board and the club's owner."

"In the past three years and a half, we worked as a team for Levski's success. We want to thank the millions of Levski supporters for their unreserved support and love."

With Stoilov and Sirakov at the helm, Levski have won two titles and two cups, doing the double last season, while also reaching the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup in the 2005/06 season and the group stage of the Champions League the following season.

But this year Levski has surprisingly lost in the second round of Champions League qualification and is already 11 points off league leaders CSKA, albeit with a match in hand, with one game left before the midwinter break.

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