Bulgaria's National Revenues Agency has made the first step in cracking down on tax-evading football clubs by collecting all the revenues from the recent clash between Botev and Lokomotiv Plovdiv.

The collected revenues amount to about BGN 22,000 and are just a slender portion of the money that two of the biggest debtors – Botev and Lokomotiv Plovdiv – owe in taxes.

“We will keep on with these raids in the future. We will not stop in the face of those clubs, which are not proper taxpayers,” a representative of the National Revenues Agency in the town of Plovdiv commented.

The bank accounts of Dimitar Hristolov, former owner of Botev football club, have been frozen.

Sofia City Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov, announced a month ago that the total amount of unpaid taxes by football clubs in Bulgaria amount to BGN 3,5 M.

Preliminary legal proceedings against four such clubs have already been launched, but their names have not been disclosed.

The probe involves the period between April 1, 2005 until May 31, 2008 and those club employees, who are implicated directly in tax evasion.

The violations include failure to report Value Added Tax (VAT) for the purchase of competing rights, sports equipment, transfers, tournament participation, revenue from the sale of beverages and food at sports facilities among others.