Lothar Matthaeus, Bulgaria's head coach, is the one to reveal the truth about the alleged drinking scandal with the Bulgarian national team in Minsk last week, according to the head of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihaylov.

Seven players of Bulgaria's national football team have been busted drinking and partying early in the morning in Minsk after Bulgaria suffered a humiliating 1:0 loss from Belarus on Wednesday, media reports said on Saturday. The seven "drunkards" were caught in a night bar in Minsk by Bulgaria's head coach Lothar Matthaeus. The Bulgarian Football Union would not release their names but the players in question will suffer a symbolic fine of EUR 2000 each.

It is unclear how Matthaeus – who is expected to get a 2-year extension of his contract with Bulgaria – managed to bust the party-goers. According to the Trud daily, he either had information and followed them, or he was out late at night himself and came across the players.

Speaking for the Kanal 3 TV Sunday, Pavel Kolev, press secretary of the BFU, said Matthaeus had fined 8 players after they disregarded his order not to leave their rooms. The Bulgarian sports daily Meridian Match quotes forward Ivelin Popov as saying that he and several other players were in the lobby bar of their hotel the night in question but did not leave the hotel building.

"Matthaeus knows who they were, and he warned them not to go out. But there is also bar inside the hotel. I don't know the details. It will be the coach's will. He is their boss, and he selects them. We will find out if someone has been punished when we see the list of players for the Euro 2012 qualifier against England," Mihaylov explained Monday as cited by the Dnevnik daily.

Mihaylov, a former star goalkeeper who is a bronze medal winner with the Bulgarian national football team from the 1994 World Cup in the USA, explained Bulgaria's poor performance against Belarus with the argument that the nation has no better players at the moment.

Speaking in Sofia after the unfortunate friendly, Matthaeus made it clear he was extremely disappointed with the team, and that he would make many changes for the Euro 2012 qualified against England in Sofia in early September. Bulgaria has lost chances to make it to Euro 2012 after poor performances in the past year.