Bulgaria’s Euro Debate: Economist Calls for Addressing Legitimate Public Fears
Economist Georgi Stoev has launched a personal awareness campaign on social media to address concerns about the euro introduction in Bulgaria
FIFA has approached the Bulgarian football federation, asking for the match report from the friendly against Estonia, as it probes allegations of a possible manipulation.
"We can confirm that FIFA has requested the match report from the federations," a FIFA spokesperson told CNN.
"At the moment we don't have much more information. We can only say we have started an investigation and we require the reports from all federations."
The Bulgarian and Estonian football federations approached the European and world governing bodies after the match ended 2-2 with all four goals coming from the penalty spot.
The game was organized by the Thailand-based agency "Footy Sport International", while Russian Sergey Protsenko acted as an intermediary despite not holding a license by a FIFA manager.
The same people organized the previous match between Latvia and Bolivia, in which all three goals were also scored from penalties. Latvia beat Bolivia 2-1 in a friendly in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya just before the Bulgaria-Estonia game.
Spokesman Mihkel Uiboleht said last Thursday that his Estonian Football Association had been informed about "possible manipulation" after the matches.
"The friendly was organized by an agency with whom we will not work any more," he said in quotes reported by the UK Press Association.
"We received information of possible manipulation even before the game as the same agency also organized the match between Latvia and Bolivia and there was the same scenario there."
Hungarian referee Krisztian Selmeczi, who was in charge of both matches, has been suspended in the wake of the scandal.
"We don't know this referee and we can't say he acted intentionally when awarding the penalties," said BFU vice-president Atanas Furnadzhiev.
Bulgaria claimed the girls’ team title at the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Cup
Stiliana Nikolova continued to shine at the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Cup in Burgas
At a glittering ceremony held Thursday evening at Sofia’s Military Club, Olympic champion Karlos Nasar was honored as the “Man of the Year” for 2024
Grigor Dimitrov has withdrawn from the ATP 250 tournament in Geneva due to medical reasons.
Bulgarian tennis player Lia Karatancheva captured her maiden International Tennis Federation (ITF) women's singles title on Sunday at the W50 Indian Harbour Beach tournament in Florida, which featured a $40,000 prize pool.
Grigor Dimitrov’s campaign at the Masters tournament in Rome came to an early end after a second-round loss to Italy’s Francesco Passaro
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