Football / Soccer / Calcio / Futebol / Fußball

Referring to the announcement of the Plovdiv municipality, the Bulgarian press reports as a fact that on Monday they confirmed their previous decision and do not agree to the hosting of the Bulgaria-Hungary European Championship qualifier at the Hriszto Botev Stadium.

The fact that the Plovdiv municipality has confirmed its previous decision and will not give the Bulgarian association the use of the Hriszto Botev Stadium for Thursday's European qualifier against Hungary means that the Bulgarian association will not be able to organize the match for the time being. The Bulgarian association already announced at the weekend that there is no possibility of further relocation due to the shortness of time.

The National Sports reported on Friday that, according to our information, the Plovdiv municipality does not agree to the match arrangement, this decision became official with today's announcement. Now it is the turn of the Bulgarian association to officially cancel the match if UEFA cannot agree on another venue, although this is highly doubtful due to the shortness of time.

Earlier on Monday afternoon, the company carrying out the renovation of the Plovdiv stadium issued a statement on its Facebook page stating that due to the ongoing works - detailed in the statement - the facility cannot be handed over to the Bulgarian association by Thursday in such a condition that the physical condition of those coming to the match do not endanger your integrity.

"In a letter sent to the Bulgarian Football Association, the Plovdiv municipality confirms its decision from Friday, based on which it cannot grant the association permission to use the Hriszto Botev Stadium in the period between November 14 and 16, 2023," the municipality says in its statement on Monday, referring to the stadium to the notification of the contractor carrying out the renovation.

The Bulgarian association has not yet responded to the municipality's announcement, but in the past day, deputy executive director Hriszto Zapjanov, then executive director Borislav Popov, and then the president of the association, Borislav Mihajlov, said that if the Plovdiv municipality does not allow the match to be held, then there will be no Euro qualifiers on Thursday in Bulgaria, and Bulgarian football can expect serious sanctions at that time. In this case, it is expected that UEFA would award the match with a 3-0 goal difference in favor of the Hungarian national team, which had no fault in the match, which would ensure our participation in the European Championship next year (as is known, the Hungarian national team is one point away from participating in the European Championship).

Still not convinced we won't play tho, too many controversial statements

This is becoming such a complete shitshow, love it. I hope UEFA brings down the hammer, it's the only way those cockroaches will feel anything. I can't imagine how they look themselves in the mirror in the morning.

Just to give a bit of context here:

• the BFU (Bg football union) is universally hated and football fans of all factions were organizing a protest against them (in social media mostly) during the Hungary game.
• The BFU then contacted the Sofia police and had them issue a statement that the game faces "potential unrest" (based on what they saw on facebook!). They sent this to UEFA (BFU chief Bobby the Wig is good pals with Ceferin), and UEFA immediately "advised" for game behind closed doors. This was likely staged in advance.
• Now BFU decides to move the game from Sofia to Plovdiv, to be played behind closed doors. However, they fail to note that Plovdiv stadium has scheduled construction works, so the stadium director rejects the fixture, citing security reasons.
• BFU don't want to be exposed as the idiots that they are, so the BFU technical director, Gonzo (real nickname), calls the stadium director and threatens that the license of the club that plays on this stadium will be revoked, if the fixture isn't played.
• However, the stadium director doesn't budge and issues a statement on the stadium condition which is sent to the Plovdiv mayor (the municipality owns the stadium) who officially rejects the fixture. It's just a few days before the game now, schedule changes are hard if not impossible.
• Bobby the Wig gets desperate and threatens that UEFA will get Bulgaria kicked out of European football due to government involvement in football. Fans laugh at him saying that it would be a blessing given the state of our football.

Even if they were to play the match, what would Bulgaria be playing for? Well... really, nothing. Bulgaria is practically out as the League C playoffs will be Georgia vs. Luxembourg and Greece vs. Kazakhstan, seeing where those four teams are in their qualifying groups and their chances of direct qualification. It will slightly impact whether two of Hungary, Serbia, or Montenegro qualify, however, as if Bulgaria were to forfeit the match, Hungary would officially confirm qualification, with Serbia waiting for the result of Montenegro vs. Lithuania (a draw there means Serbia also officially confirms qualification). Even if Montenegro were to win that match, Serbia would probably qualify anyway because they face Bulgaria in matchday 10, at home.

It's practically guaranteed that Hungary and Serbia qualify while Montenegro will watch the tournament from home, seeing as they cannot qualify for the League B playoff; Bulgaria is guaranteed to be going home as there is nothing they will actually play for here.

To summarize briefly, cancelled or not, this match affects something, but ultimately affects nothing.