A Football Coaches Association was launched on February 23. Some of the most renowned Bulgarian football players entered the organizing committee. “The coaches were the only ones in Bulgaria’s football who did not have their own organization. However, they are the ones who know football best”, contends one of the founders of the association Stefan Grozdanov. Football expert Dimitar Dimitrov-Hero insists that the Bulgarian coaches are much better prepared, as compared to those who practiced this profession 20 years ago. Where are the results then? Stoycho Mladenov who is currently coaching CSKA Sofia and was part of Bulgaria’s golden football generation in the 1980’s answers this question. “The Bulgarian football coaches are very skillful people. But how can we make a team without money and motivate the players to go to the pitch and follow your tactical instructions, if they do not receive their wages for 2 or 3 months in a row?!”- Stoycho Mladenov asks.

“The Bulgarian football coach is constantly abased. His future depends on a single victory or defeat. People in Bulgaria do not pay respect towards us. However, football coaches are on the top in other countries. The club owners fully trust their coaches, because they bear the whole responsibility. When a given coach takes over a football team he puts his authority at stake. Some negative results in football do not depend on the football manager. They are tied to the quality of the players and the team selection. The coaches who work in the western countries have high self-confidence. When the club owners decide to dismiss their coach, he is fully secured and can rely on full legal defense. However, things do not stand the same way in Bulgaria. The football coach works for pennies and is usually dismissed after his second match. Thus, we destroy our experienced managers, as well as those who make their first steps in this profession.”

In Stoycho Mladenov’s view, all Bulgarian coaches who work in Western European clubs are better esteemed, as compared to those who work in their own country.

“The football coaches are skillful, but the results are dreadful", Bulgarian coach Velislav Vutsov contends, “The Bulgarian men’s national football team dropped to the fourth urn and is now in the company of the weakest teams. Our youth football team is incapable of qualifying for any high-level tournaments. The football clubs, except for Ludogorets, finish their European performance in the first round and are defeated by much weaker teams. Bulgaria has good coaches, but lacks good players. In the past, Bulgarian footballers used to play in teams such as Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and other top European teams. Now we are happy when a player signs with Sporting Lisbon for instance and is a substitute there. There are roughly 1,000 football coaches in Bulgaria. We need to unite and discuss the situation. We were keeping silence until now, because if some of us dared speak up, he would get fined by the Football Union. However, if anyone says something against a coach, he is not able to defend himself. ”

The newly-established structure aims at providing protection to Bulgarian football coaches. It will also encourage new ideas and recommendations linked with the local football championship, deal with issues regarding the licensing of the football clubs and support the exchange of experience between the old and the new generations in this field. The association is to be registered in UEFA and will be in contact with similar organizations in Europe. It will use the experience of other structures, in order to fight the irregularities in Bulgarian football. In Croatia for instance, the law forbids the football clubs to change coaches more than twice a year. However, Bulgaria’s football club Slavia changed 5 or 6 coaches in one year. Thus, the managers do not get the chance to demonstrate their skills. Another example of irregularity in Bulgaria’s football is the dismissal of a football coach in the third division with the motive that the team’s performance was not attractive, although the coach in question managed to bring his team on the top of the ranking. He was replaced by a person who had previously coached a team from the same football division and shown much poorer results. The founders of the association say that their goal is not to oppose the Bulgarian Football Union, but to jointly solve the problems of Bulgarian football. This is the way a dream which unites football players, coaches and fans can be fulfilled. All of the above want to see a strong national team, strong local teams and footballers who promote Bulgaria abroad.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov