In the summer of 1994 Bulgaria marked its 6th participation in world finals. It was the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 9 months earlier God had become a Bulgarian for while. On 17 November 1993 a decisive battle took place at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris between the football teams of Bulgaria and France. The 1:1 draw would send the French to the USA, but in the very last minute Emil Kostadinov scored in a fantastic manner, leaving goalkeeper Bernard Lama helpless. That was when the famous phrase of legendary sportscaster Nikolay Kolev aka Michmana sounded on air: “God is a Bulgarian!”.
The team’s performance versus Italy at the semifinal was somehow indolent during the first half and Italy’s Roberto Baggio scored twice. Hristo Stoichkov scored a penalty right before the break. The national team was really motivated during the second half, but the Italians were successful in the fight. Alessandro Costacurta touched the ball with his hand in the 70th minute, but the French referee Joël Quiniou saw no penalty. Thus Bulgaria lost 1:2. This country lost 0:4 the match for the 3rd place to Sweden and remained 4th in the world.
Of course, there were some doubts, voiced to media by scorer Hristo Stoichkov 20 years later. According to him FIFA didn’t let our team play at the finals of the 1994 World Cup in the USA and that the actions of the scandalous referee had been ordered directly by the FIFA’s headquarters by three men – then-President of FIFA "João" Havelange, the former president of Brazilian football Ricardo Teixeira and Swiss "Sepp" Blatter. According to Stoichkov FIFA was aware that a final match between Bulgaria and Brazil wouldn’t attract the interest, caused by Brazil and Italy. Both teams hadn’t had a battle over the title as of 24 years. Only God and those three know if that is a fact…
One way or another the summer of 1994 was the one that took an entire nation to the streets, it was the moment of its triumph and madness. These are now recordings from the welcome ceremonies:
“Welcome back in the arms of mother Bulgaria, dear footballers. The Bulgarian people, our compatriots abroad and our neighbors thank you for all that you have done over the past 30 days. What you did hadn’t been achieved by any diplomat or politician over the century.”
Sofia Mayor back then Alexandar Yanchulev said in his speech:
“Heroic Bulgarians, we do thank you for the enormous joy you gifted to us by turning Bulgaria into the 4th global power. Dear footballers, in the course of less than a month you restored our self-confidence and pride as Bulgarians. That is why the Sofia Municipal Council unanimously declares that from now on you are honorary citizens of the capital city with your names enlisted in the golden book of the city. By handing the honorary sign of Sofia we express our respect to you and to your exploit.”
That was the spree of a nation. Now the list of the heroes:
1 GK Borislav Mikhailov
2 DF Emil Kremenliev
3 DF Trifon Ivanov
4 DF Tzanko Tzvetanov
5 DF Petar Houbtchev
6 MD Zlatko Yankov
7 FW Emil Kostadinov
8 FW Hristo Stoitchkov
9 MD Yordan Letchkov
10 FW Nasko Sirakov
11 MD Daniel Borimirov
12 GK Plamen Nikolov
13 MD Ivailo Yordanov
14 MD Bontcho Guentchev
15 DF Nikolai Iliev
16 DF Ilian Kiriakov
17 MD Petar Mitharski
18 FW Petar Alexandrov
19 MD Georgi Georgiev
20 MD Krassimir Balakov
21 FW Velko Jotov
22 MD Ivailo Andonov
Coach: Dimitar Penev
May we all now hear the song of late rock singer Georgi Minchev Thank You and Forgive, which shows the respect to the miracle, created by those guys back then.
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