First Division. In purely football matters, not much to say – two outsiders and one dominant leader: CSKA. But it was truly transitional season in which the past was still strong and the new only taking roots with uncertainty. Thus, the season started in one reality and ended in another – 4 clubs started with one names and finished with different one. Getting rid of Communism was difficult even in football – names, for example, were restored, but what was behind such acts? Getting rid of Communist yoke… it was not so simple. Four clubs, four different cases. The easiest one was Botev (Vratza) – they were renamed to Vratza (Vratza) in mid-80s by Party decree: nominally, to change the names of clubs using historic figures, for it was offensive to chant mockery of national heroes. Since Botev was the original name of the club, it was a simple matter of restoring the original name once the Party lost its grip – there were no complications and conflicting interest. The Plovdiv case was a bit different: back in mid-60s the Party decided to make a super-club in the city and amalgamated Spartak and Botev under the name Trakia. The new concoction never stayed well with the fans, particularly the more numerous supporters of Botev, who rebeliously chanted ‘Botev’ and never ‘Trakia’. However, Spartak was re-created about the mid-80s and in 1990 there was no more conflict of interests between the original clubs – it was easy to change Trakia to the ‘original’ Botev, even if the origins of Trakia was a merger between Botev and Spartak. More difficult was to erase the taint both Trakia and Botev had: they were an Army club for many years and thus quite subordinated to CSKA – that was the core of the massive hatred between the fans of Botev and Levski (Sofia) with a pinch of irony in it: the national heroes Levski and Botev had been friends and worked together for the same cause – not so from the fan’s perspective: Botev was serving CSKA, they always played their hardest against Levski and were quite meek against CSKA, which also grabbed whoever they fancied from Botev without the slightest objection (one player decided to move in the other direction and join Levski – and he was immediately suspended by the Football Federation!) From Plovdiv’s perspective – Levski was the hateful Police. Anyhow, Botev not only had to restore its name, but also to get rid of the Army – luckily, at this time the Army was quite willing to let loose its secondary clubs. Levski (Sofia) was really complicated case: the Party named it Vitosha, but this was only the newest change of name – in 1985 not Levski, but Levski-Spartak was renamed to Vitosha. And Levski-Spartak itself came into existence by Party’s decision in the middle of the 1968-69 season – then clubs were merged and renamed. Levski was merged with Spartak (Sofia) and Sportist (Kremikovtzi) into Levski-Spartak. Sportist was not important and was restored eventually without fuss, but Spartak belonged to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and thus Levski suddenly became the club of the Police – this did not stay well not only with enemies, but with the fans. The new name was never accepted and fans chanted only ‘Levski’ to the irritation of large part of the political powers. Restoring the original name was not so simple – what about Spartak, then? Restoration of one club or two? Luckily, Spartak, largely by the fact they were the club of the Police, did not fans, so the problem was and is munched only by supporters of other clubs, mostly of CSKA. But belonging to the Police meant also money, influence and power and that the club was not so happy to give up, especially the financial part. True, nobody said it openly, but it took petition from Minyor (Pernik), supported by other smaller club, to separate Levski, CSKA, Slavia, and Lokomotiv Sofia from the institutions ‘owening’ them. To this very day the existence of Levski is objected by fans of other clubs – they consider the change in 1990 as usurpation of Spartak’s past. But at least the roots of Levski were old and not Communist and the club managed to keep the name as much as it depended on the club: Levski was forcefully amalgamated with few small clubs after 1944, but kept its name. In the early 1950s it was forcefully renamed Dynamo, but in 1956, when de-stalinization started, the original name was restored. Belonging to the Communist Police was not the fans wanted ever, it was forced. Now, with the complications, Levski was back again and free from the Police – just what the fans wanted. CSKA was the most complicated: they lost their name in 1985 along with Levski and other clubs by decision of the Communist Party and were named Sredetz. Which was changed to CFCA Sredetz soon after (contrary to the initial Party decree the club to be separated from the Army – and Levski from the Police – the same Party restored the ties of the both clubs without saying so officially). Of course, the fans did not accept this name and chanted ‘CSKA’, so now the original name was restored. The original name of the original club? In 1985 CSKA ‘Septemvriisko zname’ was renamed Sredetz. This long name came in the middle of 1968-6 season, when, just ‘to make look right’ in the opinion of many, the Party merged CSKA ‘Cherveno zname’ with Septemvri (Sofia) – this merger was most suspicious because unlike the other clubs forcefully merged, CSKA ended with its strong team when everybody else faced chaos of too many players difficult to match and often even in conflict with each other. Septemvri was playing in the Second Division at the time and had no great players, so CSKA continued with the same well-oiled squad – all others had to start with building practically new teams. But it was not the first merger of CSKA – at about 1960 they merged with Cherveno zname (Sofia), thus becoming CSKA ‘Cherveno zname’. And it was the first time the abbreviation CSKA came into life: before this merger, it was CDNA. Means ‘Central Home of the People’s Army’ – and changed to ‘Central Club of the People’s Army’ – CSKA. As for ‘Cerveno zname’, it translates to ‘Red Banner’, changed after the merger with ‘Septemvi’ into ‘September’s Banner’, referring to the September Revolt, 1923, a major thing in the Communist history, so there were – and are – many clubs named ‘Septemvri’ in honour of this this revolt in Bulgaria. All of them came into life after 1944 when the Communist took power and with time the people got used to such names as natural. So, Septemvri (Sofia) exists without trouble today, but they were merged with CSKA not once, but twice: the first time was soon after the Army club was founded in 1948 under the name ‘Septemvri pri CDNV’ – ‘September at the Central Home of the People’s Army’. The motivation was to make the newly created Communist club strong – Septemvri had strong team, so ‘the merger’… Anyhow, the original club was entirely created by the Communist power with the purpose to be the leading club of the regime, therefore, in Soviet manner, it was an Army club. And it was the flagship of Bulgarian football during the Communist rule – and because it was made the strongest, it became popular. By 1990 its fanship was hardly Communist, but origins were strong… The club did not restore its ‘original’ name – very likely most younger fans do not even know the original name – but restored the most popular name they chanted: ‘CSKA’. As if getting rid of ‘September Banner’ or ‘Red Banner’ would be enough to eradicate the Communist past… it was still Central Club of the People’s Army’, although the very Army changed its name from ‘People’s Army’ to ‘Bulgarian Army’ and the club changed the name of its stadium also from ‘People’s Army’ to ‘Bulgarian Army’. There were some efforts to find a non-Communist name for the club, but the fans did not want that. There were efforts to change the club’s emblem, which is pure Communist symbolism and design, but the fans also rejected that. And down in their hearts they wanted to stay attached to the Army – for what could be ‘Central Army Club’ otherwise? Power and money were so deeply embedded in folklore of CSKA that it is only ‘natural’ for them to be the strongest, the best, with most power and attached to the state, so to stay strong, powerful and rich. The contradiction reaches fantastic level: anti-Communist fans want their club, a Communist creation, to be just as it was when the Communist Party ruled and showered its club with every privilege. Hence, new mythology of ‘resistance’ during Communist rule was weaved, but it is laughable one and not interesting here. The main point is that to restore its ‘original’ name and philosophy CSKA had to concoct entirely new name and mythology – for the original was Communist in every aspect and the reality was no longer Communist. So after changing its name so many times and from start, finally in 1990 CSKA came to its ‘original’ name… but no more Ministry of Defense to provide money, players at will, no more sub-ordinated Army clubs to provide easy wins and take points from rivals. CSKA survived the political change on popularity. Getting rid of the Communist baggage was – and is – impossible: it was already in the mentality, so for CSKA’a fans losing a championship even now is ‘a conspiracy against them’ at play. Enormous conspiracy – Levski, the Federation, the state, the political parties, the referees – foreign and domestic, the West, UEFA, FIFA, everybody everywhere conspires against them. In 1989-90 CSKA dominated the championship, so no complains – at least no major ones. Only this” vicious UEFA abolished the Golden Shoe award – or kind of abolished it: clearly, a move not against manipulated scoring, but only to deny the honour to Christo Stoichkov.
And so it goes.
Last was Botev (Vratza) – which started as Vratza (Vratza) – with 15 points. Very weak season for whatever reason. Relegated.
Cherno more (Varna) – 15th with 16 points and relegated. Top row from left: Todor Velikov – coach, Tinko Vazharov, Venelin Nikolov, Emil Boyadzhiev, Kharalambi Kharalambiev, Ognyan Radev, Georgi Stoychev, Rouslan Mikhaylov, Valeri Karov, Kevork Takhmisyan – assistant coach. Sitting in the middle: Nayden Naydenov, Plamen Deliyski, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Yuliyan Neychev, Evgeni Andonov, Vassil Petrov. Front: Illian Illiev, Kalin Topuzakov, Ivan Petrov, Christo Kotev, Petar Petrov.
Hebar (Pazardzhik) – 14th with 25 points and relegated. The debutantes tried hard to survive, but lost the battle and went back to second level right away. Sitting from left: Krum Kantarev, Dimitar Metodiev, Ivan Chorlev, Spas Kuzov, Ivan Tankov, Rayko Dimitrov. Middle row: Dimitar Milev – coach, Dimitar Penchev – masseur, Vassil Ivanov, Petar Kovachev, Georgi Gadzhev, Sayran Osipov (USSR), Dr. Stefan Dabev – doctor, Dimitar Sharankov – assistant coach. Top row: Christo Toshev, Kiril Vassilev, Stoil Petrov, Kalin Pekhlivanski, Kalin Ivanov, Lazar Dimitrov, Vassil Yordanov.
Tough luck, but Hebar made history anyway: they were the first club to include a foreign player – Sayran Osipov. Histoically, Osipov was not the first foreigner in Bulgarian football, but in the past – very deep past by now, ending in the 1950s – the foreigners did not come to Bulgaria to play football, but to work, study, or settle. And the game was not professional back then. Osipov was the first imported professional player and Hebar was the first club to look outside Bulgaria for reinforcement, taking advantage from the existing since the summer of 1989 permission to use 2 foreign players. Osipov did not play much – only 9 games – and left the club and Bulgaria after the end of the season, joining Armenian Ararat (Erevan).
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) barely survived – 13th with 27 points. Top row from left: Dimitar Kalkanov, Stoyan Lulchev, Borislav Ivanov, Mikhail Yumerski, Atanas Stamatov, Lazar Trapchev, Christo Trifonov, Radi Raykovski, Stefan Draganov. Middle row: Mikhail Georgiev – coach, Dr. Ivan Belev – doctor, Bozhidar Bonev, Valentin Minchev, Kostadin Vidolov, Yulian Dzhevizov, Yavor Kossev, Angel Chavdarov, Georgi Dimitrov, Lyuben Zhilkov, Yanko Kushev, Dantor Damyanov – masseur, Chavdar Muratev – assistant coach. Sitting: Georgi Tashev, Kiril Andonov, Miroslav Titev, Plamen Krastev, Zhivko Galibardov, Ivan Bedelev, Valentin Valchev, Georgi Karushev.
Dunav (Rousse) – 12th with 27 points. Standing from left: Roumen Venkov, Dimitar Totev, Dragomir Enchev, Petar Voynov, Nikolay Boyanov, Petar Karadaliev, Borislav Bogomilov. Front: Eshref Suleymanov, Sasho Todorov, ?, Plamen Petkov.
Chernomoretz (Bourgas) – 11th with 29 points. Top row from left: Lyubomir Borissov – assistant coach, Valentin Deliminkov, Georgi Stanchev – chairman of the club, Lyubomir Sheytanov, Toma Tomov – vice-chairman of the club, Vladimir Stoyanov, Vassil Zhelev – coach. Middle row: Christo Gotzkov, Dimitar Stoychev, Nikolay Russev, Konstantin Kostenski, Ivaylo Kotzev, Aleksi Zhelyazkov, Todor Raykov. Front: Miroslav Kralev, Zhelyazko Markov, Ivan Yovchev, Valentin Peev, Ivan Aleksandrov, Georgi Illiev.
Beroe (Stara Zagora) – 10th with 29 points.
Sliven (Sliven) – 9th with 29 points.
Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryakhovitza) – 8th with 29 points.
Botev (Plovdiv) – which started the season as Trakia (Plovdiv) – 7th with 33 points.
Pirin (Blagoevgrad) – 6th with 34 points.
Lokomotiv (Sofia) – 5th with 35 points. Sitting from left: Aleksandar Bonchev, Aleksandar Dudov, Plamen Nikolov, Gosho Petkov, Antoni Zdravkov, Boris Manolkov, Georgi Christov, Pavel Dochev. Middle row: Ventzislav Arsov – coach, Georgi Bozhurov, Kiril Metkov, Anton Velkov, Nikolay Todorov, Krassimir Nakov, Petar Kurdov, Traycho Sokolov – assistant coach. Top row: Dr. Noncho Borimechkov – doctor, Nako Doychev, Ognyan Milanov, Dimitar Vassev, Roumen Ralinski, Assen Arsov, Mladen Lazarov, Gavrilov – masseur.
Levski (Sofia) – started the season as Vitosha (Sofia) – 4th with 35 points. This is the squad starting the season and it went through some changes along with the change of name: different coach finished the championship and Bozhidar Iskrenov went to play abroad. Sitting from left: Dr. Georgi Illiev – doctor, Vladko Shalamanov, Stoil Georgiev, Krassimir Koev, Dinko Gospodinov, Illiya Gruev, Kiril Vangelov, Lyudmil Atanassov – masseur. Middle row: Dobromir Zhechev – coach, Rossen Krumov, Petar Mikhtarski, Georgi Yordanov, Bozhidar Iskrenov, Velko Yotov, Georgi Tzvetkov – assistant coach. Top row: Georgi Donkov, Zdravko Zdravkov, Preslav Getov, Georgi Slavchev, Petar Khoubchev, Dimitar Popov, Bogomil Savov.
Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) – finished with 35 points, but clinched bronze medals thanks to 1-goal better goal-difference than Levski. This was the best ever season of Etar so far, thanks to the excellent work of their coach (and former player) Georgi Vassilev. He was already among the best coaches of Bulgaria, eventually becoming the best one of the 1990s. There was a scandal as well – Krassimir Balakov (along with 3 other players) violated the transfer rules, applying to join 2 different clubs at the same time. At the end, he remained with Etar. Lastly, Etar was the second club to hire foreign player – like Hebar, they got a Soviet player, Igor Kislov. Sitting from left: Stefan Denev – doctor, Miroslav Baychev, Gencho Genchev, Boncho Genchev, Illiyan Kiryakov, Krassimir Balakov, Tzanko Tzvetanov, Petar Shabarkov – masseur. Middle row: Georgi Vassilev – coach, Angel Chervenkov, Tzvetomir Parvanov, Georgi Popivanov, Igor Kislov (USSR), Dimitar Bozhilov, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Stoyan Petrov – assistant coach. To row: Aleksandar Dimov, Dragomir Doshkov, Kaloyan Chakarov, Sasho Christov, Andrian Gaydarski, Nikolay Donev, Petar Georgiev, Ivo Balakov.
Slavia (Sofia) – 2nd with 36 points. Perhaps the club with the biggest hopes that the political change will restore the glory of their pre-1944 history. Free from the Army at last and one of clubs which appeared better oriented what and how to do in ‘free market’ reality – they got quickly sponsorship, which was changed for something looking grand (on paper) – a sponsorship contract with the publishing international giant Maxwell. Having not only leading coach, but a master of backroom manipulations as well, also promised bright future – but Ivan Vutzov was not going to stay, for he was appointed again coach of the national team. And the players he recruited were looking to play abroad – pretty much as everybody not just in Bulgaria, but in the whole former Communist Europe. Reality quickly clashed with hopes, so the solid looking squad was just temporary. Sitting from left: Velislav Vutzov, Krassimir Denev, Anatoly Nankov, Illiya Karadaliev, Miroslav Mironov, Sasho Nachev, Ognyan Radev. Middle row: Assen Milushev – assistant coach, Nikolay Kostov, Aleksandar Markov, Ivelin Penev, Ivan Vutzov – coach, Plamen Simeonov, Illiya Dyakov, Evgeni Marinov, Petar Miladinov – assistant coach. Top row: Tzvetan Zdravkov, Valentin Ignatov, Blagoy Aleksandrov, Georgi Karamanov, Georgi Dimitrov, Zarko Machev, Antonio Ananiev.
Things changed very quickly in the transitional season, thus projecting what will be the norm in the future: rapid changes in one season of coaches, players, sponsors… Above is Slavia in the first half of the season and this is the one at the end of the season: Ivan Vutzov gone, long time captain of the national team and CSKA legend Georgi Dimitrov gone, national team goalkeeper Antonio Ananiev gone, other players gone, original sponsor replaced by Maxwell, even different kit (perhaps to the irritation of the fans, for Slavia traditionally plays entirely in white and the black shorts appear to mirror the dark and hated days of the forced merger with Lokomotiv Sofia at the end of the 1960s) . A sample not just of Slavia, but of the new reality of all clubs. Crouching from left: Nikolay Kostov, Illiya Dyakov, Krassimir Denev, Slavcho Pavlov, Emil Kremenliev, Aleksandar Dimov, Aleksandar Markov. Middle row: Petar Miladinov – coach, Velislav Vutzov, Ivelin Penev, Blagoy Aleksandrov, Roumen Nenov, Plamen Petkov, Tzvetan Zdravkov, Ivaylo Venkov, Sasho Hachev, Evgeni Marinov, Stoyan Kotzev – assistant coach. Top row: Antonio Nanov, Rossen Krumov, Kiril Kachamanov, Zarko Machev, Valentin Ignatov, Deyan Angelov, Nasko Kirov, Ivko Ganchev.
CSKA (Sofia) totally dominated the season and won it with 45 points. 18 wins, 9 ties, 3 losses, 85-30 scoring record. Christo Stoichkov scored 38 goals – almost half of CSKA’s total – becoming (jointly with Hugo Sanchez, Real Madrid) the number one scorer of Europe and beating the Bulgarian record, jointly belonging to Petar Zhekov and Nasko Sirakov, by 2 goals.
Well, CSKA won its 26th title and the two identical photos of the squad only illustrate the changes happening this season: on the first picture the club is still CFCA Sredetz – conveniently ‘Sredetz’ is omitted – and the second is a photo of CSKA, the ‘restored name’ which never properly existed and also becoming immediately an anomaly, for the ‘Central Sport Club of the Army’ was no longer attached to the Army on one hand and technically no longer all-sports club (as the name suggests), but only professional football club. And since this photo is from early stage of the season, there is no sponsor’s add on the shirts. The squad is also early version – Kiril Kachamanov, for instance, could be seen in the second photo of Slavia above. Yet, at last CSKA could be seen as a normal professional club and not as a monster taking whoever they want whenever they want: yes, CSKA boasted home-made team, but it was just a very brief moment right after the Communist Party renamed them and separated them from the Army in 1985 – losing power, they were, however briefly, unable not only to get stars from other clubs, but the players at hand moved away. At that moment juniors were introduced as a last resort, but a year later everything was back to ‘normal’ and quickly top players from other clubs were recruited. The political changes during the 1989-90 season, however, changed the whole image of that: now it was just standard way of running professional football: players are bought and sold, depending on needs and money. CSKA had plenty of talent to sell abroad, which, in turn, gave them the financial muscle to buy good players to replace those sold and keep strong team. So the squad, full of national team players ready to go abroad: sitting from left: Marin Bakalov, Kostadin Yanchev, Petar Vitanov, Christo Stoichkov, Emil Kostadinov, Lyuboslav Penev – team captain (not Stoichkov!), Trifon Ivanov, Slavcho Illiev. Middle row: Marius Urukov, Emil Dimitrov, Georgi Georgiev, Dimitar Penev – coach, Doncho Donev, Ivaylo Kirov, Adalbert Zafirov. Top row: Stoil Trankov – assistant coach, Biser Godinyachki, Roumen Apostolov, Stefan Bachev, Illiya Valov, Kiril Kachamanov, Petar Zhekov – assistant coach. Just against the mythology of ‘home grown team’ here are the regulars who were recruited from elsewhere after the mythical creation of ‘home-grown team’: Bakalov, Mladenov, Georgiev (from Trakia-Botev Plovdiv), Trifon Ivanov and Emil Dimitrov (from Etar), Donev (from Dimitrovgrad), Valov (from Vratza-Botev Vratza), Urukov (from Spartak Pleven). Stoichkov, Yanchev, Kirov are also from elsewhere, although they came earlier. So… home-grown of the regulars are only Emil Kostadinov and Lyuboslav Penev. But that was already history – from now on it was to be normal professional transfers. Which were not so normal yet, for the transitional period was one of uncertainty and professional norms were not yet clearly understood, as the case of Krassimir Balakov showed: he applied for transfer to two clubs simultaneously, one of them CSKA, which is the club of his heart, apparently. This violated the transfer rules of the Federation at the moment and he remained in Etar, from where he transferred to the West and never played for club he claims to be a fan of. Fan or not, in the transitional time professional desires of better contract clashed with ‘the heart’ and money became the prime factor – but at least this was understandable motivation in professional sport.
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