The Football League Destroyed By The Mafia

[@krisnikolaev6560]

just so you know, Alfie, this video is already getting popular in Bulgaria and was shared by at least one of the biggest football-orientated social media channels in the country; needless to say you're getting massive praise all over the board, fantastic work

[@AltsekBUL]

Хехе, тъкмо си мислех и аз да драсна същия коментар, но си ме изпреварил с 8 дни. Бербатката 100% го е гледал!

[@jamescena4566]

It is truly pathetic to be a football fan in Bulgaria right now. The competition is dead, every club has become a feeder to the hegemonic Ludogorets, the most supported clubs Levski Sofia is in huge debts, while CSKA-Sofia went extinct in 2016 and had to reform itself. Clubs make it to the first league only to go bankrupt in about 2 to 3 years max. The second league is a death trap for former amateur clubs, as most often they fall into a financial crisis themselves. The amateur levels are of the level of Sunday leagues. Youngsters are being sold to other countries only to never reach their true potential and eventually dwindle back to the Bulgarian leagues or the neighbouring countries before retiring. Stadiums are left to rot. The Bulgarian FA does nothing to change the current state of football, nor does the government (though considering they can't even run the country properly, football is their least important priority now). It is a shame, really, even countries like Hungary have somewhat managed to rebuild their status in football, while we are going down and down, year after year. I've stopped blaming the players and managers at this point, because it really isn't their fault. Nowadays, the only way to enjoy Bulgarian football is through Football Manager, where even there it is hard to change the state in which the Bulgarian football finds itself in.

[@kristiyanganchev9262]

hahahhahaha i na manager-a li ne moje da gi opravish :D

[@nikito6180]

​@@kristiyanganchev9262 Az I tam nqmashe da uspeq

[@YashMezzala]

I smell a football manager save here

[@Bullwine]

> Nowadays, the only way to enjoy Bulgarian football is through Football Manager, where even there it is hard to change the state in which the Bulgarian football finds itself in. Been doing a save with Levski in FM as of late......at least Marin Petkov is promising there?

[@jameswg13]

Second yellow card does great building a nation saves. Lots of tips etc makes it easier getting out the mess.

[@chrisguardiano6143]

For those wondering about Bulgaria's greatest player Histo Stoichkov & his lack of involvement in these recent issues in Bulgarian football, he is largely removed from it mainly because he now lives in the US where he works as a commentator for Univision which is owned by Mexico's biggest TV station Telvisa. Stoichkov actually ended his playing career in the MLS where he played for Chicago Fire (2000-2002) & one season with DC United in 2003 & he is considered to be one of the best players to have played in MLS in the pre Beckham era.

[@gosho_bruh]

He was still involved in Bulgarian football until the early 2010s when he lastly coached the already mentioned in the video Litex Lovech but ultimately gave up on trying to ameliorate the Bulgarian football because it was just a lost cause. Evem though they were part of that 1994 World Cup team, him and Borislav Mihaylov are known to pretty much hate each other at this point, Stoichkov has publically called out and insulted Mihaylov numerous times over the years

[@BroadwayJoe99]

FUN FACT: While you're 100% correct, in looking it up for myself (because of their partnership with NBCUniversal in the US, I assumed that Univision and therefore Telvisa were owned by NBCU) I found that one of Telvisa's parent companies and largest shareholders is an organization known as Saban Capital Group. Now if the name "Saban" rings a bell to you, you probably grew up in the 80's and 90's. Along with partner Shuki Levy, SCG's founder Haim Saban scored the soundtracks (though some questions were raised into just how many of them he actually wrote himself, to the point of a threatened lawsuit that was eventually settled out of court) to many of the cartoons you watched, like He-Man, She-Ra, and Inspector Gadget. From there, Saban went into the production side of things, and was behind the importation and adaptation of Japanese tokosatsu shows for overseas markets, most notably the Power Rangers franchise. Kinda crazy how it went from Bulgarian football to Mexican TV to an Israeli-American musician that was born in Egypt to Japanese kid's shows, eh?

[@johnsmithton292]

Funny thing is that when you say his name the first thing that comes to mind from his MLS stint is him breaking a college player's leg in a friendly. The local college team tied the game up at 1 after 10 minutes of play. Pretty much immediately after that he went in two footed on an 18 year old on the other team resulting in a compound fracture of his right tibia and fibula. Reports at the time indicate he went in so hard that you could hear the impact breaking the kid's leg and a paramedic that was treating him saying it looked like he was hit by a car. Yeah, I remember what he did with Chicago; but I'll always remember that he got so angry after an offside call didn't go their way in a friendly that he broke a kid's leg first.

[@dave_mate4244]

I​@@BroadwayJoe99 it's actually S.A.B de C.V it's just an abbreviation and has nothing to do with that Saban person you said AZCÁRRAGA just owns the company pretty much he's a Mexican owner who has corrupted the Mexican League and National Team for years. He's the cause and down fall of Mexican football

[@FootballDrips]

Univision is the largest news channel in the United States(US) for people who speak Spanish, since the US has a large Mexican and Latin American community. Univision has rights to broadcast the Mexican league, Copa America, MLS, concacaf gold cup, Concacaf champions league, the Mexican national team, USA national team, Uefa Champions League, and Euro. Stoichkov works as a sports ⚽️ commentator for Univision and does speaks Spanish pretty well. I know this bc I’m a Mexican who lives in the states 🇺🇸 and have seen him commentate football games plenty of times.

[@CM-mv4or]

I used to work with a Bulgarian security guard at my old job, he would light up talking about the old Bulgarian national team. Shame about what’s happened to them.

[@nikobellic570]

As a kid it was the 1994 world cup that got me into football. Bulgaria defeated Argentina!

[@cvgodd1432]

Yea I remember that team. I just got to the US in 1992 and started watching soccer in 94. That World Cup was so dope! Idc what anyone says Baggio got paid off and roofed that ball during the penalty kick lol. No way a player that good missed by that much!

[@soundscape26]

Another excellent documentary. The fact that there isn't a single Bulgarian player in any of the major top 5 leagues is shocking.

[@hmu05366]

Yeh that’s astonishing isn’t it

[@threshfanboy9131]

There was last year. But Ilia Gruev, who recently played for SV Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga transfered to Leeds United and therefore now plays in the Championship. He's a great Player, but apart from that I couldn't name you any Bulgarian player. And Gruev was on my mind because of being a Werder Bremen Fan haha. Truly a shocking fact indeed though

[@SamOGr]

​@@threshfanboy9131 hes recently started playing and is very good, can see why you didn't want him to leave

[@AvgustGeorgi]

got a guy in Leeds, maybe next season :D

[@stanislavhadzhiev187]

Huge respect for your work from a bulgarian who's almost lost hope that we'll ever leave the bottom.

[@Kyle-mw3bo]

I always remember your story in first Bulgaria video about the former classmate of yours who when asked who ran Bulgaria just answered “mafia”

[@williambruce7943]

I don't like Stefan because he chased Alfie around with a safety pin

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

​@@williambruce7943At least it wasn't dipped in ricin.

[@thomasjohnson2862]

“He is mafia”

[@garr6773]

😊pa​@@ianmacfarlane1241

[@carltonleboss]

​@@ianmacfarlane1241Lol

[@Alienhos]

As a Bulgarian, thank you for making this

[@volenchilov8675]

Thank you, Alfie, for sharing our story. The research presented in the video is immense. You mentioned so many obscurities that are only known in our national context. It's the best coverage of the story of the demise of Bulgarian football.

[@patience1835]

As a bulgarian , i just want to add that the police went berserk after a bus was set on fire in front of a Starbucks . Our police just on a spree on the streets and restaurants injuring more people than the number mentioned . Then the police had to nerve to initiate a protest for their injured colleagues.

[@Beazoner]

Just to add, there was a story from that night where a 19 year old girl was getting kicked in the stomach while the cops were yelling at her "we are doing it so you never get to reproduce". We as bulgarians need to wake up for real!

[@sodapop83]

acab

[@bg22757]

​@@sodapop83grow up man.

[@willardmatsaudza3101]

@@bg22757I mean if you look globally he’s not wrong even here the hood cops cover up for the bad ones the whole system needs reform.

[@sashoradoulov3504]

@@bg22757You grow up

[@stanteam4369]

19:41 Tsetska Tsacheva being mentioned in HITC Sevens is something I'd least expected to happen

[@mincraftisawsome1234]

My mother literally grew up in the same village as Tsacheva 😂

[@SKa-tt9nm]

Talk about an easy Bulgarian name, hard to spell in the Latin alphabet! Up there with 1994 hero Tsanko Tsvetanov.

[@lukasnikolic2923]

Same problem in Croatia. Now my club Hajduk is in a title race, but we have ben plunged in massive debts for years. Dinamo have been run by crooks for years, Rijeka was forced out of their Stadium, Šibenik was screwed by owners who had links to drug cartels and and and. Its really a common theme in eastern Europe that criminals run your club

[@nikolamitrovic3841]

Serbia is in the same, or even deeper bullshit aswell.

[@soundscape26]

At least your National Team is quite competent.

[@lukasnikolic2923]

@@soundscape26 Yeah thats like our only saving grace.

[@hmu05366]

Croatia is such an anomaly isn’t it. I’m from Scotland - and while we are definitely improving somewhat - not quite to the level we were at from the 1800’s to the 1980’s, it’s good to see us qualify again. Croatia is far superior- consistently- than the Scotland national team. Similar populations, although I think you are slightly smaller. But our football league is better than yours. Still not great of course, but for a small country it’s one of the best in Europe (per capita), if you measure in terms of success in Europe… it’s weird. You are also far poorer than Scotland, but the standard of players you produce is exceptional. Along with Uruguay, croatia is maybe one of the best pound for pound footballing nations in the world (just purely in terms of national team)

[@petesmart1983]

Even players like Modric and others are involved in the mafia stuff too

[@ThreeRunHomer]

That explains why my Bulgarian club in Football Manager hires hit men instead of assistant coaches! Thanks for explaining!

[@franze4]

💀

[@painkillerkhalil]

😭😭😭

[@todorsamardzhiev144]

assassin coaches LUL

[@bababababababa6124]

3:39 the funniest thing is that Tajikistans national team could probably beat Bulgaria if they played today, they aren’t too bad themselves

[@mnm5165]

I can’t tell if Tajikistan drawing against China in the Asia Cup is impressive for Tajikistan as they’re 100 times smaller or embarrassing for China

[@barbarian92]

@@mnm5165 Why not both?

[@mnm5165]

@@barbarian92yeah true

[@hmu05366]

@@mnm5165Chinese are not gifted athletically

[@LuigiLuigi728]

@@mnm5165probably more embarrassing for China, considering they also drew with Lebanon in the second game, and lost to Hong Kong just before the competition began 😂😂 China could be eliminated tomorrow if they don’t beat hosts Qatar!! I hope Alfie will make another video about the current corruption and matchfixing scandal in China btw

[@viktorstamenov7692]

First I want to say thank you as a Bulgarian that you mentioned our fall from grace in your channel. I am sure that after this clip you won many supporters of your channel among us. Regarding the video I was amazed how much effort you put researching us and giving very accurate commentary of all the misery every Bulgarian fan suffer. Cheers from Bulgaria! ❤

[@depekthegreat359]

I have heard about the demise of the Bulgarian football through a few of their recent videos and this demise is honestly shocking for me to hear where this footballing powerhouse being corrupted by the mafia who have destroyed the sport in one of my favourite nations daily and ever,good friends!!!I do hope for the government to look after this issue and solve it drastically well and replicate the past glory of the Bulgarian football,good friends!!!LONG LIVE BULGARIA!!!🇧🇬

[@stefankatsarov5806]

The goverment is in a worse state than our football, they wont be repairing anything.

[@nathanhartnell3191]

My local team in Bulgaria is Litex Lovech, it’s so sad. The whole state of Bulgarian football is poor, and it just feels like there can’t be any improvements any time soon. Hopefully Berbatov will become president, and not just another corrupted legend

[@neilchakrabarty2169]

Fun fact:- Litex Lovotech ex Player Wilmar Jordon who had won a Golden boot in the Bulgarian league, is currently playing for Punjab FC in our country's top tier league . He is a lethal striker dude

[@cvetomirgeorgiev9106]

It was so crazy 2 months ago, watching the game against Hungary on the government channel, and it being split in 2. On the left side or the screen, we're playing football, on the right side, a police van is burning. It was so surreal

[@martintemelkov]

As visible by the name, I am also Bulgarian and the video was spot on. You do your research extremely well, Alfie, for which I am grateful. Let me give you another example of how shit the "top-flight" of Bulgarian football is - I would never go to a match from the "top-flight", but I love going to matches from the lower divisions. Sure, I do it mainly for the banter, to travel and to hear some "lovely" things from the stands (which occasionally produce some seriously golden funny moments), but I also do it because I find some weird romance in the lower-flight football games. I do not support any top-flight clubs (well, I cannot say I support any other club in the world other than my Chelsea), and I do not wish to even hear about attending "top-flight" games or even the national football team's games. Which is a big problem. If we as a nation cannot get ourselves to go support our national team, then this speaks volumes about the level at which Bulgarian football is at the moment. I completely agree with the final point that you made about a total overhaul of the BFU, of course. The sooner that happens, the sooner Bulgarian football can attempt to rebuild. Once again, thank you for the lovely video, which of course is not the first one covering the topic of Bulgarian football that you've done. And I absolutely love that. Well done!

[@ДимитърБожилов-ж1е]

Thank you for sharing our story 🙏 🇧🇬

[@petarmilchev1220]

I'm from Bulgaria, and I haven't watched neither club nor national games in over 15 years. It is just plain depressing, even the National League in England has better quality of play than us.

[@deyangerasimov9485]

I wouldn't say that Bulgarian clubs are same level as National league... Even in the recent years they have been competitive against teams like Eintracht or Roma, so the game quality isn't that bad. It's just painful to see that these little "outbursts" are not enough to bring back Bulgarian football to the right path. Sometimes I feel like I watch games just out of obligation to my team and not because I enjoy it... So that's why it's painful - seeing no general progress whatsoever, just small outbursts to keep us alive. Not a single penny invested in the academies, stadiums, coaches etc.

[@thomasjohnson2862]

@@deyangerasimov9485Is it not only Ludogorets that has been competitive in Europe in recent years, and pretty much nobody else?

[@deyangerasimov9485]

@@thomasjohnson2862 Pretty much yes, but Levski and CSKA-Sofia also had some decent European games in the recent years. Levski eliminated PAOK and Hapoel Beer Sheva and played very well against Eintracht drawing their home game. And CSKA-Sofia eliminated Viktoria Pilsen and Basel as well as beat Roma 3:1 in the group stages of Europa league. Also Lokomotiv Plovdiv were not far from eliminating Tottenham leading 1:0 only for Spurs to make a comeback in the last 10 minutes. But these are just small stints compared to Ludogorets who are in the group stages of one of the competitions every year, It's just that most people don't care about them here.

[@СлаваССС-м4с]

Sad that these mafia scum run the league. It's the same in Greece. Run by "business men" with zero respect for the club, fans and football.

[@Sirinwara]

Welcome to my world, my friend. As a Hungarian, I had to suffer through the 90's and the '00s when our national team was utter shite. The national football association was run by thugs, small time criminals and simple idiots and our league was a joke. Now at least we have some hope, and I hope it will be the same for you!

[@enjaysee750]

Excellent documentary, so well researched and thorough as always. I'm old enough to remember watching that incredible Bulgaria side storm to the semis of USA '94, what a team they were. I was aware Bulgarian football was in a bad place but to find out the sheer extent of the corruption and that so many of those players from '94 are actually involved in it is depressing.

[@damasek219]

I really like these kind of videos of yours. I learn a lot more about football thanks to you than I do from the media. Please keep doing these.

[@fungalwinkerbean]

You've made so many videos on the subject I named an ambient track "The Current State of Bulgarian Football" when I needed a title a year back, so I owe you one for that. Always appreciate the videos where you get time to dive into topics like this.

[@martinvasilev1274]

Huge respect for making this video Alfie. I haven’t watched it yet but i am sure it will be as good as every video you make Cheers from Bulgaria 🇧🇬

[@davidbowie5023]

The downfall of my country's Ireland in football also worth attention. It's so sad to see where we are standing now. The mishandling of football by the federation was so ruinous for Irish football.

[@Outwhere]

Well there's "How John Delaney Ruined Irish Football" on this channel for starters.

[@mihailtodorov1945]

The problems in Bulgarian football need some international recognition. Thank you!

[@HighSEAL]

As a Bulgarian I can say you got this exactly right my friend! Even about the ugly thing called chalga! Thumbs up for the channel !!! I can just say that in 94 we had Trifon Ivanov ( R.I.P.) and Krasimir Balakov as well , who was in the ideal team of the tournament i believe :)

[@nikobellic570]

Thanks to the '94 Bulgarian team for beating Argentina. I was on their side that day

[@bananaempijama]

Balakov was a helluva player. Remember him when he played for Sporting CP

[@chileanhussar2659]

Speaking corruption, you should talk about FIFA's corruption in 2030 World Cup bid, why my country (Chile) was excluded, and then later they tried to compensate by allowing us to host the U-20 World Cup in 2025 (of course, we took it for a grain of salt), but it didn't provide anything except massive resentments.

[@ethandalton6480]

Pretty sure Alfie has already made video about that

[@СлаваССС-м4с]

No. Can't talk about fifa corruption or his funding will be cut😂

[@blagojasavevski2343]

Truly the channel of the people!!!

[@LibertepourlesIranienset-kh3ur]

Same tragic story is happening in Iran, if you are also aware. I have to mention that Iran looks powerful when you look at the map of Asia and this is also the perfect cover, but because of massive corruption, our football could not reach potential. Given our football is run by the government and their corrupt cronies of the Islamic Republic, players are either chosen based on loyalty, or based on favouritism. That's why we are having a drought of our talented players, with Azmoun, Jahanbakhsh and Taremi are ageing while we lack fresh crops. How the damn why we have one of the best football teams in Asia and currently ranked 21st in the world, yet never advanced past the group stages of a World Cup and our last Asian Cup title was in 1976?

[@diomuda7903]

What about a video on Kazakhstan's UEFA membership since 2002, a case that has since become renowned as the 21st century's first sportswashing case? Given Kazakhstan's authoritarian reputation, its massacres on civilians in 2011 and 2022 (the 2011 Zhanaozen massacre was the reason the EU dismissed Kazakhstan's bid for membership), it is clear Kazakhstan joining UEFA is based on evil intention. Yet UEFA's weak-willed response enabled autocrats across the world like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to believe on the same thing, and the fact that 2034 World Cup will be hosted by Saudi Arabia is the result of it, a major stain to European reputation.

[@neymarjunior5804]

“evil intention”, wow. You are going to trigger many angry Kazakhs…

[@diomuda7903]

@@neymarjunior5804 Why? Because I stated the truth? Football has been under many evil forces, but Kazakhstan upgraded it. It should not stay in UEFA. It doesn't care about human rights.

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

@@neymarjunior5804 The dude is a certified clown.

[@diomuda7903]

@@FlamingBasketballClub Go and serve your boss in Astana. Maybe he will provide you a tent for your dedication to protect the autocratic state of Kazakhstan.

[@diomuda7903]

@@FlamingBasketballClub Маленький ватник Назарбаева и Токаева, да ладно. Типичный авторитарный режим вас очень любит. Может быть, вы тоже сможете стать волонтером Мохаммеда бин Салмана.

[@ollieduracell]

I live in Malta and the fact Levski Sofia lost on aggregate to Hamrun Spartans in Europe this season shows how far Bulgarian football has fallen.

[@grigorov1914]

This season? Brother, that happened in 2022, what are you talking about?

[@ollieduracell]

@@grigorov1914 i fell asleep for the last year

[@ccf3294]

@@grigorov1914 regardless is astoundingly shocking

[@TheOwlOf2]

Eastern european football is so underrated and it's nice to see how all of us can see both the good and the bad of these leagues

[@fairphoneuser9009]

Eastern European league football is underrated? Every player who is good enough leaves as fast as he can.

[@TheOwlOf2]

@@fairphoneuser9009 i meant how intresting the league is and its history is nice (also eastern european football does include ukraine and russia which are pretty good leagues) though i guess underappreciated was the right term that i should have used.

[@fairphoneuser9009]

@@TheOwlOf2 Well, those two are good leagues because of cleptocratic oligarchs!

[@niallfoody97]

I hate to say but their wasn't to say but their wasn't to much good listed int that video, I hope their will be good in the future of Bulgarian and eastern European football.

[@hmu05366]

@@niallfoody97there *

[@Pravtok]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this! The mafia destroyed my boyhood love - football, among many other things, and I am watching this in tears. Thank you!

[@Angielovesgirls97]

As always the amount of research done is impeccable. This is one of those videos that hits close to home for me, in a quite literal sense here. A lot of this I knew in some form or could at least deduce, the bit from Grisha Ganchev floored me though somehow I didn't know about it. In that moment I truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. And I was bemoaning the lack of women's football when I was a little girl, honestly good thing I didn't try to get involved in football in any capacity.

[@johnsbox]

Polish football used to be full of this kind of stuff going back some years. Perhaps there are still some game fixes behind closed doors....However, the infrastructure has greatly improved with many new stadiums, football academies etc. Even my own village with a population of 1000 in the seventh tier of Polish football, has a new club house, seating terraces and other amenities which some English village teams of the same population would envy! The national team however isn't doing too well. Clubs are doing much better in the Europa and Confederation . I wish Bulgarian football better times in the future. Hope is the last to die!

[@dimitarmargaritov]

There are some stadiums constructed in some villages that probably have around 100, mostly old, people live there.

[@mootownjunk]

It’s videos like this that make Alfie the best football KZbinr on the platform. Not only does he raise awareness to issues such as this in the world of football, he also (judging by all the comments from Bulgarians) gives a voice to those directly affected. Unbelievable work.

[@BadselS]

Berbatov is one of my absolute favorites, what a style

[@hmu05366]

Yeh he was very stylish indeed. Fabulous control, proper silky player. Kinda player that you are cool with him being arrogant because he virtually always delivered 😂

[@SKa-tt9nm]

Underrated player. Should be more celebrated at both spurs and united.

[@peruano-quichwa---aymara8611]

You can also make a video over Peru’s football crisis. We have so many talents yet under two dictators Manuel Burga and currently Agustín Lozano, we dropped a lot in quality and our football was abysmal. Gareca brought us a time of glory but when he left, we revealed our true self. Sad.

[@teodorkolev4931]

1:26 Although Baggio was an exceptional player it wasn’t just his brilliance that won Italy the match. But also the French referee Joël Quiniou who was somehow stupidly allowed to referee the match by FIFA and who gave a lot of the decisions in Italy’s favour. He has a bigger contribution for us not reaching the final than Baggio. Like Stoichkov answered when asked after the match if God was still Bulgarian (famous saying after we beat France in 1993) he said “Yes, but the referee was French” Majority of Bulgarians to this day think we were robbed from playing in the final because of this.

[@matmica2702]

Stfu what are you saying we were 10 times the bulgaria team,and a french referee wont ever help italy

[@Snuff951]

@@matmica2702 ама бразилците ви ебаха мамата и няма да си правя труда да ти го пиша на английски жабар

[@deyangerasimov9485]

​​@@matmica2702 Doesn't mean helping Italy. It means helping FIFA to have an intriguing final between Italy and Brazil which will gather more money from TV revenue, ads, etc. A final Bulgaria - Brazil would be far less interesting and respectively will make less money. Again, this is just a conspiracy and I'm not saying it is what happened, just trying to explain what the person meant with the above comment. But it's clear that at least 1 more penalty (Costacurta handball) could've been awarded to Bulgaria in this game and who knows...

[@SKa-tt9nm]

@@matmica2702this wasn’t 1990. the 1994 Italian team was absolute trash, as much as I respected maldini. They made it out of the group stage by luck alone, looked positively shambolic. Then you outplayed an overrated Nigerian team and baggio had a *great* game against Spain (finally, after looking like garbage). The game of his life. At least one penalty - possibly 2 - wasn’t given for Bulgaria against you. Then you were impotent against Brazil in the final and rightfully lost in the worst final I’ve ever watched. You were carried by a strong defense and baggio. The rest of the team was at the level of Ireland, Norway and Mexico. Forgettable, limited team that should have never made it to a final.

[@matmica2702]

@@SKa-tt9nm bulgaria was worse dont lie to yourself italy was ten times bulgaria

[@martinnthemenace]

Last year i met a frenchman in a hotel. We met at the bar, since we were already drunk. He thought im polish, but when i cleared my nationality he thanked me for 93. He said that their home loss was one of the reasons they won the next world cup. Similar conversations i had with germans, who never thanked me haha, but these major losses made them reinvent their strategy for the future. Nowadays our national team cant compete vs the ones we beated 4-5 nil when i was a kid 10-15 years ago. Im not sure if you have video for the development in croatian football for instance, but this is a great example of a successful approach. Cheers for the video!

[@coffeecigarettes9422]

Well, Germany's loss against your great team in 1994 was bitter indeed but nothing really changed after that. Two years later Germany even won the Euros with the same manager and many players of the 1994 team. It was in 2004 where Germany ran through a real change process after the humiliation during the Euros in Portugal.

[@luishernandezblonde]

Hey, I am from Poland and you can mention about our chaotic crisis in football as well. We have failed to qualify for Euro 2024 directly (now competing for playoffs), our coaching staff is a mess, and the team is in dire need of changes. The only thing prevents us from turning Bulgaria 2.0 is because we have greater self-awareness, and perhaps resentment against corruption.

[@johnsbox]

I Agree with you to some extent. I live in Poland too. The infrastructure is far better than Bulgaria and football is in a much better state, particularly at club level. You can knock Polish football, but just look at the situation in Bulgaria, Poland is heaven compared.

[@SKa-tt9nm]

Hello from your southern Slav brethren in Bulgaria. Probably way before your time, but Poland had some amazing players and teams in the 70s and 80s. Finished 3rd at the World Cup back to back in the 70s I believe!

[@luishernandezblonde]

@@johnsbox Yes, but the culture of awareness seems to serve another reason why Poland didn't go the Bulgarian way. We are easily triggered if there are reports of misuse in the confederation. Bulgarians, meanwhile, tolerated it for too long until it became too disastrous.

[@mezombart0423]

I went to Sofia this past summer with my friends and two of us wanted to buy a local football shirt. We searched everywhere online and couldn't find any official club shop. Eventually we found on a reddit thread that there was indeed a Levski Sofia shop in the city centre and my friend and I walked in only to find that the large man running the register wouldn't even look us in the eye. The place was clearly an ultra run shop. After a bit of looking around I saw that in between two displays was a WWII helmet with a swastika on it. It didn't take long to realise the place was COVERED in swastikas. Needless to say I didn't last much longer in there. I wondered why there was no club shop or better representation for what is one of the biggest clubs in the country, not I see why.

[@grigorov1914]

The official team store is located at the stadium. It says a lot about you when you can't even find that out on your own.

[@ccf3294]

@@grigorov1914 Having been to the Vasil Levski Stadium…where is it ? It’s not even signposted. Nobody cares.

[@grigorov1914]

@@ccf3294 the Vasil Levski NATIONAL Stadium? Yeah, good luck finding club merchandise there 😆 we play at Georgi Asparuhov Stadium and that's where our fanshop is.

[@Just_a_Lad]

@@ccf3294 Vasil Levski is the national team stadium, not Levski Sofia's stadium.

[@Just_a_Lad]

Unfortunately hooligan moron criminals claim to be the biggest Levski and CSKA fanbase. Normal people don't go much to games anymore.

[@marto179]

Before I even began watching, thank you Alfie! Been waiting for that one.

[@olivialover6815]

As a Bulgarian I am very glad you addressed this subject.The more people know the better, this should help expose the phonies and also bring attention on how the wig was always very comfortable because he had FIFA and UEFA behind his back

[@mudzero5884]

Thanks for the video, Alfie. I was one of the people who were most persistent on trying to talk you into doing a video on the topic. Now, after watching it, I can only give you my biggest admirations. Thank you for your support. The fight for real reforms in Bulgarian football is just beginning. Let's hope it'll finish with a success for us!

[@churn_diesel]

I went to a friendly in Sofia between Bulgaria and Norway back in 2018. I think there were about 100 Norwegian fans and 17 confused tourists (including me) in attendance. The stadium looked bombed out and depleted lol.

[@MrPek-fe9fp]

Was that Chappelle reference?? Your suit looks bombed out and depleted.

[@paraguayhastalavistaysenor9404]

My requests for videos: 1. How about football crisis in Paraguay? Now our football is in shamble. We are hopeless, directionless, and we have no clue what we are doing either. Paraguayan football is dying. 2. Southeast Asian countries' inability to compete with the best of Asia (unless they face weaker teams or each other), while the strongest member of AFF is Australia has long been sidelined. Why is Australia often seen with distrust in Southeast Asia, why is it such a detrimental move, and why Australia should be included.

[@biuless5275]

I had to correct you in the strongest team in Asia, their are many, for instance, Iran, Japan,south korrea, Saudi Arabia, all of them are far more superior than Australia.

[@luishernandezblonde]

@@biuless5275 Only Japan proved anything worth, but they are struggling at the moment. South Korea is more likely to make an impact. Neither Iran and Saudi Arabia proved stronger than Australia. If anything, they are far more vulnerable. Iran is crap in the way how it is operated, while Saudi Arabia lives in the delusion of their shock win over Argentina. Yet they fail in important matches... but Australia don't. If Iran and Saudi Arabia are far superior, they should have advanced to more knockout stages, instead of Australia triumphed over them.

[@petesmart1983]

Similar story to many leagues in the area serbian,croatia, Romania even spreading into greece,cyprus, Albania, Bosnia (not just the ethnic problems)

[@depekthegreat359]

By the way,congratulations to your beloved Hull City for shocking Sunderland away by 1-0 yesterday to move to sixth in the standings by 42 points in the English Championship,good friend Alfie Potts Harmer!!!🏋‍♂️

[@hoppywern9057]

Bulgarian football part 3 🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉What is an independent regulator🎉🎉🎉RAHHH🗣️🗣️🇧🇬🇧🇬

[@OvidijusSaldauskas-CV]

Since you mentioned Lithuania several times regarding Bulgaria vs Lithuania in EURO qualifications, you could do a video about Lithuanian FF and the Lithuanian National Football Stadium, which is in process to be built for already 30+ years and it's not even close to starting construction.

[@thomasjohnson2862]

I know they knocked down the original one and were supposed to be starting to build the new one soon? Vilnius is crying out for a big stadium - as charming as the LFF stadium is, in its lovely city centre location near the old town, it’s too small for Lithuania NT and big Žalgiris matches

[@asentseto]

Haha, in Bulgaria we can relate since we have had a couple of these🥲

[@jcpena27]

Žalgiris don’t even have their own stadium yet😢

[@txbill2512]

I was at both Bulgarian World Cup matches in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, 1994. What a team !!!

[@chernobyl3189]

A wonderful and 100% accurate video about my home country's deep-set crisis on all levels... I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the absolute absurdity of everything - hopefully soon we'll be able to clean up not only the football leadership, but the political one as well. I remember back in 2021, during COVID, Bulgaria won their first match in over a year against the Czech republic with a 1-0 in the 85th minute - me and my friend jumped around and hugged eachother in disbelief. 2 months later we would draw with Gibraltar. Being Bulgarian is honestly a tragic fever dream...

[@maciek.u]

Thank you. It’s such a terrible history. One can laugh at absurdities, of the type of club owner playing. But there have also been such cases in Poland, such as the case of the club Ceramika Opoczno, which was taken down by a owner who was involved in biggest match fixing scandal in XXI century. Corruption destroys not only sport. Corruption breaks characters, destroys dreams and ambitions.

[@Just_a_Lad]

Well we still can't get rid of corruption, the "good old" ex-communists are still alive and kicking and they're ruling the country similar to Russia's model - mafia, oligarchs, ex agents and military people.

[@asparuhdochev]

I've been watching your channel since the beginning of 2017, glad to see making video this long for our football

[@pmpmpmpm22]

26:54 This is a wrong picture. This is the stadium of Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and the game was going to be played at Botev Plovdiv's stadium, which had just undergone renovations and had opened for the first time in almost ten years. That's why they said that the stadium wasn't ready.

[@LupoGalante]

That header by Letchkov against Germany in 94 is one of my all time favourite World Cups goals!

[@retroeshd3708]

Amazing work, Alfie. I’ve seen all your videos on Bulgaria, but this was by far the best and went most in depth, and yet it didn’t even touch the surface. The corruption in Bulgaria, especially at footballing level, is truly absurd and cannot be comprehended by anyone in the western world. Our only hope is that Dimitar Berbatov somehow becomes president in March, but even that isn’t very likely to happen judging by past experiences.

[@nikobellic570]

Why do people think a great player and national hero will be a good administrator? Completely different job. Most great players try to work on coaching or media and very, very few succeed.

[@Akirkland24]

@@nikobellic570Berbatov is the real deal. Listen to him speak for 5 minutes and you’ll see what an intelligent guy he is. He would already be putting things on the right track if the previous election wasn’t rigged against him.

[@danielgeorgiev8006]

Thank you, I'm a bulgarian myself and I'm glad that you covered this heavy topic! 🇧🇬

[@HCpsycho]

Hey Alfie, I might as well ask if you can make a video about Hereford, they were a very well established football league side until they liquidated in 2014, they are now in the National league north, I just think a club with such reputation should be talked about why they fell apart

[@orengymunchi9757]

As a bulgarian myself who loves football it's so sad to see the state that we are in. With the way that club football is, more young fans just ignore the league and focus on foreign football. Whenever you watch the national team play you are just expecting failure and if they do something remotely well it's a surprise to most people. We want to see improvement and atleast a little bit of hope for the national team but with the way things are that probably isn't going to happen in a long while.

[@StefanStoykov]

As a Bulgarian i can tell you this video is more accurate and direct than anything produced by multi-bilion TV channels in my country since 1990. This type of journalism is missing here. That is why we are 111 in freedom of speech

[@levskiarchive]

22:00 Such was the favoritism during Borisov's governments and Mihaylov's presidency that the club won a staggering 0 titles and 0 cups, having lost 3 cup finals and lost one championship in the last game drawing at home. Strangely enough, when Borisov lost power, the club won their first trophy in 15 years. The analysis in the video is fairly accurate generally, good work

[@Akirkland24]

As an expat living in Bulgaria, I was initially excited to go to a European country with teams in Europa and conference league and host Euro qualifier games. I learned quickly upon arrival that most people don’t care about and are embarrassed by the domestic football. The only game I saw people care about was Levski vs CSKA. I was at the qualifier vs Lithuania and was excited to be there but it was a sorry display. The fans were cheering ostavka (resignation) from 20 minutes in at the BFU president. Next game against Hungary was the massive protest where you could hear sirens and yelling outside the empty stadium on TV. I’m hoping Berbatov can take over the BFU, curb the corruption, and rejuvenate grassroots football. The love for football is here.

[@oakabielb5406]

Im going to Bulgaria in February for a couple of months. This is incredibly interesting!

[@jasondonaldson7412]

As man who bets on euro football you know goddam well to stay clear of the Bulgarian leauge

[@livwake]

Surely it makes sense to bet on it if the matches are predetermined?

[@Eggyfart83]

I am Scottish, I remember world cup 94 very well and Bulgaria were my favorite team in it they were brilliant. Letchkov, stoichkov, ivanov etc I loved watching them

[@cheifwhat]

Can you do a piece on The Athletc? You're probably about the only person working in sports journalism who hasn't been bought up by them, I'd love to know more about them

[@ItsJustGilbert90]

My wife is bulgarian so I started following BG football and become a PFC Loko Plovdiv fan. Its a huge shame to see the state of the football in my second home.

[@yetk1n]

Actually this is the best video I've ever seen in this channel. Well done lad 👏

[@venice.mp4]

you should make a video about the founding and rivalry of lazio and roma as roma was founded to promote italian facism while lazio opposed the creation of the club and facism but fast forward 95 years and their ideals are completely swapped

[@johnwhittaker311]

Hopefully Berbatov can help sort things out for Bulgaria. I don’t know if he’s involved in the corruption but he doesn’t seem like he would be

[@jameswg13]

The petrovs are so philanthropic as well would be amazing if they got involved as well to help sort the mess out.

[@mudzero5884]

I've been waiting a long time for a video on the topic. Can't wait to go home and watch it.

[@josejuliofuego]

LAFC signed a Bulgarian player last year. Stoichov even met up with him to congratulate him on the move to MLS

[@francolive5718]

Bulgaria had a solid national team in the 90s qualifying for pretty much every tournament. Now look at them.

[@jeremywien9235]

Thank you so much for covering this !

[@Lucca_not_Lucas]

“Dear, wake up, Alfie just posted”

[@TheSixers88]

Literally the funniest doc you've put out in years. Good job.

[@horiabalaban7968]

I would also add the gambling industry mixing itself in Bulgarian football. All bulgarian sports and not only news is implicated in the political lobbying of the gambling industry. When the romanian biggest news publication refused to follow the example all influencial journalists got sacked.

[@alistairmcintosh9520]

43 minutes. jesus. here we go.

[@asentseto]

Don’t use the name of the Lord in vain!

[@stefanmunteanu66]

Berbatov seems to be the last chance to turn it around in Bulgaria, really hope it happens! In Romania Gica Popescu was robbed in the elections and it never happened.

[@etme1000]

Gica Popescu, who served time for... tax evasion? Truly the right man for the job! Some people never want to learn... This entire video is about how former Golden Generation members, instead of saving football, became the problem.

[@stefanmunteanu66]

@etme1000 totally agree with everything you said! I've mentioned him as he was the most likely candidate to win and I was really hopeful that, despite all his legal issues, he would not betray romanian football. I would still have picked him over Burleanu.

[@teonesofle]

As someone who lives in Australia - so far removed from this - it's super interesting to me & makes me feel sad for the state of football in Bulgaria. All the best to the Bulgarian people in taking back their sport.

[@hugoafonso2102]

Since you're in to mafias and corruption, you should take a look at the current presidential run in FC Porto, between the former coach Andre Villas Boas and the suspect of many corruption cases, Pinto da Costa. So far, there have only been a few beatdowns and intimidation tactics, but it's still early. 😁

[@petesmart1983]

Didn't sporting did the same when they sent people to beat the players

[@soundscape26]

@@petesmart1983 The thugs acted on their own.

[@cvgodd1432]

@@petesmart1983yes lol I was visiting Portugal when it happened and that was the main topic. They said the coach was on cocaine and hired thugs to beat up his own players 😂. I got there like wth is going on lol. I was born in Portugal in 1988 but moved to Boston in 1992 and been here ever since. I visited Portugal 3x to see family and I always loved going. This last time though it was so many tourists! I liked Portugal when it wasn’t such a tourist attraction!

[@nikolayrusanov8714]

Very well presented and authentic, kudos to you! I am Bulgarian and I can confirm the authenticity of all and at the same time I realised how funny and pathetic all these events sound to a non-Bulgarian person. It's a pity, because we, as a Balkan nation, have some talents, just like Serbia, Croatia, and even Greece and Romania in more recent years. Two things you probably forgot to mention are youths development related. One of them is that corruption is also common in youth academies, where rich fathers pay for their children to play and they play instead of more talented children. And the second one is that even we have some talented players, most of them are not very well educated and well behaved and as soon as they turn 18, they start thinking only about women and night life. One very clear example of this is Valeri Bozhinov who you mentioned in your video.

[@FreshTuna]

After visiting Bulgaria last year, I was a bit confused by the lack of notable support for football and overall apathy towards the sport in general, even when compared to countries like Serbia...this explains it pretty well

[@SKa-tt9nm]

Alfie, let me be the umpteenth Bulgarian to thank you for the exceptionally well made, thoroughly researched video. Your level of professionalism and love of what you do is hard to find not only on KZbin but in the world in general. Cheers!

[@forseti1654]

I remember watching a 1994 World Cup documentary (Two Billion Hearts, or Todos os Corações do Mundo in the brazilian portuguese version) when I was a little and loving it, so it's sad to see Bulgaria that had such an amazing run in the 1994 WC going through this situation, hoping to see a comeback for y'all someday (same for Romania) :) Btw, a random request: what on earth is going on at Hellas Verona? I thought about this because they already keep selling their best players over the years but I swear this transfer window it feels like they are selling even more players besides the key ones??? If not, maybe an updated video about Napoli.

[@lucaslonchampt613]

Day 8 of asking a "What Went Right for Stade Brestois?" Video This is currently, by far, the best season in club history, one which could result in their first ever qualification for Europe in over 70 years of existence. There's a fascinating story to tell, from going bankruptcy and slowly climbing back, to various great names that played there such as Ribéry, Makélélé or José Luis Brown. Plus, you can have a lot of Brest related puns. Case and point, Paris is on top of Nice-Brest as we speak

[@kingoffall68]

Hey Alfie. Would you consider making a video on the 7 most philanthropic footballers? Given that your recent lists have included some ethically sketchy characters, I thought this could be an uplifting change of pace. Most people are probably familiar with Marcus Rashford’s activism, but I’ve often wondered what other footballers have done great charitable work.

[@SodaSeezn]

This would mostly be an African "Greatest players of all time list" as well

[@nicholastricarico2957]

"He is Mafia" One of those things that you don't understand at first as an outsider, but the more you look into it, becomes a more and more perfect description.

[@Quattro_Joe]

Bulgarian clubs should be banned from all European competition until this is cleaned up

[@tallesmagno201]

At least Berbatov has had first hand experience dealing with these people in his playing career.

[@martinasenov8373]

As a Bulgarian i am bit jealous but in a good way to other countries like Croatia Hungary Serbia you have things and players to be happy for while we only watch ucl and national football for entertainment its so sad i wanna see my country in a big stage even if we lose 6:0 its just not normal since 2004 the year i am born we never qualified to major tournament

[@ihghjgh]

serbia and hungary and not so good.

[@eduardocedeno1714]

Greetings from Ecuador, Alfie. Here is a suggestion: Make a video about Turkish Football and why is so unsuccessful, despite having a huge population, a passionate fan base, a relative whealthy league (it can manage high wages), but only had qualified to 2 World Cups and a few European Championships. Even Greece, won Euro 2004 (with a lot of luck, but won). About Clubs is similar, only Galatasaray is considerated a Big Team and respected abroad. Hope you will read this and take advice!

[@Sava_111]

The picture at 2:48 has nothing to do with Bulgaria; that is the Serbian coach Dragan Stojković. However, it could be a picture from when Serbia played against Bulgaria.

[@seanmcdonagh6237]

That 90s Bulgaria kit was a beauty

[@EsteQueso19]

Finally I see my request made! Thank you!

[@dimitarmargaritov]

You basically covered the entire modern history of Bulgaria and covered the politics as well as football. Well done! One of the biggest disappointments was that the EU did nothing about corruption besides writing reports about it and that the newly emerged political stars turned up to be mostly a disappointment. Despite all of that, the current government is doing relatively good job given the local and international conditions and I hope that long standing issues will finally be solved.