By Alexander Krassimirov
September 20 – Bulgaria’s Sofia stadium debate has taken another twist with president and owner of Slavia Sofia Ventsislav Stefanov (pictured left) announcing that he is in negotiation with the owner of PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, Kiril Domuschiev (pictured right), to build a new joint stadium in Sofia. PFC Ludogorets have won the Bulgarian champions for the past two years but play home games at Razgrad – a small town in north-east of Bulgaria.
Slavia had originally wanted to share the new arena with another metropolitan club CSKA Sofia, but the management of CSKA have refused to move away from their current stadium which is situated at the heart of Bulgarian capital.
A few days ago, Stefanov revealed that he had held negotiations with the German company of IFS, which is ready to invest €40 million.
“By the middle of next week there should be more transparency. If negotiations with CSKA fail, we will continue to negotiate with Ludogorets about our project. I think there is no problem for the champions to play their official matches in Sofia. As far as I know they do not mind that,” said Stefanov.
PFC Ludogorets is one of the fastest growing clubs in Bulgaria and this season is playing in the group stages of the Europa League after dropping out from the Champions League.
Ludogorets play their home games at Ludogorets Arena stadium in the small town of Razgrad. Although the base is ultra-modern and one of the newest in Bulgaria, the stadium cannot be used for matches in European competitions, as its seated capacity is only 6,000. At the moment the club plays its home games at the National stadium Vasil Levski – the only stadium in Bulgaria that can be used for European games.
“All the games from European tournaments will be played in the new stadium. Just after in one year time, there will be no stadium in Bulgaria which will be ready to comply with the requirements of UEFA. Then we have to play in the Romanian capital! Inter and Milan are excellent example how two clubs can share one stadium, are they smaller teams than ours? I am not sure…”
“I cannot speak on behalf of Kiril Domuschiev. I am just talking about this topic. He is a man who thinks, he is looking in the future. It will be investment for all our national teams. I cannot understand why there are club affiliations. This stadium will be for all, not just for my team Slavia,” conclude Ventsislav Stefanov.
In August, Domuschiev threatened to move the team to Romania for the play-off against Basel in the Champions League. There was a chance the game would clash with a Roger Waters concert, The Wall, at Vasil Levski stadium. In the end, the first game between Basel and PFC Ludogorets was played in Switzerland.
Domuschiev is one of Bulgaria’s most influential individuals with a fortune estimated to be about €500 million in 2010.
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