By Alexander Krassimirov
January 30 – The chief executive officer of Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia, Alexander Todorov (pictured), has revealed that the costs of running the club in 2014 year were almost BGN 15 million (€7.5 million), a high amount by Bulgarian standards.
Todorov said the figure included debt inherited from the former management of the club. The monthly budget for salaries in CSKA amounted to nearly BGN 400,000 (€200 000), which means that for the past year, the club has paid over BGN 4.5 million (€2.25 million) for salaries.
“Last year, we had BGN 2 million (€1 million) revenue from transfers but the costs of the club in 2014, along with all the old debts are BGN 15 million (€7.5 million). It was a very difficult year, but now our obligations have decreased. CSKA is one of the relatively regular payers of wages in the Bulgarian championship and wages at the club are among the highest. They are between BGN 350-400 000 (€200, 000) per month,” said Todorov.
Todorov, still bitter over the battle with the previous club owners, added that the club had alerted government prosecutors, the Minister of Sport in Bulgaria Krasen Kralev and President of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihaylov, of what he described as the “stripping and premeditated attempt to bankrupt the club” of former owners Dimitar Borisov and Ivo Ivanov.
“We are talking about organised crime group under Art. 93 of the Penal Code, signing deals for huge sums in order to disadvantage the club and embezzlement by some Bulgarian and foreign persons,” says the club’s communication to the Prosecutor’s Office in Bulgaria.
According to the club, during the reign of Titan AS (owned by Dimitar Borisov and Ivo Ivanov) several players were signed just for a couple of games with the only objective of enabling commissions to be paid.
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