By Alexander Krassimirov
July 17 – The Ministry of Youth and Sports in Bulgaria has committed to allocating substantially increased funds to club youth academies in 2016. The announcement was made by Bulgarian sports minister Krassen Kralev (pictured) who outlined what would the subsidies for the Bulgarian Football Union would be for the new season.
Kralev reported that the Bulgarian Football Union is the largest sports organisation in Bulgaria, with 731 registered football clubs last season and 54,982 registered players – a huge number for a sport in Bulgaria.
“Bulgarian Football Union ranks first by sports organisations in Bulgaria by number of clubs – 731, and the number of players filed for season 2014/2015 – 54,982. This sport is the most popular and developed in almost all municipalities,” said Kralev.
“From next year Bulgarian Football Union will be able to participate equally with other sports federations in the finance programmes of the Ministry. We will pay money for club’s football academies. We can not help everyone, but academies that work well, they will be assisted by the state for the first time.”
Kralev said that the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Bulgaria provided BGN 818,000 (€409,000) for the UEFA Under-17 European Championships which took place in the country this year.
“We supported the hosting of European Football Championship for boys under 17 with BGN818 000. The championship was seen by nearly 80 000 people live, was attended by about 150 officials from UEFA and over 450 scouts from European teams.
“The championship was broadcast on international sports channel Eurosport and we expect official the figures how many viewers watched the games. This was a unique opportunity for advertising not only Bulgarian sport but also tourism and cultural environment of cities – hosts.
“UEFA president Michel Platini expressed his satisfaction with the organization of Euro2015 and gave an excellent assessment of the work of Bulgaria and the development of football. I am proud that we were able to meet the high standards of UEFA and European football, and for this purpose was required serious investments in stadiums, training camps and their equipment,” added Kralev.
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