By Alexander Krassimirov
August 12 – The owners of Bulgarian top tier side Lokomotiv Plovdiv have threatened to pull the club out of the A Grupa division after being hit with a BGN 37,500 (€18,750) fine by the Disciplinary Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) for racist chants by fans during a match against Litex Lovech.
“For chanting discriminatory words related to race and skin color by the audience of Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Disciplinary Committee punish the club with proprietary sanction of BGN 37,500,” reads the official release from Bulgarian Football Union.
Lokomotiv management expressed their disappointment about the severity of the fine which is half the monthly budget of the club. President of the association ‘Union for Lokomotiv’ Nikolay Nedelchev announced that the club could pull out from the top division in Bulgaria as a result.
Nedelchev was adamant that the club would not pay the penalty imposed by the Bulgarian Football Union.
“This is one of successive follies in Bulgarian football. I was in the stadium and I can swear that I never once heard a racist remark or hissing. Initially, when they called me to tell me, I thought it was an error. All this bias stuns me. I’m extremely disappointed.
“Clubs that have representatives in the Executive Committee are sanctioned in one way, but those which do not have their representatives – on the other. We can pull out our team from A Grupa and try to develop children’s football. It is absurd our half of the monthly budget to go to such penalties. This is extremely frustrating and demotivating for us. There is no way to pay the fine,” said Nedelchev.
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