By Alexander Krassimirov
August 29 – Bulgaria’s former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (pictured) has set a record as the oldest professional football player in the history of Bulgaria. The leader of the GERB political party was registered as a professional footballer in the Bulgarian Football Union on August 19 and a week later officially made his debut in Vitosha Bistritsa’s goalless draw against Rakovski in the country’s second-tier league (B grupa).
By participating in the game Boyko Borisov, who is 54 years old now, became the oldest professional football player in the history of Bulgaria, and certainly one of the oldest in Europe and the world.
Borisov who plays as a striker played for 54 minutes against Rakovski.
Borisov resigned as Prime Minister of Bulgaria in February because of mass street protests in the country, and was then immediately admitted to hospital because of severely high blood pressure.
“When he resigned as Prime Minister because of the mass protests in February, Boyko Borisov had health problems. However, now he is in excellent shape and he is preparing hard for the new season,” said Vitosha president FC Slavtcho Galev.
Borisov often played in demonstration matches, but until now he had never played at a professional level. The team from Bistrica filled a vacancy that arose in Bulgaria’s second-tier league after Minyor Pernik declared bankruptcy.
Vitosha play their home matches at ‘Lokomotiv’ stadium in Sofia because its ground in Bistrica did not have the required license. Borisov arrived at the stadium last of his teammates, 70 minutes before the kick-off, in a bulletproof car, accompanied by bodyguards.
Borisov played in Vitosha Bistrica FC championship winning team that won the amateur league cup. Surprisingly in 2011 he was nominated for the Best Player of the year in Bulgaria after a fanvote. Ultimately Borisov refused the prize, which was eventually awarded to goalkeeper Nikolay Mihailov, son of the president of Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihailov.
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