By Alexander Krassimirov
June 17 – One of Bulgaria’s leading clubs looks set to disappear from the country’s football map if ownership negotiations over the franchise and its name are completed. Litex Lovech owner Grisha Ganchev is currently in discussions to rename the club ‘CSKA’.
CSKA Sofia lost its license to participate in European and Bulgarian championships, failing to pass the financial criteria. It will probably continue to play in Bulgaria’s amateur leagues.
But in an attempt to keep the name alive in the top league, Ganchev and a former owner of CSKA – Vasil Bozhkov (pictured), Bulgaria’s richest man – are looking to do a re-naming deal that would assume the CSKA Sofia brand and heritage and see Bozhkov return at the head of the Bulgaria’s most successful club.
On Friday an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union will decide on the final fate of CSKA Sofia and Lokomotiv Sofia who both the licensing requirements – mainly due to huge tax debts, unpaid player wages and unpaid agent commissions.
According to the laws in Bulgaria, CSKA cannot continue to exist in its current version and must be registered in a new company.
Bulgarian sports minister Krassen Kralev said that there is a situation in which Litex could be converted to CSKA. However, the new club would lose the right to participate in Europe for at least one year.
“Several options are being discussed publicly. One of them is the renaming of Litex and CSKA which means changing the headquarters, club colors and logo. This is not prohibited. However, this will lead to an inability for the new club to participate in the UEFA tournaments a year. There is another CSKA, which is unlicensed and goes, to the third division.
“We want to solve the problem with the bases (stadium and training camp). The company that manages them is now insolvent and did not perform the contract for the bases. This contract will be terminated and will be submitted to the new company, which would represent CSKA.”
If a new club is formed it is expected it would assume control of the stadium and training ground, and so solve the cost issue for the government. In this regard, the government has an incentive to support the changes. The future of CSKA (and Litex Lovech) now lies in the hands of the BFU.
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