Angel Bonchev, the chairman of football club Litex Lovech, was kidnapped in the early hours of May 22, mediapool.bg reported, quoting "well-informed sources", despite Sofia police commissioner Roumen Stoyanov saying that there was no proof to the allegations.

Bonchev was last seen by his family, returning to his apartment in the Durvenitsa borough. He stayed behind to park his car, but after failing to appear several minutes later, his family began looking for him. They found Bonchev's car locked and his mobile phone was switched off, mediapool.bg said.

Bonchev is a former wrestler and close associate of businessman Grisha Ganchev, who owns Litex football club. Ganchev, in a statement quoted by mediapool.bg, said that Bonchev was a friend and an employee, but had no involvement with his main business venture, Litex Commerce, focusing instead on the football club.

Any speculation that Bonchev was kidnapped because of his relations with Litex Commerce was spurious and should be dismissed, according to the same statement.

Like other former wrestlers, his name has become associated with the country's criminal underworld after the fall of communism. In one of his firms, Litex Park, his partner is Nenad Milenkovic, believed by the police to be a member of Serbia's Zemun clan, according to mediapool.bg. Milenkovic was arrested in Bulgaria on an Interpol warrant in 2003 and extradited to Serbia later.

In addition to serving as chairman of Litex, which won the Bulgarian Cup for the third time in its history last week, Bonchev was the chairman of motorsports and wrestling clubs, as well as a member of the board of the Professional Football League.