Bulgarian football survived a bleak 2008, rampant with allegations of match-fixing and corruption, poor facilities, few prospects for the future and even less funding for the football academies that are tasked with producing the next Bulgarian golden football generation. One would assume that having fallen so low, the only way onwards was upwards, and that 2009 would bring about better fortunes for the vexed sport.

The Bulgarian Football Union’s (BFU) sixth congress held elections in January 2009, in which the current president Borislav Mihailov was running to keep his position against himself, as there were no other candidates. Rather shocking then that he managed to win the election by a landslide.

The decisive result of 316 out of 373 delegates voting to re-elect Mihailov as the Union’s president was eerily reminiscent of elections in the days of yore for the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party under dictator Todor Zhivkov. Mihailov’s nomination was uncontested after the congress rejected the bid of controversial Bourgas businessman Ivailo Drazhev, claiming that Drazhev had violated the BFU’s rules and code.

Newly re-elected, Mihailov appointed Stanimir Stoilov as the new coach of Bulgaria’s national football team in a move that smacked more of Brazilian soap operas than "o jogo bonito".

Stoilov had taken charge of the team before, as interim coach in June 2007, when he was manager of Levski Sofia. Bulgaria won both matches against Belarus as part of the Euro 2008 qualifying round, further enhancing Stoilov’s reputation as the brightest coaching star in the country after guiding his club to back-to-back titles and appearances in the Uefa Cup quarterfinals and the Champions League group stage.

Stoilov was offered the job on a permanent basis, but Levski president Todor Batkov refused to let his coach go. It took less than 12 months for the fairy tale to unravel as Stoilov was fired for failing to deliver a third title and ignominious exits from European competitions.

Stoilov is now the national team’s coach while still under contract with Litex Lovech, a dual role and a split allegiance that apparently no one at the BFU believes would complicate the matter of the already underperforming national team even more. The choice itself was narrowed down to two candidates, but Krassimir Balakov was ruled out as he is under a five-year contract with Chernomorets Bourgas, while Stoilov has only a year and a half left to run on his club deal, so he was selected as the lesser of two evils.