Kostadinova becomes BOC boss

FORMER high jump athlete and world record holder Stefka Kostadinova is the new president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee. She replaces Ivan Slavkov, who lost the post after a controversy following media reports linking him to alleged "buying of votes" for the 2012 Olympics, which led to his expulsion from the International Olympic Committee and all the institutions of the Olympic movement. There were two rounds of voting at the BOC General Assembly, held at the National Palace of Culture on November 11.

Lukoil Akademic at full throttle

LUKOIL Akademic basketball team started its participation in the ULEB Cup in Madrid with a thrilling 87-85 win over Estudiantes. The victory saw scoring runs and comebacks, a series of three-pointers from both sides, and a dramatic ending at the Adecco Estudiantes Hall on November 8 in a Group A duel.

Bulgaria beats Hungary

BULGARIA'S national football team defeated Hungary 2:0 in Sofia on October 8 in its last but one qualifying game for the World Cup in Germany in 2006. Both teams had already lost their chance to qualify, so this was to be a match just for pride and for the "prestigious" third spot in the group that Sweden and Croatia have dominated from start to finish.

Key matches ahead

THE coach of the Bulgarian football team, Hristo Stoichkov, decided to leave Valeri Bozhinov out of the team that will play in the World Cup qualification games against Sweden and Iceland. The 19-year-old ACF Fiorentina forward has been out of form recently, so the coach made the decision not to include him in the squad for the visit to Sweden on September 3 September and Iceland September 7.

Reaching for the cup

Bulgarian men's volleyball team clinch World Cup spot

THE Bulgarian men's volleyball team has qualified for the World Championships Final Round in Japan in 2006. In a dramatic qualification tournament in Varna, Bulgaria defeated the Netherlands, Ukraine and Portugal. On August 19, the host team, managed by Martin Stoev, achieved a 3:2 victory over the Netherlands.

Bulgarian teams disappoint

A sad saga of missed opportunities

CSKA (Sofia), Levski (Sofia), Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), and Litex (Lovech) disappointed the fans with their performance during their first leg games in the European club tournaments. CSKA had the toughest task of all the Bulgarian teams. Last year's champions had to face current Champions League winners Liverpool FC on August 10 in the third qualifying round of the competition.

Levski hugs Super Cup

LEVSKI (Sofia) won the Bulgarian football Super Cup on Sunday at Vasil Levski stadium after defeating "blood rivals" CSKA (Sofia) 3:1 on penalties, 1:1 in regular time. Levski, last year's Cup winners, took a 1:0 lead with Elin Topuzakov's header late in the second half, but current champions CSKA bounced back and Janev leveled the scoring just eight minutes before the end of regular time.

Basketball team preps for Euro test

THE Bulgarian men's national basketball team met at Universiada Hall in Sofia last week to begin training for the European championship in September in Serbia-Montenegro. The team will be facing off with Lithuania, Turkey and Croatia in the preliminary group stage. Nikolay Vurbanov and twin brothers Kaloyan and Deyan Ivanovi were absent from the meet in Sofia, having received a few days vacation after taking part in the final game of the under 20 Youth European B division in Varna.

Martin Petrov hits Madrid

Bulgarian midfielder is now an Athletico player

BULGARIAN left winger Martin Petrov completed a 10 million euro trade from Germany's WFL Wolfsburg to Spain's Atletico. Atletico officially presented Petrov on Tuesday, after he signed a three-year contract with the Madrid team. The negotiations between the two football clubs had been going on for more than a month and at one point it seemed almost certain that the trade would not be completed.

Bulgarian's sumo triumph

`Kotooshu' Mahlyanov throws his weight around

BULGARIA'S top sumo wrestler Kaloyan Mahlyanov, playing under the name of Kotooshu, beat Asashoryu on July 17 to end the Mongolian Yokozuna's winning streak, toppling him from his position as the leader in the current standings at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. Komusubi Kotooshu recovered from a powerful blow to the face he received at the start of the brawl, which had sent him stumbling backward and almost out of the ring.

Volleyball team drama

THE national Bulgarian volleyball team recorded two defeats and one victory at the Men's World Championship third round tournament, held in Poland, and claimed the play-off third spot in the group, keeping alive Bulgarian hopes of reaching the final round in Japan in 2006. Bulgaria will now take part into a four-team play off with the other countries that finished third in the other three European third round groups.

Ivan Slavkov out of IOC

THE president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) and the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) Ivan Slavkov was expelled from the structures of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at a closed session of the organisation, held in Singapore on Thursday, July 7. Prior to the meeting in Singapore, Slavkov's rights in the IOC were temporarily suspended on the basis of allegations of corruption in August 2004 after he was implicated in a BBC documentary on bribery.

Basso wins Rally Bulgaria

`A perfect rally' says Italian

ITALIAN driver Giandomenico Basso, driving a Fiat, won the 36th Rally Bulgaria. The competition is the country's major car racing event. It took place over three days, July 8 to July 10, in the winter resort of Borovets, about 70 km from Sofia. Basso defeated second-placed French driver and current European champion Simon Jean-Joseph in a Renault Clio by 19.9 seconds.

Petrov goes to Madrid

Ten million euro is the price tag, his club insists

BULGARIAN left winger Martin Petrov is about to complete a 10 million euro switch from Germany'sWFL Wolfsburg to Spain's Atletico (Madrid). The negotiations between the two football clubs have been going for more than a month and last week it seemed almost certain that the transfer would not be completed.

Lalova breaks leg in Athens

BULGARIA'S top sprinter, Ivet Lalova, broke her leg while warming up for the 100 m sprint in Athens, Greece. On June 15, Lalova went through a four-hour operation at a local clinic on the hip bone of her right leg. Initially it was planned that the operation would be done in Helsinki, but medical advice was that moving her to Finland was too risky.

Question mark over Slavkov

BULGARIA'S International Olympic Committee representative Ivan Slavkov, currently under suspension for alleged corruption, is expected to formally resign from the IOC in an attempt to retain his post as head of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee. Slavkov was suspended in August 2004 after a BBC documentary alleged that he was involved in corruption. He was caught on tape discussing how votes could be bought "under the table" in the bidding to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Bulgaria out of World Cup 2006

THE Bulgarian national football team was defeated at home by Croatia 1:3, losing any chance of qualifying for the World Cup 2006 in Germany. As expected, Vassil Levski Stadium in Sofia was almost sold out and the home fans created a fantastic atmosphere throughout the game. The Bulgarian team was more active in the opening minutes and had a chance to open the scoring as early as the second minute...

Levski lifts Bulgarian Cup

LEVSKI (Sofia) won the Bulgarian Football Cup tournament, defeating "blood rivals" CSKA (Sofia) 2:1 in the final, played on May 25 at Vassil Levski national stadium in Sofia. The "Blues" took the lead after 52 minutes, when Daniel Borimirov headed in the opening goal, and in the 75th minute Valeri Domovchiiski gave Levski a 2:0 advantage.

Maleeva, Karatancheva progress in French Open

TOP Bulgarian tennis players Magdalena Maleeva and Sesil Karatancheva progressed to the second round of the French Open in Paris. Maleeva, 24th seeded and ranked 29th in the world, did not have much trouble defeating Rika Fujiwara from Japan 6:4, 6:2 in 70 minutes.

Topalov tops in chess

BULGARIA'S top chess player, Veselin Topalov, won the M-Tel Masters Super Tournament, held from May 11 to 22 in Sofia. In his final game on Sunday, he defeated Vladimir Kramnik in the 10th round on the 34th move, although the Russian had the advantage of playing with the white pieces.

M-Tel masters chess

AMONG the best chess players in the world are in Sofia for the M-Tel Masters chess tournament, which started on May 11 and ends on May 22. This competition is part of the tenth birthday celebrations of the mobile phone operator, which is sponsoring the event.

Bulgaria faces Japan in Fed Cup

JAPAN will host Bulgaria in the World Group 2 play-offs for the Federations Cup, the unofficial tennis team World Cup for women. The games will take place on July 9 and 10 in a best of five series. The draw took place earlier this month in London. Slovenia, Slovakia, and Indonesia were the other opponents Bulgaria could have faced.

Pursuing the cup

BULGARIA'S women's tennis team beat the Netherlands 2:0 in Antalia, Turkey, on Saturday April 23 in the decisive match-up for the Federations Cup World Group series, the unofficial World Cup team competition. This year the Bulgarian team was boosted by the participation of the country's two best players - Magdalena Maleeva and Sesil Karatancheva.

Pironkova wins tennis title

YOUNG Bulgarian tennis player Tzvetana Pironkova won the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) title in Rome, Italy, and took home $ 25000 of the total prize money. In the final, the 17-year-old talent from Plovdiv defeated Magda Mihalke of Romania 7-5, 7-5 in a game that started on Sunday, April 10, but was later completed on Monday.

The Hungarian Rubicon

The Bulgarian national football team desperately needed victory against Hungary in Budapest on March 30 to keep alive its chances to qualify for the World Cup in Germany in 2006. After the humiliating 0:3 defeat at home to Sweden on March 26, Bulgaria dropped to third place in its qualifying group, three points behind Croatia, and five behind leaders Sweden.

Up against Sweden

BULGARIA'S national football team plays Sweden on Saturday March 26 in what may prove to be the deciding game of the World Cup 2006 qualifying campaign. The Scandinavians are top of group 8 with nine points, Bulgaria is two points behind, but has a game in hand. Croatia, the other major favourite, also has seven points from three matches, and should have no problems at home, facing Iceland.

Ambitions thwarted

LEVSKI Sofia suffered a surprise defeat 0:1at home to Litex Lovech in the 18th leg of the Bulgarian football championship. The home team disappointed a crowd of 15000 spectators at Georgi Asparuhov Stadium that came to see the first official game of the year for the Blues, as Levski are customarily dubbed.

Clash of the titans

FC Chelsea defeated Barcelona 4:2 in the second leg of the 1/8-finals in the UEFA Champions League and progressed on to the next stage with a 5:4 result on aggregate. The game in London at Stamford Bridge was one of the best and most dramatic performances in the history of football. Right after the draw for the 1/8-finals many considered this to be the "clash of the titans". It really was.

Spring season openers

The major title contenders in the Bulgarian football championship - Levski and CSKA, managed to win their first league games after the winter break. Levski eased past fellow Sofia team Slavia with a 2:0 victory under the pouring rain at "Slavia Stadium" in Ovcha Kupel on February 26.

The English struggle in Champions League

Of the four English football teams taking part in this year's UEFA Champions League 1/8-finals only Liverpool achieved a favourable result in the first leg. The "Reds" came away with a 3:1 home victory over Bayer Leverkusen.