Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Afonso Sambú will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cherno More the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nikola Nedkov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Cherno More close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The name of Berk Beyhan has come up in conversations Cherno More were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zenit keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Spartak Pleven moved on, Kristian Mihaylov reports back to Cherno More, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Luciano Squadrone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Cherno More training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Cherno More will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Nikola Nedkov
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cherno More, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cherno More have done the hard part with Botafogo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cherno More they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Georgi Lazarov and Cherno More agree another 5 years.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cherno More can tell you which week it ends in.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Cherno More have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cherno More have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Luciano Squadrone and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The name of Rosen Stefanov has come up in conversations Cherno More were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cherno More they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luciano Squadrone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The name of Afonso Sambú has come up in conversations Cherno More were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Cherno More training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Cherno More asked and Chernomorets Burgas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Botev Plovdiv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Georgi Lazarov
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nikola Nedkov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Miroslav Iliev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Cherno More dressing room was either.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cherno More, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikolay Zlatev signs something — a contract at Cherno More or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Levski left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Berk Beyhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Plamen Iliev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.47 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cherno More is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Asen Donchev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cherno More can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cherno More they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luciano Squadrone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Cherno More training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Miroslav Iliev after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bogdan Moskvichev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Cherno More training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Miroslav Iliev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Kristian Mihaylov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Berk Beyhan is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Cherno More will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cherno More they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cherno More this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Asen Donchev and Cherno More agree another 4 years.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nobody at Cherno More will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bogdan Moskvichev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cherno More know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Bogdan Moskvichev: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Luciano Squadrone and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cherno More will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zhivko Atanasov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikolay Zlatev. 1‑0 against CSKA 1948, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cherno More will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cherno More is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luciano Squadrone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Cherno More will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nobody at Cherno More will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Petar Andreev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cherno More needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cherno More know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cherno More will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vasil Panayotov and Cherno More agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Cherno More training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cherno More told Celso Sidney something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Miroslav Iliev on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cherno More will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Miroslav Iliev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Marco Ribeiro falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Akram Bouras trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kristian Mihaylov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cherno More the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Miroslav Iliev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Martim Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikola Nedkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cherno More the goodbyes have quietly begun.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.99, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Luciano Squadrone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Teles. 3‑2 against Botev Vratsa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Cherno More training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Cherno More go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cherno More will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Luciano Squadrone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Cherno More training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Montana have kept their man, and Cherno More go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 6.97 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emanuil Nyagolov and Cherno More agree another 4 years.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cherno More will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Nikola Nedkov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.17
A mark of 8.17 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cherno More have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cherno More this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cherno More have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cherno More have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The name of Berk Beyhan has come up in conversations Cherno More were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cherno More they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Cherno More go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cherno More this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cherno More will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Lokomotiv Sofia will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Cherno More were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A brace, and Akram Bouras takes the afternoon — 8.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Akram Bouras provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Spartak Pleven for Rosen Stefanov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikola Nedkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cherno More the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luciano Squadrone and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikolay Zlatev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Spartak Pleven waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cherno More is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Martim Silva and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cherno More will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have shaken hands with Beroe; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The name of Berk Beyhan has come up in conversations Cherno More were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deal that would have taken Kristian Mihaylov to Fratria has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cherno More with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Luciano Squadrone was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cherno More will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cherno More can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ludogorets keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chernomorets Burgas have kept their man, and Cherno More go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Celso Sidney, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Berk Beyhan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Gašper Trdin to Yantra has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Levski with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Radostin Stoilov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mazire Soula falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botev Plovdiv have kept their man, and Levski go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutMazire Soula has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levski people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Christian Makoun was one of the reasons people came, and $4.9M does not replace that by itself.
Tomáš Vaclík was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Martín Contreras has just signed for Levski, and for once the answer mattered.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Levski have had the benefit of it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
21 games and 5 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad31 May 2027
12 new faces, and Levski are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serginho is on it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Christian Makoun may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutAkram Bouras knocks on the manager's door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dobrudzha can pretend not to have heard.
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Dobrudzha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ilja Gruznov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dobrudzha, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Georgi Trifonov has written the date down.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jhonatan Cuero and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Dobrudzha are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Dobrudzha would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Marko Grujić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mazire Soula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mazire Soula is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Dugandžić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 goals in 24 games at Marek — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The mood at Dobrudzha has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Dobrudzha is running low.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dobrudzha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Dobrudzha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ilarion Tuhai and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dobrudzha, another week without a signature from Angel Angelov.
Position 3, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Levski will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Álex Centelles signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marko Grujić has written the date down.
3 goals in 24 games at Marek — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Levski updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dobrudzha can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dobrudzha can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Dobrudzha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dobrudzha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diogo Ressurreição signs something — a contract at Dobrudzha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Monir Al Badarin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dobrudzha can pretend not to have heard.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dobrudzha know it.
“I watch every Dobrudzha game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Etar runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dimitar Pirgov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kristiyan Yovov is on it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dobrudzha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Dobrudzha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akram Bouras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Jhonatan Cuero was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dobrudzha, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Malick Fall signs something — a contract at Dobrudzha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ognyan Vladimirov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mazire Soula is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levski can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Álex Centelles signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dobrudzha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Akram Bouras falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dobrudzha are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Ilarion Tuhai and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Di Mateo Lovrić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Dobrudzha would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diogo Ressurreição signs something — a contract at Dobrudzha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dobrudzha know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Dobrudzha will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dobrudzha, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Dobrudzha can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Dobrudzha now know that too.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Akram Bouras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jhonatan Cuero and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Dobrudzha pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dobrudzha can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Akram Bouras takes the afternoon — 8.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Akram Bouras provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Dobrudzha and Ludogorets, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Justo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dobrudzha asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Lokomotiv Sofia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dobrudzha, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.66, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Diogo Ressurreição’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Dobrudzha.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Dobrudzha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malick Fall is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dobrudzha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dobrudzha, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dobrudzha have done the hard part with Levski, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Dobrudzha are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Slavia Sofia pay $99.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Samuel Justo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The offer from CSKA Sofia for Christian Makoun was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Levski will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Position 2 with 51 on the board, and the queues outside the ticket office are the part of a promotion push that never shows up in a table. The town has decided this one is real.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I watch every Levski game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Minyor Pernik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Annecy waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levski is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Armstrong Oko-Flex reports back to Levski with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Levski until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Levski have gone to Botev Plovdiv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Levski asked and CSKA 1948 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.