Marked for Ali Aruna
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Dec 2027
Emil Martinov breaks a bone — 64 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kiril Georgiev
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hebar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match4 Dec 2027
7‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad6 Dec 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Ali Aruna scores twice — 7.92
Two goals and a mark of 7.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match6 Dec 2027
Hebar up to position 3
35 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match4 Dec 2027
Hebar make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hebar have 3 straight wins of it.
Match4 Dec 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hebar and Ludogorets II in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 9.62 — 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.
In brief
-
Squad
A falling-out at Hebar
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The terraces
One of their own: Ali Aruna
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Player ratings
Chico Teixeira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
Emil Martinov breaks a bone — 107 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
André Santos, 38, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match23 Oct 2027
Whatever happens, Hebar do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market25 Oct 2027
Ilian Kostov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hebar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match23 Oct 2027
Nobody wins at Hebar
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hebar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Oct 2027
Hebar end the wait against Marek
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match23 Oct 2027
Marek made Hebar work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
132 days out for Emil Martinov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hebar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match4 Oct 2027
Hebar up to position 3
22 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad4 Oct 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market4 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Gennadiy Ganev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gennadiy Ganev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hebar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match2 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Hebar's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hebar has to find a result from somewhere.
Match2 Oct 2027
Still nobody has beaten Hebar
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 93% of everything Hebar earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match2 Oct 2027
It needed Ali Aruna to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sportist Svoge, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
140 days out for Emil Martinov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hebar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hebar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market27 Sep 2027
Ilian Kostov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hebar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hebar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, Hebar do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match25 Sep 2027
Nobody wins at Hebar
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Hebar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anastas Pemperski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Too much change too quickly at Hebar
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Toni Tasev gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
-
The dugout
Ali Aruna has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Match
Point won or two lost for Hebar?
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Georgi Milanov out for 132 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hebar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 Sep 2027
Levski come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Hebar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Hebar 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Gennadiy Ganev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hebar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Hebar asked and Guarany de Bagé said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market6 Sep 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Hebar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anastas Pemperski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Anastas Pemperski 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.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 85% of everything Hebar earn
-
The dugout
Petar Marinov has become a man the manager trusts
-
Boardroom
Belts tighten at Hebar
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Aug 2027
André Santos hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hebar can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Age has not caught Georgi Milanov yet — 8.39
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hebar is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match31 Jul 2027
Nobody wants to play Hebar right now
3 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Georgi Milanov commits to Hebar for another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hebar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Jul 2027
Hebar get the job done against Yantra
A 3‑1 win over Yantra, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Hebar asked and Deportes Concepción said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Yesid Valbuena
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Hebar
Petar Marinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Hebar asked and Politehnica Iași said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
He is 20 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Vihren made Hebar work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Anastas Pemperski 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Marked 8.00 — 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Ali Aruna gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Ferro Carril Oeste: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Talavera: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Jul 2027
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.94, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Both of them Ali Aruna's — 8.47
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Ali Aruna: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hebar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Age has not caught Georgi Milanov yet — 8.51
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.51 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market19 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done: Yesid Valbuena joins from Beroe in a deal worth $590.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Viktor Vasilev among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Viktor Vasilev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hebar and Ludogorets II.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Hebar
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
Jaime Júnior hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hebar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Hebar
Petar Marinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Hebar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anastas Pemperski 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
When it matters, Ali Aruna plays
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.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Viktor Vasilev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hebar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Chico Teixeira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market28 Jun 2027
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Hebar money.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Asparuh Smilkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hebar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Hebar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anastas Pemperski 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Emil Martinov gets picked when it counts
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 Emil Martinov is on it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Gennadiy Ganev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hebar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Todor Chavorski has his answer from Hebar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Samuil Mechev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
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. Hebar will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Hebar
Petar Marinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Gennadiy Ganev wants to finish where he started
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 Hebar now know that too.
Squad31 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stjepan Pavišić and Hebar agree another 3 years.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martin Haydarov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Wages swallow 90% of the Hebar income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout31 May 2027
Hugo Faria asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout31 May 2027
When it matters, Ali Aruna plays
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.
Market31 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Chico Teixeira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hebar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Squad17 May 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The dugout17 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Hebar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anastas Pemperski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
Emil Martinov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hebar 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.
Market17 May 2027
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Hebar could get for him.
Market17 May 2027
Ali Aruna linked with a move away
The name of Ali Aruna keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hebar say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad17 May 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Hebar would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hebar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hebar is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hebar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kostas Theodoropoulos and Hebar agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 May 2027
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.
Market10 May 2027
Hebar bring in an old head
Kostas Theodoropoulos is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The dugout10 May 2027
Viktor Vasilev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Viktor Vasilev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kostas Theodoropoulos, and the manager let it.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kristian Dobrev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Asparuh Smilkov damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
No hiding place for Ali Aruna
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Aruna, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Chico Teixeira has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hebar 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Gennadiy Ganev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gennadiy Ganev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Ali Aruna wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Hebar will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Petar Marinov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market26 Apr 2027
Hebar have let the market know Gennadiy Ganev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Asparuh Smilkov damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hebar is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hebar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Emil Martinov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Hebar 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Asparuh Smilkov
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hebar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hebar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Asparuh Smilkov has agreed terms with Yantra for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
He is 21 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Hebar get the job done against Fratria
A 1‑0 win over Fratria, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
7.52, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Hebar had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
Asparuh Smilkov damages knee ligaments — 100 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match20 Feb 2027
4‑0, and Kristian Dobrev took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Hebar tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 8.30 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.11, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hebar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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 terraces22 Feb 2027
He is 20 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Anastas Pemperski 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Samuel Pikolon at 20 — 8.04
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samuel Pikolon did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Hebar right now
3 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Hebar
André Santos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Dec 2026
Three points for Hebar, 2‑0 the final word against Yantra in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Chico Teixeira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 95% of everything Hebar earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Petar Manolev kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Hebar
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The dugout
Emil Martinov has become a man the manager trusts
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Squad
Ali Aruna wants out of the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
The knee: Ivan Dyakov out for 16 days
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hebar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Vihren, and it could have been more.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Chico Teixeira takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chico Teixeira provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Samuel Pikolon at 20 — 8.14
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samuel Pikolon did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” André Santos commits to Hebar for another 1 years.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Hebar
Petar Marinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Kristian Dobrev did the work nobody counts — 6.86
11 combined actions and 6.86. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hebar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilian Kostov and Hebar agree another 4 years.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gennadiy Ganev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Hebar needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Ali Aruna talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hebar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hebar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Nov 2026
Hebar have let the market know Asparuh Smilkov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Hebar
Ali Aruna 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Wanderson
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wanderson, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
22 new faces, and Hebar 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Viktor Vasilev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Viktor Vasilev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Petar Marinov signs something — a contract at Hebar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
“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 Hebar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Hebar
Petar Marinov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Viktor Vasilev 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Hugo Faria gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Gennadiy Ganev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gennadiy Ganev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Hebar
Something was said to Caio Assis and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
When it matters, Ali Aruna plays
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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Sportist Svoge next, and one man in the Hebar dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A season on the outside for Jaime Júnior
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Hebar has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Hebar close the window on a squad of their own making
25 in and 18 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Enzo Espinoza deal
Hebar ran out of time with Lokomotiv Plovdiv. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Hebar asked and Goianésia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Hebar
Ali Aruna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Hebar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Viktor Vasilev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Samuel Pikolon
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Hebar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Todor Chavorski is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ali Aruna obliged against Botev Vratsa. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Hebar.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.82, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
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 7.46 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
An offer of $1.6M for Hugo Rama
Hebar have gone to Athens Kallithea 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Opava keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market24 Aug 2026
Hebar pay Septemvri $130.0K for a proper upgrade
Septemvri did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $130.0K for Ali Aruna, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boavista have kept their man, and Hebar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ali Aruna has a hand in both — 7.25
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.25, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Septemvri bow out of the cup
Etar go through and Septemvri go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Septemvri can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
The chase for Aguibou Camara ended with $3.7M changing hands and Ludogorets out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Septemvri did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Aguibou Camara from Ludogorets for $3.7M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Market24 Aug 2026
Business is business: Ali Aruna goes
Hebar paid $130.0K and Septemvri took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Septemvri have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Septemvri have gone to Ludogorets 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Septemvri did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolas Fontaine and Septemvri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Septemvri have gone to CSKA 1948 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Stipe Vulikić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Sofia have kept their man, and Septemvri go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Deyan Kraev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dominik Ivkič and Septemvri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Septemvri
Stipe Vulikić 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Faiz Mattoir beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Septemvri
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Stojanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Septemvri asked and AS Trencin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ali Aruna again, and this time the name on the line is Pirin Blagoevgrad. Septemvri are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Slavia Sofia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 7.58. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Benfica have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.