Marked for Dimitar Chelebiev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Feb 2027
“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 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Septemvri can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Ivkič 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Three points for Septemvri, 2‑1 the final word against Spartak 1918 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Stoyan Stoichkov 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Venislav Mihaylov and Septemvri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout22 Feb 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
51 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
46 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad25 Jan 2027
31 days out for Zhivko Petkov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Dimitar Chelebiev at 18 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dimitar Chelebiev did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa have done the hard part with Botev Vratsa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad25 Jan 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 Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chernomorets Burgas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Septemvri is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Septemvri — 7.91
1 for Valentine Ozornwafor, marked 7.91, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Edney Ribeiro 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 targets18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Yoan Baurenski 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Septemvri hit back inside 2 minutes
Arda held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Septemvri answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout18 Jan 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.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
The goals keep arriving from Borislav Marinov’s exile
11 goals in 21 games at Dunav Ruse — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Septemvri updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edney Ribeiro commits to Septemvri for another 4 years.
Match5 Dec 2026
Three points for Septemvri, 2‑0 the final word against Slavia Sofia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Dec 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout7 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.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa to sit and watch. I want to come back to Septemvri and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Septemvri told Kubrat Onasci something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad7 Dec 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kubrat Onasci and Septemvri agree another 5 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Stipe Vulikić 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aguibou Camara 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Septemvri, 2‑0 the final word against Dobrudzha in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa to sit and watch. I want to come back to Septemvri and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Septemvri are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Hristiyan Vasilev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zhivko Petkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
João Vítor has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Zahari Atanasov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Something was said to Dimitar Chelebiev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Asen Georgiev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ibrahim Keïta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa asked and Lokomotiv Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simeon Veshev 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa, another week without a signature from Asen Georgiev.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Dzhan Hasan is in the works
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa have made the call to Dobrudzha. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Lokomotiv Gorna Oryahovitsa have made the call to Botev Plovdiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.