The CSKA Sofia Gazette
Squad12 Oct 2026
James Eto'o in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSKA Sofia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Real improvement from Aleks Tunchev at CSKA Sofia
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aleks Tunchev is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured for James Eto'o
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CSKA Sofia told James Eto'o something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at CSKA Sofia
10 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Léo Pereira 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 Léo Pereira is on it.
Market12 Oct 2026
CSKA Sofia and Ilian Iliev are talking past each other
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Cătălin Itu 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
The manager makes an example of Ivan Turitsov
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The Jean-Philippe Gbamin story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jean-Philippe Gbamin signs something — a contract at CSKA Sofia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
- Looking ahead Dimitar Evtimov goes back to face Botev Vratsa
- The dugout A door opens for Ángelo Martino
- Looking ahead Looking ahead: Botev Vratsa at home