Marked for Nikos Efremidis
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
19 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Matheus Leoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Xande 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikos Efremidis and Dobrudzha agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
A loan move for David Ivanov is in the works
Dobrudzha have made the call to Belasitsa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
CSKA 1948 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
Nikos Efremidis is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Matheus Leoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Dec 2027
Still nobody has beaten Dobrudzha
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Dobrudzha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xande 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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Georgi Trifonov
“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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Lachezar Bozhikov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match11 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Spartak 1918 will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout13 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Ayuub Ahmed-Nur has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Dobrudzha is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Xande 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Rui Carreira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikos Efremidis, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Lachezar Bozhikov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match20 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Slavia Sofia will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead22 Nov 2027
Lokomotiv Plovdiv next, and one man in the Dobrudzha dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
9 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.
Market25 Oct 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Dobrudzha
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Dobrudzha are no longer polite ones.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Ayuub Ahmed-Nur has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Dobrudzha is pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Anton Ivanov 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 Dobrudzha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Oct 2027
1‑3 to Ludogorets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Dobrudzha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diogo Ressurreição 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikos Efremidis commits to Dobrudzha for another 3 years.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Buá 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Dobrudzha's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dobrudzha has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Anton Ivanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Xande 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 Oct 2027
Botev Plovdiv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Oct 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 Lachezar Bozhikov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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.
The dugout18 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market18 Oct 2027
The Valdu Té story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valdu Té signs something — a contract at Dobrudzha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dobrudzha lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Rui Carreira: 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.” Dobrudzha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Ayuub Ahmed-Nur has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Dobrudzha is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Xande 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Valdu Té
12 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Dobrudzha
Nikos Efremidis 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 Sep 2027
Di Cardoso 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Sep 2027
Dimitar Pirgov damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
At 23 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.
Squad20 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 Dobrudzha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Xande 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Ayuub Ahmed-Nur
“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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Aug 2027
Dimitar Pirgov damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Match18 Aug 2027
Dobrudzha march on in the cup
Botev Plovdiv are out and Dobrudzha go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match18 Aug 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Dobrudzha scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Nikos Efremidis is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Valdu Té signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valdu Té and Dobrudzha agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Botev Vratsa wanted more than $44.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Montassar Triki 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 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.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Anton Ivanov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 2027
Dimitar Pirgov damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Georgi Trifonov: 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.” Dobrudzha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Botev Plovdiv keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Dobrudzha
Matheus Leoni 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Dobrudzha
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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Dobrudzha
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Medved was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Sofia have kept their man, and Dobrudzha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Supporters organise against the Dobrudzha board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market28 Jun 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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Dobrudzha
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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Spartak 1918, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Malick Fall 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Sofia have kept their man, and Dobrudzha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 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 Dobrudzha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan move for Martin Kaishev is in the works
Dobrudzha have made the call to Chernomorets Burgas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Ruca
“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.