Marked for Bistra Nedelev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 50 days on the sidelines for Ventsislav Kerchev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.85, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Match31 Oct 2026
Late, late show earns Arda a point
Minute 86, against Dobrudzha, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Dobrudzha leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad2 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Dominik Yankov sits out. Arda lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Asen Mitkov: 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.” Arda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.41 on the card, and the Arda support went home talking about one name.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mesut Yusuf
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Spartak 1918 will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ventsislav Kerchev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Arda needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market26 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dimitar Velkovski signs something — a contract at Arda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bistra Nedelev damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
CSKA 1948 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anatoli Gospodinov, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Spartak 1918 in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Yankov signs something — a contract at Arda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Martin Paskalev
Nobody at Arda is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.