Marked for Radoslav Tsonev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Marin Orlinov
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Vratsa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad25 Jan 2027
There were 9 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iliya Yurukov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Botev Plovdiv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Laurantino Mendes 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Jablonec: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Daniel Genov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Iliya Yurukov 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Todor Bozhikov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Kassim Hadji beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Iliya Yurukov 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Something was said to Aleksandar Buchkov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniel Genov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Botev Vratsa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Iliya Yurukov
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Vratsa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Botev Vratsa
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Botev Vratsa are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Daniel Genov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑2 to Lokomotiv Sofia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rui Areias was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martin Stoychev, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
A stepping stone, not a home, for Jaime Júnior
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Botev Vratsa were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Iliya Yurukov
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botev Vratsa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Lokomotiv Plovdiv for Radoslav Tsonev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Botev Vratsa 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Ludogorets is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Daniel Genov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Sofia have kept their man, and Botev Vratsa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Cherno More left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
The knee: Iliya Yurukov out for 119 days
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Botev Vratsa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Aug 2026
CSKA Sofia ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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 Botev Vratsa can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Viktoria Plzen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Botev Vratsa, 3‑1 the final word against Dobrudzha in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA 1948 have kept their man, and Botev Vratsa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Kassim Hadji beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. 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
Triumph
Market3 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 Botev Vratsa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Radoslav Tsonev and Botev Vratsa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Daniel Genov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Preslav Borukov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Botev Vratsa.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak 1918 have kept their man, and Botev Vratsa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match1 Aug 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Lokomotiv Plovdiv tried to reorganise, Botev Vratsa did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Mitchy Ntelo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Botev Vratsa, another week without a signature from Daniel Genov.