The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Leandro Godoy had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSKA Sofia can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. CSKA Sofia have done the hard part with Levski, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The deal that would have taken Ivan Tasev to Levski has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to CSKA Sofia with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ilian Antonov did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. CSKA Sofia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA Sofia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The phone has started ringing about Petko Panayotov again, and this time the name on the line is Sevlievo. CSKA Sofia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Mohamed Brahimi 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at CSKA Sofia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at CSKA Sofia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Eto'o 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ioannis Pittas. 2‑0 against Septemvri, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.21 — 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Stanimir Aleksandrov could afford to be generous.
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.
8 matches without defeat, and then Botev Plovdiv. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at CSKA Sofia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Eto'o 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
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.
The award goes to Leandro Godoy, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
The dugout7 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Stanimir Aleksandrov to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Leandro Godoy is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The shirt still fits. Rosen Bozhinov is back at CSKA Sofia, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
He is going to Bari, the club has $5.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Jean-Philippe Gbamin 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Rosen Bozhinov from Pisa for $3.2M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
CSKA Sofia asked and Lokomotiv Plovdiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.