Marked for Joel Andersson
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Bernard Tekpetey takes the afternoon — 9.74
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bernard Tekpetey provided it, and the 9.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match17 Oct 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ludogorets have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Hendrik Bonmann 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ludogorets and Botev Vratsa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match17 Oct 2026
Botev Vratsa made Ludogorets work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ondrej Duda 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Rwan Cruz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.24. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Rwan Cruz is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.35 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ludogorets have 7 straight wins of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Omar Rekik had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Ludogorets close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Caio Vidal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ondrej Duda 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Erick Marcus 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ludogorets keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match5 Sep 2026
Septemvri made Ludogorets work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Ludogorets have gone to Arda with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ondrej Duda arrives at Ludogorets in a $1.4M statement of intent
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Ludogorets have paid $1.4M for Ondrej Duda, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market10 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.4M was the most the club would pay and Gijón were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Petar Stanić and Ludogorets agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Son 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Hendrik Bonmann 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ivan Petkov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stoycho Despodov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.