From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market31 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Botev Vratsa have done the hard part with Eintracht Frankfurt, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Botev Vratsa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Casarano, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Botev Vratsa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beroe made Botev Vratsa work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Tomás Jerez
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Rui Areias
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Aug 2026
Dobrudzha will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Botev Vratsa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Botev Vratsa out
Out, 0‑2 to CSKA Sofia, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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
Everything agreed with Casarano, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Botev Vratsa and Dobrudzha, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Martin Petkov at his very best
Marked 9.77. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Botev Vratsa.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Botev Vratsa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with San Miguel 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 targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Picerno have kept their man, and Botev Vratsa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Marin Orlinov 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Marin Orlinov
“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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Casarano 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Botev Vratsa have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Daniel Genov 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Svetoslav Terziev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vasil Tonev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefan Tonev 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martin Achkov commits to Botev Vratsa for another 4 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
The afternoon belonged to Milen Stoev
A mark of 7.49, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Martin Petkov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The formation has left Rui Areias behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Botev Vratsa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Benevento 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to CSKA 1948: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.