The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kaloyan Strinski did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Dragan Grivić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: José Martínes. 2‑1 against Slavia Sofia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA 1948 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSKA 1948 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Dragan Grivić 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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“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 dugout16 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Angel Delev chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“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 1948 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A brace, and José Martínes takes the afternoon — 8.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. José Martínes provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Angel Delev, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Ilker Budinov delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilker Budinov scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at CSKA 1948 hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Benevento keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Grivić 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CSKA 1948 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Dragan Grivić 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
4 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.
“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 1948, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bernardo Antunes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSKA 1948 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Grivić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benevento have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kaloyan Slavchev 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Boris Tunchev 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stanimir Nedelkov 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.
“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 1948, and it is not being withdrawn.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Botev Vratsa pay $520.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Grivić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Palermo have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dragan Grivić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at CSKA 1948
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CSKA 1948 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 1948, and it is not being withdrawn.
$4.8M was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bernardo Antunes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CSKA 1948 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“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 1948 can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Dinamo Tbilisi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Beroe for Rúben Ribeiro 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.
Add another name to the list: Montana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Petar Marinov. The answer from CSKA 1948 has not changed — yet.
CSKA 1948 offered $52.0K; Slavia Sofia said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benaissa Benamar and CSKA 1948 agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Dragan Grivić 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at FC Copenhagen is saying, and nobody at CSKA 1948 is enjoying the guessing.
Borislav Tsonev 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 offer went to Slavia Sofia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The name of Rúben Ribeiro has come up in conversations CSKA 1948 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Medina 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.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Grivić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CSKA 1948 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at CSKA 1948 no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Dragan Grivić 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say José Martínes is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Atanas Iliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. CSKA 1948 would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fourat Soltani signs something — a contract at CSKA 1948 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA 1948 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Grivić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at CSKA 1948 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dragan Grivić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Dragan Grivić 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mamadou Diallo has moved up it.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Medina 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Dragan Grivić 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Apr 2027
7 new faces, and CSKA 1948 are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at CSKA 1948 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSKA 1948 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CSKA 1948. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSKA 1948 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Grivić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Atanas Iliev is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSKA 1948 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Diego Medina 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Frédéric Maciel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSKA 1948 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 1948 can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA 1948 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Borislav Tsonev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Grivić 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Atanas Iliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say José Martínes is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Atanas Iliev signs something — a contract at CSKA 1948 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA 1948 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Grivić 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Mar 2027
10 new faces, and CSKA 1948 are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Frédéric Maciel is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSKA 1948 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at CSKA 1948 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and CSKA 1948 have no good answer.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and CSKA 1948 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Grivić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSKA 1948 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Brian Sobrero has written the date down.
“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 1948, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dragan Grivić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSKA 1948, another week without a signature from Ilker Budinov.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say José Martínes is on it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Atanas Iliev signs something — a contract at CSKA 1948 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CSKA 1948 has been clear about where Petar Marinov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. CSKA 1948 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Valentine Ozornwafor has written the date down.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Grivić 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Atanas Iliev is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
CSKA 1948 opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Petar Marinov stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kaloyan Strinski provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
6 goals in one match, Kaloyan Strinski on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of CSKA 1948 and Lokomotiv Plovdiv.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kaloyan Strinski. 4‑2 against Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragan Grivić 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yasen Milanov 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.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsJosé Martínes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
CSKA 1948 asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Montana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Medina 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Dragan Grivić.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Hristo Argirov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means CSKA 1948 have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Arda were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
André Hoffmann has gone, the accounts have $1.0M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The deal with Septemvri 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.
Ludogorets paid $1.0M and CSKA 1948 took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Sofia have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
10 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.
Add another name to the list: Ludogorets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about André Hoffmann. The answer from CSKA 1948 has not changed — yet.
Everything agreed with Botev Plovdiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bernardo Antunes is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yordan Nedelev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Milko Yankov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentine Ozornwafor 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.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at CSKA 1948 will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Atanas Iliev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CSKA 1948 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
7 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.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CSKA 1948 can tell you which week it ends in.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Angel Delev left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CSKA 1948 told Jair Tavares something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
0‑3 against Hajduk Split. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
“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 1948 can pretend not to have heard.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Borislav Tsonev 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Danilo Luís has just signed for CSKA 1948, and for once the answer mattered.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Todor Marcelinho is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Viktor Angelov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Petar Marinov
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
He is 20, and nobody at CSKA 1948 signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
0‑2 away to the standard of Partizan. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivaylo Naydenov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Petar Marinov.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Atanas Iliev is on it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CSKA 1948, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Botev Vratsa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA 1948 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Yohann Magnin 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.
Three points for CSKA 1948, 2‑0 the final word against Spartak 1918 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivaylo Naydenov 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.
Position 9, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the CSKA 1948 dressing room in a hurry
Yohann Magnin 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CSKA 1948, another week without a signature from Ilker Budinov.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at CSKA 1948 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Two goals and a mark of 9.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CSKA 1948 told Atanas Iliev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Angel Delev, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Up for the corner, and Ilker Budinov delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ilker Budinov scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Yohann Magnin 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Zdravko Iliev 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, CSKA 1948 have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Yohann Magnin 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mamadou Diallo will call it something else in private.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and CSKA 1948 are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Petar Marinov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Partizan kept coming because nothing stopped them, and CSKA 1948 will be asked about the last half hour all week.
2‑4 away to the standard of Partizan. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
7 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivaylo Naydenov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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, 7.87, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
In brief
Player ratingsYohann Magnin beats them one at a time
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Yohann Magnin 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at CSKA 1948 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentine Ozornwafor 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CSKA 1948 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at CSKA 1948 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rúben Ribeiro has just signed for CSKA 1948, and for once the answer mattered.
Yohann Magnin 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CSKA 1948 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ilker Budinov has, at CSKA 1948, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Montana have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivaylo Naydenov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Sofia have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Marto Boychev has come up in conversations CSKA 1948 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. CSKA 1948 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from IFK Norrkoping for José Martínes 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.
CSKA 1948 and Septemvri have settled on $970.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
He is going to Septemvri, the club has $2.1M 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Yohann Magnin 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 phone has started ringing about Ognjen Gašević again, and this time the name on the line is Septemvri. CSKA 1948 are listening politely and promising nothing.
CSKA 1948 asked and Septemvri said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 1948 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and André Hoffmann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Petar Marinov has just signed for CSKA 1948, and for once the answer mattered.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marto Boychev, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Yohann Magnin 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.
The shirt still fits. Petar Marinov is back at CSKA 1948, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and André Hoffmann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chelsea have kept their man, and CSKA 1948 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.