From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Daniel Nikolov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Daniel Nikolov has come out of that comparison in the side, and CSKA Sofia II have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad7 Sep 2026
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
In brief
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Squad
The armband comes off Georgi Gerginov
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Market
The window shut and Ivan Tasev is still in the building
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to Hebar
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Andrey Yordanov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match29 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CSKA Sofia II can tell you which week it ends in.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Nikolov 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Sportist Svoge left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Words at CSKA Sofia II training over how hard people work
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Squad
Daniel Nikolov, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
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Squad
Competition arrives for Ivan Turitsov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑8 against Etar, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to CSKA Sofia II's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at CSKA Sofia II has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
4 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about CSKA Sofia II and Etar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 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 0‑8 defeat, delivered by Yordan Iliev to a room that had heard them before.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lachezar Ivanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 18 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑8 against Spartak Pleven, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Marek waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CSKA Sofia II is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about CSKA Sofia II and Spartak Pleven in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match15 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andrey Yordanov 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yordan Iliev after 0‑8, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Yulian Iliev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Yulian Iliev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
13 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 0‑4 beating by Sevlievo was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yulian Iliev had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Nikolov and CSKA Sofia II agree another 4 years.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the CSKA Sofia II dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Yulian Iliev beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 7. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market10 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lachezar Ivanov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Daniel Nikolov 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. CSKA Sofia II have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Turitsov commits to CSKA Sofia II for another 4 years.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one CSKA Sofia II will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Yordanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Daniel Nikolov knocks on the manager's door
“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 Sofia II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout3 Aug 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.