Marko Grujić 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 Álex Centelles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Levski has been clear about where Kristiyan Malinov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Svetoslav Vutsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maicon 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Akram Bouras is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Grujić signs something — a contract at Levski or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristiyan Malinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Levski and Beroe, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maicon 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.
Levski 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.
Marked 8.46 — 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 ratingsNinety minutes of Maicon at his very best
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Levski close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 3 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levski can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv paid $360.0K and Levski took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Levski asked and Botev Vratsa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marko Grujić
SquadÁlex Centelles falls out with a teammate over standards
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokomotiv Plovdiv waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Levski is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Everton Bala takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Everton Bala provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer from FC Midtjylland for Everton Bala 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levski lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levski lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levski can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Levski had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Everything agreed with CSKA Sofia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Marko Grujić 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Levski. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Levski asked and Botev 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.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levski lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marko Grujić 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, Everton Bala on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Levski and Spartak 1918.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levski lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Levski has been clear about where Radoslav Kirilov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match19 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Levski. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Everton Bala in the middle of it, and CSKA 1948 unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
In brief
Player ratingsEverton Bala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
SquadÁlex Centelles falls out with a teammate over standards
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levski lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Montana, and it could have been more.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Everton Bala takes the afternoon — 9.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Everton Bala provided it, and the 9.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levski lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Marko Grujić 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 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.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levski lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Reinaldo obliged against Lokomotiv Sofia. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Levski.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Everton Bala takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Everton Bala provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Reinaldo provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Angel Vasilev could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.48
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.48, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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 first defeat in 16 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Ludogorets; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
1 for Marko Grujić, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marko Grujić scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Ludogorets, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristiyan Malinov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Lachezar Delev to a room that had heard them before.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levski lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Diogo Casimiro has just signed for Levski, and for once the answer mattered.
Marko Grujić 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radoslav Kirilov 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Levski will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levski will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against CSKA Sofia; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7 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.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Everton Bala decided nobody was going anywhere. Beroe had no time left to answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 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.
Marked 8.67 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“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 Levski hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marko Grujić 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.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.82 for the rest of it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levski can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Marko Grujić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marko Grujić. 2‑1 against Cherno More, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristiyan Malinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levski will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Levski can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levski will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Levski this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Everton Bala on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Levski and Dobrudzha.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maicon 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Levski will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Levski rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Spartak 1918 had no answer to any of it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
18 combined actions and 7.52. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Levski close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 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.
The chase for Lucas Araújo ended with $750.0K changing hands and Botev Plovdiv out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Álex Centelles has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Levski were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levski will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maicon provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and CSKA Sofia 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.
Levski asked and Botev 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Levski and Lokomotiv Plovdiv, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadWords at Levski training over how hard people work
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Viking for Armstrong Oko-Flex 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.81 for the rest of it.
$1.4M was the most the club would pay and CSKA 1948 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.
Add another name to the list: Viking have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Armstrong Oko-Flex. The answer from Levski has not changed — yet.
Svetoslav Vutsov 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 Álex Centelles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Levski will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Septemvri scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
In brief
Player ratingsThe cruellest goal, and it is Oliver Kamdem's
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Everton Bala takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Everton Bala provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Levski have gone to CSKA 1948 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.
Levski have gone to Ludogorets 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maicon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ivan Paskov 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stoycho Grudev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Levski heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Christian Makoun wants continental football; whether Levski can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Svetoslav Vutsov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Levski training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Centelles 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Svetoslav Vutsov’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.