10 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.
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.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Marwan Ateya 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Stanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.2M has been paid because Georg Stojanovski is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ludogorets heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets 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 Petar Stanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Al Ahly did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $16.5M for Marwan Ateya, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
$2.3M was the most the club would pay and Legia 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.
$1.2M on the table at Spartak 1918. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Match23 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Ludogorets. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Ludogorets have gone to Al Ahly 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Stanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Erick Marcus
24Edition
The Ludogorets Sentinel
11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondentTriumph
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Kwadwo Duah takes the afternoon — 9.08
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kwadwo Duah provided it, and the 9.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ludogorets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$2.2M 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ludogorets can pretend not to have heard.
Hendrik Bonmann was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
In brief
SquadWords at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bernard Tekpetey provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Petar Stanić takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Petar Stanić provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Ludogorets offered $4.8M; Levski 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.
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 7.86 for the rest of it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ludogorets had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Two goals and a mark of 9.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Hendrik Bonmann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Petar Stanić 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Ludogorets. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
In brief
Player ratingsRwan Cruz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Petar Stanić at his very best
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Olivier Verdon at his very best
Septemvri will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ludogorets were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rwan Cruz provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 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.
Hendrik Bonmann 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ludogorets heard it as anything else.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Stanić 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.
1 for Filip Kaloč, marked 7.81, 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.
Son 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.
13 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hendrik Bonmann 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 finished 2‑1, and it was Filip Kaloč’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ludogorets.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Kwadwo Duah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yasen Milanov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 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 Ludogorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Stanić 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 3, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Stanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.78 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
The first defeat in 15 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Berna has, at Ludogorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hendrik Bonmann 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rwan Cruz provided it, and the 9.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Levski had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Ludogorets did not stop to explain themselves.
Hendrik Bonmann was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. António Ribeiro has, at Ludogorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Petar Stanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets 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 Petar Stanić 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. Atanas Petrov 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. Hristo Bozhikov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Kwadwo Duah
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ludogorets heard it as anything else.
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Kwadwo Duah takes the afternoon — 9.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kwadwo Duah provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7.94, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Hendrik Bonmann 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ludogorets. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
100 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Stanić 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.
10 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bernard Tekpetey provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bernard Tekpetey and Ludogorets agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Hendrik Bonmann was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Frederico Namora has, at Ludogorets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
9 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.93 — 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Fábio Ferreira is living that version at Ludogorets, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hendrik Bonmann 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
6 goals in one match, Rwan Cruz on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ludogorets and Spartak 1918.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Stanić 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.
CSKA 1948 will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ludogorets were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Hendrik Bonmann 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: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Stanić 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bernard Tekpetey provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Son 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 Hendrik Bonmann was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Yasen Milanov could afford to be generous.
5 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets 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 Petar Stanić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Georgi Aleksandrov 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. Angel Minev 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ludogorets heard it as anything else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bernard Tekpetey provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ludogorets have 4 straight wins of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Ludogorets close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 1 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Stanić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bernard Tekpetey. 2‑1 against Septemvri, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is going to FC Copenhagen, the club has $6.5M 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emil Yanchev has just signed for Ludogorets, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Pedro Naressi 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 5‑0 win over Spartak 1918, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match22 Aug 2026
Petar Stanić wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Petar Stanić found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Beroe went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Eric Bile did not need any: 8.40, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Ludogorets, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Hendrik Bonmann was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer from Ferencvaros for Caio Vidal 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Ludogorets have paid $3.3M for Maks Ebong, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ludogorets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ilker Budinov is a Ludogorets player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ilker Budinov has just signed for Ludogorets, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Ludogorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petar Stanić 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.
$3.3M on the table at CSKA Sofia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ludogorets have gone to Arda with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levski have kept their man, and Ludogorets 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.
274 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hendrik Bonmann and Ludogorets agree another 2 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nashville SC have kept their man, and Ludogorets go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Ludogorets hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ludogorets, another week without a signature from Son.
“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.