From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Gonzalo Ontivero out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
24 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Septemvri did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Cabal 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Faiz Mattoir at his very best
Marked 8.87. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Septemvri.
Squad9 Nov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Faiz Mattoir’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Septemvri.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Gonzalo Ontivero out for 66 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Septemvri's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Septemvri has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Frédéric Maciel 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jhon Cabal 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 188% of everything Septemvri earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Valon Hamdiu gets it from the manager
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Botev Vratsa came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market2 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Faiz Mattoir’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Gonzalo Ontivero out for 73 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Cabal 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Gonzalo Ontivero out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Frédéric Maciel 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jhon Cabal 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Gonzalo Ontivero out for 89 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Septemvri will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Septemvri training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Cabal 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 terraces12 Oct 2026
At 23 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Stoyan Stoichkov at his very best
Marked 8.73. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Septemvri.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Yanko Georgiev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match10 Oct 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 36 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bertrand Fourrier 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jhon Cabal 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 283% of everything Septemvri earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.80 — 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
7 new faces, and Septemvri 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Robin Schouten 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Adrián Acevedo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Ayoub Abou
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
Septemvri throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Arda the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Septemvri will enjoy reviewing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 23 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Krasian Kolev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.81. 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Stoyan Stoichkov at his very best
Marked 8.33. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Septemvri.
Match12 Sep 2026
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Valon Hamdiu's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Frédéric Maciel 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 9.21 — 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Frédéric Maciel at his very best
Marked 9.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Septemvri.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Frédéric Maciel. 2‑1 against Ludogorets, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
153% of the income goes out in wages at Septemvri
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Faiz Mattoir dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Septemvri
6 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
The goals have deserted Septemvri
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Septemvri can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Derlis Riveros 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Faiz Mattoir
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Septemvri
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
Septemvri bow out of the cup
Lokomotiv Plovdiv go through and Septemvri go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
Septemvri say no — this time
The offer from Beroe for Stoyan Stoichkov 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Septemvri, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Septemvri's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Septemvri has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
The fee is $570.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. CSKA 1948 drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Septemvri cannot find the net
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Robin Schouten 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Valon Hamdiu
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
Septemvri say no — this time
The offer from Dobrudzha for Ali Aruna 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Stoyan Stoichkov has come up in conversations Septemvri were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
32 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Faiz Mattoir and Septemvri agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Septemvri this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Robin Schouten's contract
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.69 on the card, and the Septemvri support went home talking about one name.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Septemvri, another week without a signature from Galin Ivanov.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Faiz Mattoir knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Faiz Mattoir trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Aug 2026
Nicolas Fontaine had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Slavia Sofia were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valon Hamdiu and Septemvri agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Robin Schouten 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.95, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Faiz Mattoir gets it from the manager
“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.