Vasil Bojkov – Owner of the two biggest football rivals in Bulgaria
It has been officially confirmed. Vasil Bojkov, the famous Bulgarian businessman and biggest promoter of sport in the country, is going to be the new owner of Levski Sofia. While every media was busy discussing just the financial aspect of this matter, we were able to notice something that has never really occurred in the history of football before. Bojkov became the only person in the world of sport who has owned the two biggest football rivals known in Bulgaria – Levski Sofia and CSKA.
One of the richest Bulgarians managed to help the “reds” survive and prosper in the period 1999-2006, but withdrew after not receiving the due recognition from the fans of the football club. It is for a fact that under Bojkov’s ownership and support CSKA managed to score some of their greatest results and
wins over world-leading teams. This includes the elimination of Bayer Leverkusen with two winning games. The Bulgarian team sensationally eliminated Bayer Leverkusen from the UEFA Cup with 1-0, throwing CSKA and their supporters into euphoria at the end of the event. Let us remind that another historic shocker was the match that the reds won against the European champion Liverpool in a
Champions League qualifier back in 2005. Interestingly, even during the time of ownership of the reds, Bojkov remained a great supporter of Levski Sofia. And now, the spotlight is finally on CSKA’s biggest enemy. The football club has been suffering a financial crisis for quite some time now and is currently in an urgent need for a serious stabilization. In a recent interview, Pavel Kolev (Deputy Executive Director of the Bulgarian Football
Union and the new CEO of Levski Sofia) pointed out that the debts of the blue ones are around 32 million leva. The role of the Bulgarian billionaire, however, sets the hopes high as he is expected to help the football club come back to life and achieve financial stabilization, in the first place. Nevertheless, as it seems though, the history of Bojkov and CSKA is not entirely over. Rumors have been trying to link Vasil Bojkov to the CSKA 1948 project for the past years, and just recently, the businessman became an official sponsor of the newly established club, which gets
The Eternal Derby going on a slightly different level. Speaking of it, The Eternal Derby of Bulgarian Football or simply The Eternal Derby is the name of the local derby football match between the two aforementioned most popular and successful football clubs in Bulgaria. They have won 26 (Levski) and 31 (CSKA) national championship titles and 25 (Levski) and 20 (CSKA) Bulgarian Cup titles, respectively. This emotional for the fans and fierce for the teams rivalry started back in the late 1940’s when the newly established club of CSKA became a champion in a much competitive football that took place in 1948. Rivalries in the world of sport can turn a whole game into something never experienced before in the same old way. Stakes are high and emotions are tense for one can hardly know which player or team will win in the end. Surprises are something very common. Expectations are taken to the next level but as it has been proven over the years, no atmosphere can compare to that of a real rivalry in football. We can place the football derbies among the best sports rivalries of all time, that’s for sure. And same goes not only to the biggest international football “enemy” clubs in the world but also to those on a local
level. Like Levski Sofia and CSKA.
Yet, the question now is, is the blue team going to be in a position of a healthy profit from this moment on and will the man, who has owned the greatest rivals in the Bulgarian football, help the blue ones become the winning ones?