SOFIA: Borislav Mihaylov has quit as president of the Bulgarian football federation in the aftermath of the Euro 2020 racist chant storm in the 6-0 home defeat by England and then a broadside from Boyko Borissov, the country’s Prime Minister.
Borossov said he “strongly condemned” the hooligan behaviour which included Nazi salutes and monkey chants. The match was halted twice in the first half because of racist chanting aimed at England players.
He said it is “unacceptable” to see people in Bulgaria connect with racism. He added: “I call on Borislav Mihaylov to immediately resign as president of the Bulgarian Football Union.
“After yesterday’s shameful loss of the Bulgarian national team and given the bad results of our football, I ordered to end any relationship with BFU, including financial, until the withdrawal of Borislav Mihaylov from the post.”
Mihaylov, a former World Cup goalkeeper, did precisely that hours later.
The Vasil Levski Stadium was already subject to a partial closure for the match after Bulgaria were sanctioned for racist behaviour during Euro 2020 qualifiers against Kosovo and the Czech Republic.
Before the match, Mihaylov had complained to UEFA about England players’ concerns about fears of such abuse.
Mihaylov, a former Reading goalkeeper, played at three World Cups for Bulgaria and had been a member of the UEFA executive committee until he was voted out early this year.
Anti-discriminatory body Fare has called for Bulgaria to be expelled from the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
Its Eastern Europe development officer Pavel Klymenko said: “We think that after what happened, UEFA has it in their power to kick Bulgaria out of Euro 2020 qualification for sure.
“There have been too many incidents, too much negligence from the Bulgarian FA. Uefa should make an example of the Bulgarian FA and expel them from the competition.”
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