Expats

Bulgaria's National Team Slumps to New Record Low in FIFA Ranking [Apr 11, 2012] Bulgaria's national football team has reached the 96th spot in the FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking, an all-time record low. The Balkan country has lost 11 spots since March and is now one place behind Georgia and one ahead of Vietnam. Bulgaria has played one game since new coach Lyuboslav Penev took over at the end of 2011, a 1:1 away draw in a friendly against Hungary at the end of February. ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria, Aston Villa Captain Stan Petrov Begins Battle for Life [Mar 31, 2012] Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has appealed to his team to play for Bulgarian national and Aston Villa skipper Stiliyan "Stan" Petrov during the Saturday face-off with Chelsea. The shocking news that Petrov, the captain of Bulgaria's national football team and the English club Aston Villa, has been diagnosed with leukemia was reported one day earlier. Aston Villa was considering cancelling the ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria to Face Cyprus, Turkey in Football Friendlies [Mar 05, 2012] Bulgaria's national football team will play friendly games against Turkey and Cyprus ahead of its World Cup 2014 qualification campaign, the Bulgarian Football Union has announced. The game against Turkey will take place on May 29 at the Red Bull Arena stadium in Austria's Salzburg. As it has been already announced, the Bulgarians will face the Netherlands in another friendly at Amsterdam Arena ... [via YahooNews] More >>

The Bulgaria 2011 Review: Sports [Jan 07, 2012] Football To say that Bulgaria's football year was a disappointment would be an understatement. The Bulgarian national football team's dismal performance over the year saw it slump to unseen lows in the international FIFA ranking.... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's Berbatov Nominated among World's Most Popular Footballers [Nov 09, 2011] Bulgaria's top international striker Dimitar Berbatov has been nominated as one of "The World's Most Popular Footballer Amongst Currently Active Players in 2011." The striker of Manchester United and former captain of the Bulgarian national football team is one of the players nominated by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria to Officially Name Penev as Matthaeus Successor - Report [Nov 02, 2011] Lyuboslav Penev, the nephew of Bulgaria's most successful manager in history, is expected to be presented on Wednesday as the coach, who will take over the national football team after it broke up with German legend Lothar Matthaeus. The former CSKA and Valencia striker, who has been a favorite for the post, has successfully negotiated the terms of his appointment with the Bulgarian Football ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Defense Toothless ahead of Wales Clash [Oct 10, 2011] The Bulgarian national football team's chances to save face at the upcoming euro qualifier against Wales got slimmer after yet another member of the defense left injured. Bulgaria will go to the euro qualifier against Wales on October 11 without defender Kostadin Stoyanov and one of its top players ? Bolton forward Martin Petrov, it emerged on Monday. Mihail Madanski, the interim coach, is ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Collapse Further in FIFA World Ranking [Sep 21, 2011] Bulgaria's national football team has dropped four spots in the FIFA World Ranking after its terrible performance in the last Euro 2012 qualifiers, registering losses from England and Switzerland. Bulgaria have thus gone down to spot 55, below teams such Iran, Aremenia, and Scotland, a situation described as "shameful" by the Bulgarian press. Bulgaria's FIFA ranking collapse comes just after the ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Football Legend Balakov Tipped to Oust Matthaeus - Report [Sep 11, 2011] Legendary Bulgarian midfielder Krasimir Balakov may turn out to be the new head coach of the country's national football team, according to Croatian media reports. Balakov, a former player of Portugal's Sporting and Germany's VfB Stuttgart, and a bronze medal winner with the Bulgarian national football team in the 1994 World Cup in the USA, is currently coaching Croatia's top team Hajduk. He ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Berba to Play for Bulgaria against England in September - Report [Aug 14, 2011] Bulgaria national football team coach Lothar Matthaeus is eagerly trying to boost his squad by drawing back star Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov, according to the Mirror. The British tabloid writes Sunday that Matthaeus is looking at getting back Berbatov as soon as this month, so that he can take part in the Euro 2012 qualifier against England in Sofia September 2. The Mirror writes ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Ends Up with Bad Luck in UEFA World Cup 2014 Seedings [Jul 27, 2011] The Bulgarian national football team has hit rock bottom in qualifiers seedings, as it has now officially landed in pot 4 for the 2014 UEFA World Cup in Brazil. Initially it was thought that the squad will make it to pot 3, but FIFA's latest rankings, published Wednesday, revealed that it had dropped two spots down. On the other hand the rankings of Hungary, who is the European team just before ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Gets Lucky in UEFA's World Cup 2014 Qualifying Pots [Jun 06, 2011] Bulgaria's national football team got lucky as it barely made it into Pot 3 in the UEFA draw for the World Cup 2014 qualifying groups. The draw for the European qualifications for the world cup in Brazil is scheduled for July 30, 2011, while on Monday UEFA announced the distribution of the European national teams in six pots, meaning that each of the qualifying groups will have one participant ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria, Montenegro with Draw at Euro 2012 Qualifier [Jun 05, 2011] The Saturday Euro 2012 qualifier between the Bulgarian national football team and Montenegro in Podgorica ended with a draw ? 1:1. Radomir Djalovic put the hosts ahead in the 52nd minute, but 14 minutes later Ivelin Popov scored for Bulgaria, bringing the game to a tie. The Bulgaria team performed quite differently during the first and the second half ? they started with a weak play and improved ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria's National Football Team Naturalize Brazilian Playmaker [May 27, 2011] Marcos Marquinhos, the Brazilian playmaker of CSKA Sofia, will play for the Bulgarian national football team after he received a Bulgarian passport. Marcos Ant [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Up by 2 Spots in FIFA Ranking [Apr 13, 2011] The Bulgarian national football team has moved 2 places up in the international FIFA ranking and now takes the 45th position. The squad lead by Lothar Matthaeus now has 592 points, one spot below the team of Bosnia-Herzegovina and one ahead of Lithuania. Bulgaria's worst ever ranking was in 2002, when it was 52nd, while the best was in 1995 ? 8th. ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Matthaeus: Don't Underestimate Bulgaria! [Mar 14, 2011] Bulgaria's national football team manager Lothar Matthaeus has issued a statement of optimism and perseverance regarding the team's prospects for qualifying for Euro 2012. Currently Bulgaria is fourth in Group G in the qualifyers and needs to get at least to number 2, in order to get the chance to compete in the playoffs. The team hosts Switzerland, who are third, for a decisive game March 26. ... [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Climb 11 Spots in FIFA World Ranking [Oct 20, 2010] Bulgaria's national football team has become 43rd in the world ranking of FIFA shortly after Lothar Matthaeus took over as head coach. Matthaeus led the Bulgarians to two wins ? 0:1 over Wales in the Euro 2012 qualifications, and 2:0 over Saudi Arabia in a friendly. [via YahooNews] More >>

Bulgaria Coach Lothar Matthaus: My Dream is to Qualify for Euro 2012 [Oct 10, 2010] Bulgaria national football team boss Lothar Matthaus has praised his side's response after the break of the clash against Wales in Cardiff, which marked his debut as a coach of the Balkan country. [via YahooNews] More >>

Football Boss: Bulgaria Need Matthaeus [Sep 25, 2010] Bulgaria's national football team do need their new coach , German Lothar Matthaeus , according to the head of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihaylov. [via YahooNews] More >>

Football Boss: Bulgaria Need Matthaeus [Sep 23, 2010] Bulgaria's national football team do need their new coach, German Lothar Matthaeus, according to the head of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihaylov. [via YahooNews] More >>