The Last Crusade: Bulgaria v England, Sofia, Bulgaria

European Championships Qualifier 2020
Group A
Bulgaria v England
Vasil Levsky Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria
14 October 2019

Bulgaria were sanctioned with a partial stadium closure by UEFA following racist behaviour by their fans, against Kosovo and the Czech Republic in June 2019. 5000 of the 46,340 seats of the stadium were to be blocked off against England and when they host the Czech Republic in Nov 19, 3000 will be closed off. So what could possibly go wrong😟

The FA were allocated 3400 tickets and 4244 members had registered so a ballot was necessary. The cap 'cut off' was 14 to guarantee a ticket, but with 52 and 58 caps success was a formality for me and the Mrs - Get in✊

Nice to see Mason Mount on the front page of the Free Lions. I for one, am looking forward to a big performance from him in an England shirt. In other news, the English media had been fuelling the potential for racist abuse leading up to the game, and it would also prove to be the most reported topic of discussion after the game.

The Vasil Levski Stadium is named after a Bulgarian national hero who led a revolutionary movement to liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. It is located in central Sofia within the Boris garden, the most famous park in the city. The park is also the location of CSKA Sofia's stadium. The national stadium was built in 1953 to a capacity of 44,000 and played host to its first international in a 1954 World Cup Qualifier when Bulgaria played Czechoslovakia in Oct 53.

Bulgaria 0 England 6

Attendance:17,481

Day 1 and we arrive at our 'digs' which is only a
stone's throw from the stadium on Lyuben Karavelov Street.

Main entrance to our luxury Block

Cozy😴

Kitchen area

View from the balcony

For orientation please note the floodlight popping

out from the Vasil Levski Stadium

Better than any 5* hotel

Bulgarian Lev

Sunset in Sofia

Following the trams up Graf Ignatiev Street

Sun's out and we are looking for a beer..

...follow the No 18

...grab some corn

Zagorka Beer - our first Bulgarian brew

Ticket collection at the National Palace of Culture

The Bulgarian FA have a stall selling programmes and stuff

On way home via the stadium

Old School Soviet floodlights No1

No 2

No 3

No 4

The stadium facade is dated but still impressive

Balcony lights confirm our luxurious setting

Tonight's entertainment😂 is a bit rubbish

...so we head out to meet Craigski

Stadium in lights

Metro at Vesil Levski Station

National Palace of Culture and fountains

Day 2 and we are on parade for the 'Free Sofia Tour'

St Nedelya Church was the scene of a terrorist attack, where on 16 Apr 1925 members of the Bulgarian Communist Party blew up the church roof during the funeral of a prominent General who had been killed a few days previous. 200 people were killed and 500 injured. By chance, all government members survived and Tsar Boris III was not in attendance.

The former Bulgarian Communist Party House which in the old days had a red star on top of the pole.

Statue of Saint Sophia with the

Catholic Cathedral in the background

The statue was erected in 2000 on the same site that a statue of Lenin once stood. It was considered by many locals to be too pagan and too erotic to be a saint.

Church of St Petka of the Saddlers, where legend

has it that Vassil Levski is buried here

The Serdica Ancient Complex is a partly covered excavation site just above the Serdika Metro station which displays the remains of the Roman City of Serdica. It was only unearthed between 2010-12 during construction of the metro.

Serdika Metro Station

The Banya Bashi Mosque was completed

in 1566 during the Ottoman rule.

The Mosque and the Synagogue are both in the frame

The former Central Mineral Baths

is now the Historical Museum

Mineral Water flows through the hot thermal springs

The Presidential Building

The St George Rotunda is one of the oldest buildings

in Sofia located amid the ruins of Serdica.

The Russian Church of Sophia was built on the site of a Mosque following the Russian liberation of Bulgaria in 1882

Lighting candles in the Russian Church

Icons for sale in the shadow of

the Alexander Nevski Cathedral

The bell outside the St Sophia Basilica

Mosaics inside St Sophia's Basilica

Alexander Nevski Cathedral

It is the largest church in Bulgaria and is one of the top ten largest Eastern Orthodox churches in the world

Candles to our loved ones🙏

Statues in front of the cathedral

The Royal Palace was originally built as the HQ for the Ottoman Police Force and this is where Vasil Levski was tried and tortured before his public execution in 1873

'Ivan Vazov' National Theatre

Its a hot day and I need a beer

Monument to the Tsar Liberator was erected in honour of the Russian Emperor Alexander ii who liberated Bulgaria

Street graffiti

Street bar beneath our block

Pre match drink of Bulgarian Rakia

Pre-loading in the block

Come on England

Meet up with Craigski and the boys before the game

England's Top Boy arrives at the stadium

After suffering the embarrassment of being refused entrance from a Bulgarian steward for being a bit wobbly, I join another queue and pass into the stadium with flying colours. 😎

The most boisterous Bulgarians are to
the right of us in the open terrace

There are empty seats everywhere due to theUEFA sanctions The England end is rammed as usual

The stadium seems much less full than anticipated even with the 5000 blocked seats. This place holds 44000 FFS.

Both anthems are jeered and booed.

The English masses

Well and truly bombed.

Team photo

Happy Dayz😎

Tango and one of his young disciples

Gary taking liberties

"Hang on a minute, is that racist chanting we can hear"?

With England leading 2:0 the atmosphere turns ugly when it becomes apparent that a section of the Bulgarian fans are making monkey chants and some are even throwing up the Nazi salutes. The game is paused on 28 minutes.

The stadium announcer condemns the abuse and confirms that the game will be abandoned if it continues

The game had to be stopped again on 43 minutes and the referee has to talk with Gareth Southgate. At half time the Bulgarian captain Ivelin Popov is seen in a heated debate with a section of the home support, who then leave.

Bulgarian fans leaving the stadium

The English faithful chant a couple of new songs:

"You racist bastards, you know who you are"

and

"who put the ball in the racist net,

who put the ball in the racist net,

Raheem fuckin' Sterling"

Sofia hooigans

England had a half time team talk and decided to play the remainder of the match, with the score already at 0:4, it was time to take them apart

Gareth Southgate and the team handled

this ugly situation really well

Sterling and Kane add to the scoring to make it 0:6

It's been a strange night. To be honest I don't

know if I should laugh, cheer, boo or cry.

Game over and its time to find a bar that is open

Day 3 starts with a sobering walk around the park to the other stadium, the 'Bulgarian Army Stadium' and home of CSKA Sofia

Opening soon

Entrance from the park to the Bulgarian Army Stadium

ЦСКА = CSKA which means Central Sports Club of the Army and is common in some Eastern Slavic nations. The other most famous CSKA is CSKA Moscow.

Proper old school

Monument to the foundation of CSKA Sofia

Outside the main entrance

Trespassing..

...now we are really trespassing

...Sue just takes the piss in the club's executive lounge

Luckily I have lost a bit of weight which allows me to squeeze through a gap of a locked gate and take some photos. The stadium was built in 1967 and has a 22,995 capacity.

Typical Soviet style bowl

This Stadium is in better shape than the national stadium😂

It is a blazing hot day and its only 10 AM but I need a beer

After trespassing all over the stadium I formally introduce myself at the Club Bar and I am treated like a Lord. The Barman gives me a souvenir programme and serves me a nice cool beer.

The Bar is full of Bulgarian football memorabilia

Stoichkov was once an apprentice here

Great European nights with CSKA

Opposite the official bar is the ultra's bar which proudly displays the Cyrillic warning. 'ЦСКА ИЛИ УМРИ' which means 'CSKA or Die'

They had a big party here last nigh. Apparently they burnt a St George's Cross

Scarf tree where the scarves of rival supporters

are displayed as spoils of war💀

Ticket Booth

CSKA murals

Team Bus

Murals behind the bar show the names of various ultra groups. 'Animals', 'Sector G' and 'Ultras' are scrawled everywhere.

Leaving CSKA we head towards the national stadium

...and come across the official hooligan shop

It sells everything from baby-grows to pyrotechnics

It has a large selection of ultra T-shirts. I picked up
a pin badge and T shirt for less than a tenner.

After all of that excitement it is time for lunch on Lake Ariana

The food is good (Italian)👌

It is amazing to think that this tranquil spot is less than 200 m away from the hooligan fan shop

Eagle's Bridge spans the Perslovska River

Monument to the Soviet Army

Graffiti on Soviet monuments is common in Sofia

Heading back to the centre we pass by

the theatre. Selfie time

National Theatre

Professional Chess player

St George's rotunda

14th C frescoes line the dome. They were painted over during the Ottoman rule when the church was asa mosque.

The Central Market Hall was built on

the site of the Bulgaria Circus in 1909

Chilled fish...cheap as chips

Staying in tonight and enjoying street food take away

CSKA's widow maker

The plan for Day 4 is that there is no plan. So we head passed the Church of St Petka to the Mosque and Synagogue before we decide on a random option to take a tram to the mountains.

The Banya Bashi Mosque is open

Sue marvels at the islamic script

'Corn stop' and here we decide to

find the famous Boyana Church

We get the No 4 tram to Pavlova bus stop

Bus life

Bus 107 to Boyana Church

The church is on the UNESCO list and is important in the orthodox faith because it was built in the 10th C and is one of the few orthodox churches to have survived the Ottoman oppression.

Church entrance

The frescoes from 1259 make this church world famous

After re-tracing out way back to Sofia we visit the

National Museum of Military History

Soviet era Armoured Vehicle

Soviet helicopter gunship

Rockets

Jets

Interesting history of Bulgarian helmets which show the transition from Bulgarian allegiance to the central powers of Austria-Hungary and the German Empire in WWI (helmet 1 and 2). The third and fifth helmets have a German WWII design influence following their unity with the axis powers. The top helmet has a Red Army shape to it following Bulgaria's absorption into the Soviet Union.