Search the Community

Bulgaria - the World Cup’s worst semifinalist? Last week was a sad one for Bulgarian football fans. A narrow 2-1 win against Georgia made it a bit better and saved Bulgaria the ignominy of finishing last with no points in their World cup qualifying group. This is a team who, in lots of people’s living memories, were semifinalists in USA 1994. That was no fluke, although they did punch above their weight. The now infamous Bobby Mihailov was in goal, Krasimir Balakov and Yordan Letchkov were in midfield and Bulgaria’s greatest ever, Hristo Stoichkov was up front. He won the Golden boot (don’t talk to me about Oleg Salenko) and the team went on to become legends, inspiring a new generation of stars who could now play in the top European leagues. It all went right. Until it didn’t. The Magical Stoichkov lit up Bulgaria and Barcelona And now? Bulgaria are 88th in the world Fifa rankings (bizarrely that one win in November moved them up 3 places from 91st), and all around them are the type of teams that are either recent nations or tiny places that don’t have the population to have a decent team. It has all gone wrong. Beating Georgia pushed Bulgaria up 3 positions Bulgarians are proud people, proud of the many accomplishments achieved in a country that has in some shape or form existed for a very long time. Even under occupation, Bulgaria retained some sort of cohesive identity. Being Bulgarian means something to the people I meet. When I ask them about Bulgarian football, though, the immediate answer invariably is, “I don’t care about the national team.” They were truly a top side, packed with stars Do you know something? I don’t believe them. I think it hurts. But they don’t want to admit it. They have watched, helplessly, as attendances plummet all around the country. As players no longer play for top teams (probably Ilia Gruev of Leeds United is the highest, and they may get relegated), probably the way back is hard. Some distance from the stars of 1994 but still there are players playing for decent sides and capable of being at least 40/50 places in front of where they are. Are Leeds the top ranked team with a Bulgarian player? - Ilia Gruev I want to put some perspective on where Bulgaria were in 1994 and other teams who have that same distinction of achieving one semi-final in their lifetimes. Chile in 1962 at home with only 16 teams are closest to Bulgaria in the rankings at 53. Their population would have been similar to Bulgaria at the time with 8 and a half million. But Bulgaria did it away with 24 teams. I think their achievement ranks far higher. Then there is Russia, now ranked 33 but not playing competitive football, a huge country who got to the semi in 1966 in England. Again I would rank what Bulgaria did as far higher due to the sheer size of that country. South Korea and Turkey did it in 2002 and South Korea were hosts. Both countries have huge populations in comparison to Bulgaria. Again Bulgaria’s achievement ranks far higher to me. Korea is 22 and Turkey is 25 in the Fifa rankings. Well ahead of Bulgaria. Would Bulgaria panic if they drew The Faroes, Estonia, and Luxembourg? And so we come to Morocco, the only other team to reach a World Cup semi-final once at Qatar in 2022. They are currently 11th in the rankings. They have a population heading towards 40 million. Again Bulgaria’s achievement should be ranked higher. Bulgaria, then, has fallen off a cliff at 88th in the rankings. Their achievement in 1994 of getting to the semis, which I feel is fair to say was the best achievement of any of the other countries who did so, all with much bigger populations or home advantage. So why has Bulgaria been relegated to having teams such as Curacao, Oman, Gabon, etc., being above them in the rankings? I am going to argue that catastrophic administration has been the main driver of this. 19 national team managers since 2000. 58 different players called up to the squad in the past 12 months. Average attendances down to 1,879 in the top division from 10,031 in 1994 with a similar decline in the national team. There are only four coaches for the national team, the manager, 2 assistants and a goalkeeping coach. No analyst or fitness coach, considered de rigeur in the modern era. The academies are struggling and emerging stars are not emerging. What’s your solution, Gus? And anecdotally? I remember being in the Black Sea when Bulgaria were playing in an international tournament and I struggled to find a place that was showing it. It has been a circle of destruction. There have been public protests, there have been attempts to put forward a new guard to oversee but nothing has worked. Did the protests achieve anything? So, what can be done? I never write a column outlining a problem without coming up with a solution but here I am struggling as I feel that the first task has got to be replacing that old guard and I have no ideas how to do that. A new approach is needed. Everything from the domestic clubs, amateur and professional, through to the national team setup at all ages need to work in coordination along with reaching out to local communities to make improvements. A successful template must be applied There is a nearby country which has got it very right. Croatia, with a population of less than 4 million has, in recent years, got to the late stages of several tournaments, not just one semi-final like Bulgaria, and are easily the smallest country at the moment to have done so. They are also a newly independent country and didn’t exist for most of the World Cup existence. They are currently 10th in the world. They have 26 people working with the first team, they have 2 goalkeeping coaches to Bulgaria’s one, for example. They have to be the template from which to work off. There needs to be an administration that can work at all levels to bring the joy of football back to the country. Jumping in front of Croatia should be the target. And maybe hiring people from there would be a start. There needs to be a high performance team pushing for excellence as most serious countries have. Bulgaria’s current administration are acting like football doesn’t need to be taken seriously, but if they cannot deliver, then they must go. They should do the decent thing and resign and let serious people who care take over. Chelsea and Man City were joke teams until serious people took over. They are now the most successful English clubs of the 21st century. It can be done but will it? If Croatia can do it so can Bulgaria What can be achieved? If Croatia are a guide then nothing is impossible. And I have argued here that Bulgaria are the best team to have reached a World Cup semi-final once, but also are now the worst. Yes, Bulgaria has fallen the furthest of all teams to reach a single World Cup semi but the positive thing is that, truly, the way up should be easier. The only way is up, surely? Go Bulgaria! Ps. Both me and Dave Hardy went for the win against Tottenham here. We didn't get the score right and I certainly never thought it would be so easy. FIFA World Rankings November 2025 Current Previous FIFA 85 Uganda 1288.01 1287.75 86 New Zealand 1279.25 1283.3 87 Syria 1278.1 1274.16 88 Bulgaria 1272.19 1263.07 89 Angola 1271.54 1267.45 90 Zambia 1260.06 1268.6 91 Bahrain 1258.68 1267.1 92 Benin 1255.72 1259.39