A divided and declining Bulgaria awaits Ireland

"The situation in Bulgarian football is a problem of all of us, not only of the management but of the fans, of the clubs and you can see the final result."

That's the view of Bulgarian football journalist and Tema Sport contributor Teodor Borisov who joined us on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast to share a deep insight into the Republic of Ireland's opponents for this week's two-legged UEFA Nations League promotion/relegation play-off (live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player on both Thursday and Sunday) and also detailed why Thursday's first leg is taking place in the second biggest stadium of the country's second city, Plovdiv, rather than in the capital Sofia.

The main takeaway is Bulgaria have a host of issues to contend with on and off the pitch amid supporter apathy.

The country last qualified for a major tournament in 2004 when the Dimitar Berbatov and Stiliyan Petrov generation got to that year's Euros.

And the current situation is a far cry from the delirium of the 1994 World Cup when a nation spearheaded by the legendary former Barcelona striker Hristo Stoichkov reached the semi-finals.

Indeed, a member of their 1998 World Cup squad, Ilian Iliev, is the current manager but such is the chaos in Bulgarian football, he will be in the dugout just a couple of weeks after tendering his resignation.

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

As Borisov outlined on the podcast, the bone of contention that led to Iliev's aborted decision to step away came from the fact that not only has he been Bulgaria boss since late 2023 but he also combines that role with being manager of his hometown club Cherno More.

This state of affairs was particularly undesirable to rival teams in the country like Ludogorets and Levski Sofia, which spurred the concerted attempt to push him out.

"But (last Thursday) there was a meeting of the executive committee of the Bulgarian Football Union and they support Ilian Iliev, so this case only shows the level of controversy in our football," said Borisov of why the manager remains in place at least for this international window.

Results on the pitch have been largely average during Iliev's tenure. In ten games last year, Bulgaria won three (all 1-0 wins, against Tanzania, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg), drew six against a similar level of opposition and if you do the maths, there's one defeat - a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Northern Ireland in Belfast which represents an outlier for a Bulgarian side which struggles to score goals but also tends to be defensively watertight.

"For (Iliev) it was more important to create a good defence, to have more clean sheets because this was the main problem under the former manager Mladen Krstajic and his unattractive style has not satisfied the football community but everything was OK before the game in Belfast," said Borisov, who also detailed the players to watch out for including captain and winger Kiril Despodov.

But the latter is indicative of why the manager has had to cut his cloth accordingly. Despodov, of Greek side PAOK, has not been a regular starter for his club and yet remains Bulgaria's most potent attacking player in a squad with very few players in Europe's big five leagues.

Dimitar Mitov, right, of Aberdeen and captain Kiril Despodov before Bulgaria's 5-0 defeat in Belfast last year

Part of the problem, according to Borisov, is that the well has dried up in regard to the player production line amid societal changes from the late '80s fall of communism and transition to era of democracy.

Coupled to that is the influence of the club scene. The current dominant club in Bulgarian football, Ludogorets, who have regularly qualified for Champions League and Europa League group stages over the last decade, tend to build squads around foreign imports rather than emphasising homegrown players.

"When you don't invest in the football academies, it's not possible to find the new Stoichkov, Balakov, Letchkov and the others from this (1990s) golden generation and that's why only Ludogorets can play good in the European (games) because they have good structures as a club," said Borisov, who contrasted that with their domestic rivals' more unstable structures.

And with that backdrop, he sees Bulgaria, who are trying to earn promotion to League B at Ireland's expense, as underdogs this week.

"I'm not sure how our defence will stop Adam Idah or Troy Parrott," Borisov added.

"The national team is the peak of the pyramid. If you don't have successful parts, the other parts of the pyramid are not successful, the peak is not there."

Watch Teodor Borisov's full breakdown of the Bulgaria team and the nations footballing issues above via YouTube or listen in wherever you get your podcasts.

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Click here to read article