4th Place? Pfft. Dump Half The Team.

By: chris | January 30th, 2008

Levski Sofia is a mainstay at the top of the Bulgarian league table, a verifiable powerhouse. They’ve won 5 of the last 10 league titles, including the last two, while never finishing worse than second, and won 6 of the last 10 national cup trophies. So they own Bulgaria at least half the time. This year things aren’t going as well. They currently sit in 4th. The owner, resident nutjob Todor Batkov, forced the entire board to resign, then rejected their resignations a couple months ago. Now, during the winter break, they’ve dumped 7 players, brought in 6 new faces and sent one young phenom on a trial to Arsenal, who are very enamored. (And if Arsene wants your player, chances are he’s worth holding on to.) Calling the turnover “Plan 2009″. Ah, who doesn’t love a crazy owner.

Chances are the fact that bitter rivals CSKA Sofia are in first place isn’t helping the matter - we all know how well ownership regimes take the back seat to city rivals. CSKA is in first and holds a 10 point lead on the team in second, Lokomotiv Sofia. (And yes, Slavia Sofia is sitting in 3rd in case you were wondering. So if you’re looking for a club to play for in Bulgaria, you know where to go.) So with a game in hand, 13 points off the lead, and still 15 games to go, Levski has decided to wave the white flag on this season.

This new project has kicked off with Stoilov dismantling the team that has served Levski so well in recent years, with six senior professionals being allowed to go. Captain Elin Topuzakov and midfielder Dimitar Telkiyski left for Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC, while Frenchman Cédric Bardon – whose goals against AC Chievo Verona fired Levski into last term’s group stage – joined Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC.

Bulgarian international and fans’ favourite Hristo Yovov was also released, moving to Cyprus to sign for Aris Limassol FC, while two stars of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup campaign – striker Emil Angelov and forward Milan Koprivarov – have been shipped off to domestic rivals, recruited by PFC Litex Lovech and PFC Slavia Sofia respectively.

The two biggest names, however, have been Valeri Domovchiyski, who went on trial with Blackburn before finally being loaned to Hertha Berlin just this week, and Nikolay Dimitrov, the youngster with the sweet left foot who has put a sparkle in Arsene’s eye. Dimitrov went on a trial with Arsenal recently, and then they followed him back to Levski to scout him some more, and may very well lodge a bid before the window is up.

Safe to say, it’s a good year not to be employed by Levski Sofia.