site.btaJune 30, 1971: Bulgarian Football Legends Die in Car Crash

June 30th marks the death anniversary of two of Bulgaria's all-time greatest football players - Georgi "Gundi" Asparuhov and Nikola "The Kitten" Kotkov, both playing for PFC Levski at the time. 

The two football legends died in a car crash in 1971 on their way from Sofia to the northwestern city of Vratsa, where they were invited to play in a football match hosted by the local Botev Vratsa football team on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

Their funeral was attended by 150,000 mourners (some sources put this figure as high as 500,000) which was more than the number of attendees of any organized event by the communist government.

Asparuhov was one of the most beloved athletes in the country’s history not only because of his undeniable football skills and many goals (153 in 240 matches for the club), but also for the way he carried himself on and off the pitch. Also, Gundi had managed to get the attention of some of the top European football clubs, such as Benfica and Italy's AC Milan, but chose to stay with his boyhood club.  

Georgi Asparuhov was declared posthumously Bulgaria's best football player of the 20th century. In 1990 Levski Sofia football club named their stadium after him. In 2014, by a presidential decree, he was presented with the Order of Stara Planina, Bulgaria's highest state honor, for his exceptional contribution to sports.