In a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov called on the international football federation to get involved with the tense situation related to the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU), in accordance with the rights and responsibilities set out in the FIFA statutes, said the Council of Ministers press service on Friday.
The reason for the letter was a mass protest against BFU President Borislav Mihailov on Thursday, the day of the Bulgaria-Hungary European qualifier match, which ended with riots and violence in the centre of Sofia on Thursday night.
The Prime Minister called on FIFA to discuss and propose possible solutions to the unprecedented situation, referring to Art. 8 (2) of the Statutes: "Executive bodies of Member Associations may under exceptional circumstances be removed from office by the Executive Committee in consultation with the relevant Confederation and replaced by a normalisation committee for a specific period of time".
In the letter, Denkov also highlighted the accumulated criticism and dissatisfaction with the management of the BFU and the unprecedented unification of rival fan clubs against it. Also cited was the fact that more than 140 clubs (out of a total of 550) who voted against the current BFU leadership were subsequently expelled from the Union following its May 2022 congress.
At a briefing in the Council of Ministers earlier in the day, the Prime Minister thanked all peacefully protesting sports fans, as well as those police officers who did their duty without violence. He also said that he had sent a letter to the UEFA Headquarters and to the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body with a request to hear their opinion on the organisation of the match between Bulgaria and Hungary.
/RY/
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