Upheaval clouds Bulgaria build-up to playoff against Ireland

A decision on manager Ilian Iliev’s future is due on Wednesday.

DOUBLE JOB: Bulgaria manager Ilian Iliev. Pic:  by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Turmoil continues to engulf the Bulgarian team ahead of next week’s Nations League playoff against Ireland, with a decision over manager Ilian Iliev’s future due on Wednesday.

Although he’s completed his squad by adding the home-based players to the overseas cohort already selected, there’s no guarantee Iliev will be on the sideline for the two-leg tie beginning at the Hristo Botev Stadium in Plovdiv on Thursday week.

An undercurrent of cynicism over Iliev’s double-jobbing with Varna-based domestic club Cherno More recently came to a head when fellow clubs complained of a conflict of interest.

That has extended to allegations around the scheduling of Cup fixtures and a bias against rival club players when it comes to selecting the national team squads.

Moreover, once the President of the Bulgarian Football Union Atanas Karaivanov backed the outcry by demanding his resignation, the manager threatened legal action but acceded by lodging it with his employers.

His request is to be considered at a meeting of the federation’s executive committee on Wednesday.

This is the latest bout of turbulence for a team whose tournament drought stretches back to the 2004 European Championships.

Some optimism was created by finishing runners-up in the League C of the Uefa Nations League but that campaign included a 5-0 hammering by Northern Ireland. They languish in 82nd place of Fifa’s rankings.

Their prize for second place is a showdown with Ireland, currently 60th in the world after concluding their League B series last November in third place.

The victor emerges from the playoff, on Thursday, March 23 in Plovdiv and Sunday, March 26, at Lansdowne Road, will earn the right to be among the League B nations in the next NL series – the fifth instalment - in late 2026.

Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson will unveil his squad for the double-header this Thursday, with curiosity centring on the potential inclusion of Josh Honohan.

The Corkman was included on the provisional list, coincidentally after his Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley lampooned Hallgrímsson for suggesting Hoops players would secure moves abroad arising from their unprecedented progress to the knockout stages of the Uefa Conference League.

BULGARIA SQUAD:

GOALKEEPERS: Dimitar Mitov (Aberdeen), Plamen Iliev (Cherno More), Dimitar Sheitanov (Septemvri Sofia).

DEFENDERS: Valentin Antov (Cremonese), Alex Petkov (Śląsk), Simeon Petrov (Fehervar), Fabian Nurnberger (Darmstadt), Hristian Petrov (Heerenveen), Zhivko Atanasov, Viktor Popov (Cherno More), Kristian Dimitrov (Levski), Nikolay Minkov (Botev Plovdiv), Anton Nedyalkov (Ludogorets).

MIDFIELDERS: Iliya Gruev (Leeds), Andrian Kraev (Casa Pia, Italy), Filip Krastev (PEC Zwolle), Georgi Milanov (Dinamo Bucharest), Vasil Panayotov (Cherno More), Kristiyan Stoyanov (Slavia Sofia), Marin Petkov (Levski Sofia), Ilian Iliev, Stanislav Shopov (CSKA) FORWARDS: Kiril Despodov (PAOK), Bozhidar Kraev (Western Sydney), Lukas Petkov (Elversberg, Germany), Radoslav Kirilov (CSKA 1948), Stanislav Ivanov (Arda), Vladimir Nikolov (Slavia Sofia).