Hristo Stoichkov resigns as CSKA Sofia coach

Posted on July 9, 2013 by SoccerPunter

Bulgaria‘s football legend Hristo Stoichkov has resigned as CSKA Sofia coach on Monday after its owners failed to rescue the heavily indebted club from the brink of insolvency by finding a new owner.

“I am fed up, I am leaving,” the 47-year-old former Bulgaria and Barcelona star striker said in an emotional letter to the media just over a month after taking over at CSKA Sofia‘s helm.

“I staked my name for a better future of CSKA Sofia. That is why I agreed to start as coach without a contract and without payment. I had a huge desire to help,” he added.

One of Bulgaria’s most popular clubs and 31-time Bulgarian A PFG champions CSKA Sofia were hit by severe financial difficulties and frequent coach changes over recent years and fans saw Hristo Stoichkov as a possible white knight to save the club.

CSKA Sofia owners Dimitar Borisov and Ivo Ivanov however failed in several attempts at finding a new owner for the team in recent weeks, even after offering its shares for free to anyone who was ready to support it.

“I had the trust of players and my staff that we will be together and we will endure… But it became clear that there is no chance for the promises to be fulfilled,” Stoichkov said on Monday.

One of his main conditions for taking over as coach had been for CSKA’s players to receive their salaries regularly but he said this did not happen.

“Lies cannot be endless and there is no way to move forward like that. Or at least I cannot do so,” Stoichkov fumed.

Uncertainty over their club’s fate less than two weeks ahead of the start of the new season prompted an angry rally by some 1,000 CSKA fans in Sofia on Sunday.

A similar demonstration last Saturday ended up in an outrage against the headquarters of the Bulgarian Football Union as protesters threw stones at the building, breaking windows and destroying its neon sign.