Bulgaria legend Hristo Stoichkov breaks down in tears as captain Ivelin Popov lambasts ‘embarrassing’ fans for racially abusing England stars
Bulgaria legend Hristo Stoichkov was left in floods of tears after condemning the disgusting racial abuse England players suffered during their Euro 2020 qualifying game.
The game in Sofia was halted twice by UEFA officials as England’s black players were subjected to sickening racist chants by sections of the home supporters.
Bulgarian police have made four arrests since the game on Monday, with UEFA also opening disciplinary proceedings against the Bulgarian Football Union.
Stoichkov, who is widely recognised as the greatest player in Bulgaria’s history, was quizzed on live TV about how to tackle the issue.
Speaking to TUDN, an American Spanish language sports channel, the 53-year-old got emotional when delivering his response.
“What is the solution?,” the presenter asked, before Stoichkov replied: “That fans are not allowed in the stadium or even heavier punishments.
“Like in England for years, five years without going to stadiums. People don't deserve to suffer.”
At this point, Stoichkov leaned forward and appeared to start to cry and it is believed he was talking about the punishment imposed by UEFA in the aftermath of the Heysel disaster in 1985.
English club sides were banned from European club competitions for five years after 39 people died before the start of the European Cup final in Belgium between Liverpool and Juventus.
Current captain Iveliv Popov was equally disgusted by the actions of the Bulgarian fans, having confronted some of the crowd at half-time of the game at the Vasil Levski National Stadium.
Speaking to the , Popov admitted he was ‘embarrassed’ by the actions of some of his fellow countrymen.
He said: “It was important that I spoke with them at half-time because it is a very big problem for everybody - for our federation, for England and if they [the fans] said more bad words - even one more time - then maybe they would finish the game.
“We would have such a big punishment and this is no good for Bulgarian football because if some other players want to come here (to sign for clubs), they hear what is said and how they speak bad. This is no good for everybody.
“Did the England players ask me to do it? No. We are 11 vs 11 - your colour does not matter. It's no problem. We are all the same. We are one very big family in football, everybody and only we - if we are together - can stop these bad things.
“The fans were angry with me? This is normal. The first half was 4-0. They were very angry and were saying to me: 'don't speak to us!'
“But when you start to speak to them, afterwards they understand. I think in the second half (the atmosphere) was better.
“I don't want it to be like this (at games in Bulgaria). It's not good for us. It is not good for federation and our country. How do I feel? I don't feel good as we didn't play well, we lost 6-0 and also this (racism) what happened was terrible.
“It must stop. In this country, we have a team like Ludogrets, who have players from every country. I never (heard) this sort of problem in the Bulgarian championship. I don't know why they made like this (now) because many fans are fans and supporters of English football.
“There are fan clubs from Chelsea; from Liverpool and Manchester. It's incredible and I don't know why they made this. For me, it's incredible - a surprise. In every big city, they have fan clubs. In Sofia, they have several fan clubs for every big club.”