BFS Congress: A profit that is actually a loss, and 5 million administrative revenue

Puzzling. Thus, in a word, one can describe the regular reporting congress of the Bulgarian Football Union, which was held on Friday, April 11, at the National Palace of Culture.

It is worth noting the fact that There was nothing regular in this General Assembly of the largest sports federation, as it was being held for the first time in years. The BFS had not made a reporting annual general meeting, such as the requirements of the Law on Physical Education and Sport for all federations, and was the only one who allowed himself to gather his members once every 4 years at a reporting and election meeting without approving budget each year, as the law dictates.

This Congress will remain in history with 3 things – the lowest visited (only 258 out of 513 registered football clubs) attended the hall; the fastest (held for a record 71 minutes); The most confusing messagesbecause after his end no one realized where Bulgarian football and BFS were actually located as an organization, a year after the election of Georgi Ivanov as president.

And if the lack of traditionally intriguing elections for the Chair and the Executive Committee largely explain the low attendance, then the short duration of the assembly certainly puzzles.

The main point in the post -age agenda of the Congress was the adoption of a BFS budget report in 2024 and the approval of the estimated budget for the current 2025. The data presented to the media are sufficiently confusing to be subject to serious analysis. And such became completely superfluous after the press conference of President Georgi Ivanov, who tried to explain the numbers, but made them even more incomprehensible to the wide audience.

However, in the votes from the delegates a budget for 2025, the BFS is actually at a loss and it is estimated to be BGN 801 thousand.

From the revenue and expenses forecasts, it is extremely difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about the financial position of the football plant anyway. The latter would not have been such a topic if Georgi Ivanov himself had not announced publicly that the federation had to draw a loan to pay the salaries. Still, there are several things clear. First of all, the revenue from FIFA and UEFA this year is decreasing.

In the « administrative » column, the funds received in the cashier of property sanctions, or so -called fines, are usually placed in the cashier. These are the administrative-criminal sanctions for football clubs that gather with the decisions of the disciplinary committee after each round in the championship. And which in recent years have been worth about BGN 1 million a year. It is unlikely that the BFS has set an increase by 500% of this pen, so it would be interesting to understand what the planned administrative revenue is and where they should come from, as they are currently nearly 22% of the estimated revenue for 2025.

Otherwise, the admirations in the budget are ambitious revenue from sponsors, advertising and marketing, which are nearly BGN 2 million.

The same applies to ticket revenue, where the world’s qualifications will clearly rely on Spain in September at the National Stadium « Vasil Levski » and with Turkey in October. Nearly BGN 650,000 in revenue from the coaching school does not make sense to comment on the discussion of why Bulgarians do not play in Bulgarian clubs. To collect so much money from training fees and at the same time to count the quality young players are not a good certificate for the governing system.

There is nothing to analyze in the expense. The costs are summarized so much that nothing is understood. However, it is noteworthy that in 2025, the BFS will continue to spend more than 45% of its staff budget, football management and administrative and technical expenses (whatever is behind the last two formulations), while only 2 million are expected for the development of football.

And while the frivolous dealing with the numbers is not something new for the football federation, then Georgi Ivanov’s statements after the congress have generated as many news as well as questions.

Not that the broken business model of the most popular game in Bulgaria is a surprise to someone, but such public speaking certainly does not help, especially when it is not accompanied by a clearly articulated plan on how to get out of the situation.

In general, the BFU Congress did not produce any occasions for optimism, but the opposite. Created expectations for the apocalypse. But as Benjamin Disraeli says, « Get ready for the worst, expect the best. » Obviously this thought will have to attach the football fan by the end of 2025.