DF: In November we have the final phase of the World Cup, which will take place in the small but beautiful Qatar. How much will holding the football in the first country of the Middle East help the development of football?.

"Well I think there is always a first time in everything. Football is developing and changing quickly so we can’t be surprised any more about things. We need to adapt and embrace the changes and not to be afraid of the first times. I am wishing good luck to everybody involved, and I hope to see a great World Cup on the pitch and off the pitch".

8. But let's also look at the football of your country. The Bulgarian national team will not be present in the final phase of the World Cup. What do you think does not work well and no longer stands out as great footballers?.

"Unfortunately our football is not in great shape. And this has been going on for so many years now, and things are getting even worse. Nothing is working well, when you start from the small kids/academies, going through our professional teams and competitions and all the way up to the National team. And as you pointed out, we are not again part of the World Cup. Big changes need to be made, on all levels, especially at the top in Bulgarian Football Union, and the people who are in charge for so many years need to go. When there are no results, changes are inevitable and must. That's why me and my team, we fight to change things and I am one of the candidates for President of Bulgarian Football Union".

DF: We have been informed that the last years there are serious problems in the management of the Bulgarian Football Union by Borislav Mihaylov. Could you give us more information about this and share with us your opinion about the changes that must be made.

"Borislav Mihaylov resigned from his position as the President of the Bulgarian Football Union in 2019 as a result of the racist scandal during the official match between Bulgaria and England. In 2021, he surprisingly withdrew his resignation and returned to his position. Ever since, he has been fighting with illegal methods to retain his presidency.

There was an extraordinary Congress of the Bulgarian Football Union in October 2021. Mihaylov and the Executive Committee of BFU refused to take into account the will of more than 1/3 of the clubs - members of the Bulgarian Football Union. That is how - according to the BFU Statutes, a Congress is convened.

But the decision of court was to convene a Congress immediately. There were elections for president of the Bulgarian Football Union, but they were marred by the current leadership. The speaker of the Congress made it clear that 483 delegates were present and 242 votes were needed to elect a new president. Everything can be heard clearly from the record of the Congress: "The quorum has been adopted. For the minutes and for the media, please indicate - 242 delegate votes are the delegates, who represent more than 50% and are needed to make a decision after the inspection."

Subsequently, in the first voting stage Mihaylov received 241 votes, 230 were the votes for me and there had to be a runoff, according to the Bulgarian Law and BFU Statutes. But, it was a total shock, after much deliberation, Mihaylov and his people, who led the Congress, announced that he had been elected president with 241 votes. Absolute violation of the statutes and laws. The Congress from October 2021 has been appealed in the court and the decision is still pending.

A regular elective Congress of the BFU was convened for March this year. Separately, there was a new subscription from over 1/3 of the clubs - BFU members. But Mihaylov again refused to comply with it. At one point, he thought he would not pay attention to the club's will and the subscription because "there's a Congress convened anyway." And at the last moment he and the Executive Committee simply announced: "The Congress is canceled". Without any legal grounds. The Congress was convened absolutely legally. It was not even officially canceled - only by a press conference conducted by Mihaylov. But it remained published in the Commercial Register. Clubs - members of the BFU, appeared and voted. I was elected president of the BFU. The decision was appealed and is now also in court. Mihaylov absolutely illegally decided to punish the participating clubs and expelled a huge number of members of the BFU. The only thing that me and my team want is to convene and hold a fair, honest Congress. But honest things obviously scare Mihaylov.

The results, call FIFA and UEFA

"The results of our national team are deplorable. In the last days a journalistic investigation brought to light evidence of Mihaylov's connections with people recognized as the bosses of the football matches manipulation in the world. A photo was published - photo of him celebrating New Year with the match fixing boss Dan Tan. A few days later Mihaylov signed a contract for a friendly match between Bulgaria and Estonia (2-2 with 4 penalties), which was officially declared manipulated by FIFA.

And now we have a photo and a contract cementing the link between the Singapore match manipulation cartel and Borislav Mihaylov.

Do you remember how the German Football Association President Reinhardt Grindel unexpectedly resigned after apologizing for accepting an expensive watch?.

Well, for Mihaylov the evidence for connections with the match manipulation cartel is clearly not enough to resign. I urge FIFA and UEFA to investigate the new evidence".