Buy & Sell Bulgaria Insight Newsletter

By Stel Violaris

As we all know, association football is the number one sport on planet Earth, loved and played from the deserts of Africa to the rainforests of South America. Bulgaria is no exception. Playing organised football and being involved in teams has had a very positive impact on my life and that of many others so I wanted to bring this benefit to the youngsters of Varna. This is how the Eurolink Cup was born.

The inaugural event was contested by 8 teams from 7 schools in the Varna area and was arranged in two leagues of 4 with the winners of each league playing in the final for the cup.

The first thing to say was that the standard of football was very high for this age group (8-11) with many of the kids displaying fine technique, control and awareness of the game. This was very encouraging as it demonstrates that besides talent, these kids have developed the technical side of their game which can only be obtained through quality training and practice. So kudos must go to the coaches, who have put in the time and effort to develop these youngsters.

The tournament was contested in a very good spirit of sportsmanship which makes a nice difference from the acrimony of the professional game and credit here must go to the players who despite the intense level of competition and pressure, all behaved like little gentlemen.

The winners of the two groups were Primary School “Ivan Vazov” and Primary School “Tzar Simeon I” who both contained candidates for the “player of the tournament”. This added extra spice to the final which was won 4-1 by Primary School “Ivan Rilski”who were inspired by the eventual player of the tournament Krasimir Yosifov-Nuuri. A quick word about this lad, he’s quite small and thin and to look at him you would never imagine the talent hidden in his boots. However give him a football and defenders to run at and he will run rings around them. We were all captivated by him. I have never seen a player so young to be so talented and technically proficient. Nuuri as well as half of the winning team are from Bulgaria’s much maligned Roma community, but the way the whole team was integrating together and combined so well to win this trophy gives one hope for the future of the country.

The winners received € 100 each in sports equipment vouchers which will come in very handy, especially as this extraordinary team was perhaps the most poorly kitted out. Most of the players did not have football boots and played in their trainers and the whole team only had one pair of shin pads which were shared between the two best players (one shin pad each). Hopefully now they will be better protected from injury and their talent will be allowed to blossom.

I’ll never forget one of the winning team telling me (through the translator) that this was one of the best days of his life. I think it was one of the best of mine too.