It’s a valid point, but I’m still not sure that even 6-7% of all relatively successful managers are ex-GK.

I think this could be because they have more specific training schedules and/or choose to specialize in GK training only post-retirement.

Former GKs turned successful coaches are kinda rare? I can think of Lopetegui and Zoff on the top of my mind.

Not only is Jake Daniels gay but he’s also poor. Offer 350k net per week and you would have more allies Jake, duh.

/s, obviously

FIFA and UEFA would somehow double the amount of fixtures if India starts watching football.

Czechia-Moldova game brings me back to 2001, when Bulgaria was in a similar situation - we were travelling to Prague for a final group fixture. We needed a win to make it to the playoffs, CzechRep would do with a draw. Czech were favorites with Nedved, Poborsky, Baros but we had a moderately strong team, with emerging Berbatov, Martin and Stilian Petrov, and legend Balakov as a playmaker. People were excited and making comparisons with our epic win against France in 1993.

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Czechia won 6-0.

Czechia youth team beat BG youth team 8-1.

I used to be a fan of Czech NT in the 1990s and 2000s, but this current team is a bit underwhelming. Like, quite a few solid players but no one really brilliant.

Good luck to Moldova, win would be massive for them.

That’s what you get for not starting Bremer (which I’m fine with, less chance of injury)

Kostadinov, who the whole nation used to adore because of these 2 goals, is BFS vice president. Now everyone hates him.

Well, youth football is hard and costs money to do it properly. You need good coaches, infrastructure investment, etc, just for a product to maybe happen in 7-8 years. If you’re a club owner, it’s much easier and faster to just get ready foreign products, usually on free, and hope to sell them abroad for small profit. That’s the business model for most clubs. They don’t want that changed, therefore they elect The Wig every 4 years, knowing that he won’t pressure them to do anything (methodology, investment).

Like, don’t get me wrong, FANS hate Bobby, but club owners (mostly) LOVE him. He just lets them do whatever they want.

Just a bit of a background why people hate the BFS:

We used to be quite decent in football between the 1950s and 1990s - we featured in the - 62, 66, 70, 74, 86, 94 and 98 WCs and had some pretty good players along the way, although during socialism most of them were not allowed to play abroad. Last big tournament we featured was Euro 2004. One year later Bobby The Wig became BFS president. And has been ever since. We haven’t produced even an average player in a decade. We have no players in any top 4 leagues. The upper half of our clubs play with 80-90% foreigners. Bobby doesn’t give a shit. In fact, he claims that BFS are doing their job perfectly and it’s the clubs fault that they don’t produce any good players. Which is false since it’s explicitly said in the BFS manifesto that youth development is their job. The league is a total joke - we have a boutique little club formed in 2010 owned by a billionaire which has won the league 12-13 times in a row because they just buy the best foreigners. Stadiums are shit.

Just to give a bit of context here:

• the BFU (Bg football union) is universally hated and football fans of all factions were organizing a protest against them (in social media mostly) during the Hungary game.
• The BFU then contacted the Sofia police and had them issue a statement that the game faces “potential unrest” (based on what they saw on facebook!). They sent this to UEFA (BFU chief Bobby the Wig is good pals with Ceferin), and UEFA immediately “advised” for game behind closed doors. This was likely staged in advance.
• Now BFU decides to move the game from Sofia to Plovdiv, to be played behind closed doors. However, they fail to note that Plovdiv stadium has scheduled construction works, so the stadium director rejects the fixture, citing security reasons.
• BFU don’t want to be exposed as the idiots that they are, so the BFU technical director, Gonzo (real nickname), calls the stadium director and threatens that the license of the club that plays on this stadium will be revoked, if the fixture isn’t played.
• However, the stadium director doesn’t budge and issues a statement on the stadium condition which is sent to the Plovdiv mayor (the municipality owns the stadium) who officially rejects the fixture. It’s just a few days before the game now, schedule changes are hard if not impossible.
• Bobby the Wig gets desperate and threatens that UEFA will get Bulgaria kicked out of European football due to government involvement in football. Fans laugh at him saying that it would be a blessing given the state of our football.

It must be frustrating to pull out such a historically epic start and still be just 2pts ahead of Bayern.

Instead of sports journalists, we can just train bots to automatically link out of favor players at a certain position with clubs who look for players at such position.

Virgin Tonali and Zaniolo: It was just poker and blackjack

Chad Fagioli: I bet on my own performance ^((and lost))

I’m obviously biased but I don’t know what good it would do to hit him with a brutal punishment (some say 3 years which would effectively destroy his career), especially if he’s a gambling addict. He seems to need help more than isolation.

I’m not saying no punishment, just not something that will destroy his life