Berbatov's First Club Kicked Out of Professional Football over Debts

Berbatov playing again for his first ever football club Pirin Blagoevgrad in a friendly demonstrative match in 2007. File photo

Pirin Blagoevgrad, the club in which Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov started his career, has been expelled from the highest division in Bulgaria's football championship due to debts.

The financially struggling club, who finished 13th in the 16-team league last season, is owing money to the country's National Revenue Agency, thus failing to cover the Bulgarian Football Union's criteria for participation in the next season. The club is directly sent to play in an amateur division, skipping even the second professional league.

In 1998, CSKA Sofia, one of Bulgaria's top football clubs, signed the 17 year-old Dimitar Berbatov from Pirin. A myth goes that CSKA "paid" just a couple of footballs in exchange for the player, whose rise to glory began in 2001, when he was signed by German Bayer Leverkusen.

In 2005, Pirin, who have been known for cultivating talented youngsters, were once again expelled from Bulgaria's top league for unpaid taxes.

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