The Bulgaria 2011 Review: Sports

Pictured: Silviya Miteva of Bulgaria performs with the clubs during her final individual at the 31st Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships 2011, in Montpellier, 22 September 2011. EPA/BGNES

Football

To say that Bulgaria's football year was a disappointment would be an understatement. The Bulgarian national football team's dismal performance over the year saw it slump to unseen lows in the international FIFA ranking. The team managed no better than  "win" the last spot in its Euro 2012 qualifying group and gathered a mere 5 points, a catastrophe it had not experienced for decades.

On March 26, Bulgaria managed to pull off a goalless draw against Switzerland. On June 4, the team won its last point in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, as it ended 1:1 with Montenegro in Podgotitsa. Ivelin Popov was on the scoresheet for the Bulgarians.

In their next qualifying game, the Bulgarians were helpless against England and lost 0:3 on September 02 in Sofia. On September 6, the Bulgarians recorded a 1:3 defeat at the hands of Switzerland, with defender Ivan Ivanov scoring the consolation goal. A third consecutive defeat followed, this time against Wales in Sofia on October 11.

Following a string of poor results and due to fierce opposition from the dressing room, prominent former German international Lottar Matthaeus was fired as Bulgarian national coach in September and was soon replaced by Lyuboslav Penev. Penev, a former prolific striker who used to play for Spanish sides Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Compostela and Celta Vigo, signed a two-year contract with the option to extend it for two more years.

In 2012, Bulgaria will start competing  in a World Cup qualifying group that contains Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Armenia and Malta. Officials from the Bulgarian Football Union have admitted that they do not expect miracles from the troubled national team.

Bulgaria's national team finished the year as 84th in FIFA's world ranking, one spot ahead of Oman and one below Angola.

The Bulgarian clubs did not do any better in their efforts to impress on an international level. For the first time in years, 2011 saw no Bulgarian clubs reaching the group stage in neither the Champions League nor Europa League. Champions Litex Lovech and Cup holders CSKA Sofia both failed to enter the Europa League tournament, as they lost on aggregate to Dinamo Kyiv and Steaua Bucharest respectively in the fourth qualifying round in August.

Levski Sofia had been eliminated from the tournament already the previous round after a dramatic penalty shootout against Slovakia's Spartak Trnava. Lokomotiv Sofia was also defeated in the previous round.

On a local level, it deserves to be mentioned that A-league newcomers Ludogorets Razgrad are surprisingly leading the table at the Bulgarian football league mid-season break .

Ludogorets, who were in the country's amateur third division just two years ago, earned the honorary title of winter champions after they gathered a total of 36 points from 15 games. CSKA are second on goal difference, while Chernomorets and Levski share the third spot with 33 points.

Bulgaria's most successful player over the recent years, Dimitar Berbatov, shared the Premier League Golden Boot award with his former Manchester United teammate Carlos Tevez. The Bulgarian striker netted a total of 20 goals in the Premier League's 2010-11 season.  On 28 May 2011, Berbatov was notably left out of the Manchester United squad for the Champions League Final, in which United lost 3–1 to Barcelona.

Recently, Berbatov has not been a first team regular and widespread rumors have circulated that he may be leaving the Red Devils soon, with PSG, Valencia, Anzhi and many other European sides mentioned for potential bidders for the striker. However, Sir Alex Ferguson has declared on a couple of occasions that the Bulgarian is staying at Old Trafford.

Volleyball

The men's volleyball team of Bulgaria was ousted from the 2011 European Volleyball Championships by losing their quarterfinal game against Russia 1:3 sets in September. The team is now the ninth strongest in the world, according to the FIVB international ranking.

Trentino, which is led by Bulgarian Radostin Stoychev and includes two Bulgarian players, Matey Kaziyski and Tsvetan Sokolov, grabbed its third successive world title, a feat unique in volleyball's history.

The year was marred by a scandal for the women's national volleyball squad.  The team's coach, Slovenian Dragutin Baltic, was fired from his position after he reportedly sent text messages to two of the players inviting them to his room and asking them to be "discrete". However, a check conducted at the request by the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation revealed the former coach has sent no lewd text messages to his players.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

In September, Bulgaria's women's rhythmic gymnastics teams has won gold in the 3 ribbons/2 hoops discipline final at the World Championship in Montpelier, France.

Before nailing the gold, Bulgaria's team featuring Reneta Kamberova, Mihaela Maevska, Tsvetelina Naydenova, Elena Todorova, Hristina Todorova, and Katrin Velkova earlier won the bronze in the 5 balls discipline final, and two bronze medals earlier.

The team is led by one of the Bulgarian legends in rhythmic gymnastics, Iliyana Raeva.

Wrestling

Another traditionally strong sport for Bulgaria made the nation proud in 2011. Bulgaria's top female wrestler Stanka Zlateva triumphed with a gold medal at September's World Wrestling Championship in Istanbul. Zlateva's impressive fifth world title in female wrestling  secured her another great honor – she was crowned as the country's best athlete of the year in December.

Bulgaria's Elis Guri also triumphed at the World Wrestling Championship, winning the gold in the 96kg Greco-Roman category.

Tennis

Bulgaria's top female tennis player Tsvetana Pironkova almost succeeded in repeating her feat from 2010's Wimbledon tournament, as she made it to the quarter-final after kicking Venus Williams out of the competition for second year in a row. Pironkova lost her singles quarter final match at Wimbledon 2011 to Petra Kvitova.

The country's most prominent male tennis hopeful Grigor Dimitrov reached a career-high No. 52 ranking in the ATP list – a 300-spot climb. The youngster is currently 76th in the ranking, which is still better than what any other Bulgarian male player has achieved.

Athletics

It was a good year for Bulgaria's top female sprinter, Ivet Lalova. She scored a sensational victory at 100 meters in the Diamond League track and field tournament in June. In July, she won the women's 100-metres dash at the Balkan Athletics Championships in Sliven, clocking the impressive 10.93 secs.

Lalova also became the only European sprinter to reach the final of the 100 m sprint at August's World Athletics Championship in Daegu, South Korea. Another Bulgarian runner, Vanya Stambolova,  reached the finals of the 400 meters hurdles discipline.

Swimming

A the end of July Stoychev, who is turning 35 in October, made headlines worldwide after defeating his competitors at the world water sports competition in Shanghai, China

Bulgarian open water champion Petar Stoychev won silver at the 25 K event at the 2011 European Open Water Swimming Championships in Eilat, Israel. Stoychev, who was named Bulgaria's second best athlete of 2011 after Stanka Zlateva, also triumphed with an unprecedented victory at the Travers?e Internationale du Lac Memphr?magog in Magog, Canada in August.

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