Bulgarian football in the storm of racism: “Players with other skin colors will not play for the national team”

Almost all of the national teams now have at least one footballer who is the son of second-generation immigrants, or someone naturalized thanks to some old relative or a lifestyle choice. But some people don’t like that…

In a globalized world, with increasingly open and less defined borders, even football has had to get used to things that probably still seemed incredible thirty years ago. Almost all of the national teams now have at least one footballer who is the son of second-generation immigrants, or someone naturalized thanks to some old relative or a lifestyle choice. And so we see quite particular scenes, such as the former Englishman Tyias Browning who has been called Jiang Guangtai for a couple of years and has been playing for China, or the midfielder Glen Kamara, who as the son of parents from Sierra Leone finds himself defending the colors of Finland. Everything is now natural for almost everyone.

Foreigners and skin color

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But some still don’t like it, as demonstrated by the many controversies that are affecting Bulgarian football. As it reports Balkan Insight, the comments of Georgi Ivanov, technical director of the Bulgarian federation, are causing discussion and not a little. After a meeting with a youth team, Ivanov had his say about naturalizations and second-generation players. And they weren’t soft words. “As long as I am director, a foreign player, with a foreign passport or with a different skin color will not play. I don’t want players from other nations to replace Bulgarian players. Some nations can also do it, but for me it’s an irregular thing” . Needless to say, the executive immediately came under fire from criticism.

Resignation and confirmations

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To the point that the federal president, Borislav Mihaylov, resigned after the many controversies that arose, but then decided to… withdraw them. Perhaps also because he has to face elections soon, with the former Manchester United center forward Dimitar Berbatov who explained that he is willing to compete for his place. Of course, the Bulgarian national team has a problem. After the 1990s, when Hristo Stoichkov’s generation made the country dream, the selection collapsed into an anonymity that obviously doesn’t please the fans or the federation. But Ivanov’s restrictive measures still seem out of place. And what does he think? He confirmed, word for word. “I remain of my mind, I want to see Bulgaria with Bulgarian players”. And the controversy continues…