Why Bulgaria are Placing their Faith in Youth to get back into Footballing Relevance

Bulgarian Football has fallen a long way since the peak of the national team that finished fourth in the 1994 World Cup powered by the goals of the outstanding Hristo Stoichkov, who finished the tournament as the golden boot winner with six strikes. The current iteration of the Bulgarian national side are in a bitter battle to remain in the hunt for Euro 2024 after the opening two rounds of qualifying. The top bookmakers have offers available to back Bulgaria to turn their form around to make a surge to qualify for the tournament, but there is a huge challenge for Mladen Krstajic to turn the performances of his team around. As it stands, the odds are truly against Bulgaria returning to a major competition, never mind a push for the latter stages as they did almost 30 years ago.

Bulgaria have produced talented players since, but the results on the field for the national side have nosedived. Even with players such as Dimitar Berbatov, they have managed just two appearances at major tournaments since finishing fourth in the 1994 World Cup, failing to progress from the group stage at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2004. The problem has been finding a team that can blend together to produce consistent results on the pitch. Krstajic appears to have turned towards a youth movement to rectify their problems. It is a gamble placing a lot of young players in the same side at international level, but at this stage, Bulgaria do not have a lot to lose. It may result in further disappointment in the short term, but in the next round of qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup or Euro 2028, it might allow them to turn their fortunes around.

Building From The Back

Bulgaria's latest squad for their Euro 2024 qualifiers did not include a single player that had...