SOFIA, April 10 (Reuters) – Bulgarian club Minyor Pernik
have threatened to field their junior team and wear black
ribbons in a league match next week in protest at alleged bias
by referees against them.
Minyor, ninth in the standings, said in a statement referees
Ahmed Ahmed and Stoyan Denev, who were in charge of their recent
visits to champions Litex Lovech, should be banned for life.
Ahmed officiated Minyor’s 2-0 loss in the Bulgarian Cup
quarter-finals last month while Denev refereed the 2-2 draw in
the league on Saturday with Litex equalising in injury time
after a dubious penalty.
“If they don’t take actions we’ll field our junior team
against Ludogorets (on April 18) while all the players, coaches
and fans will wear black ribbons as part of our protest against
the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU),” Minyor said on Tuesday.
But second-placed Ludogorets, chasing their first title, say
they do not want to play against a weakened team made up largely
of 17 and 18-year-olds.
“We want to win the title but not at such a price,”
Ludogorets’s executive director Angel Petrichev told local
media. “We want a fair play and we think Minyor should field
their best team against us.”
(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov, editing by Dave Thompson; To
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