Here is what they wrote in their Daily Star edition:
The largest stadium in the country, which holds 55,000 people, is abandoned without a safety certificate.
A European nation has abandoned its biggest stadium, which has a larger capacity than the Etihad and St James’s Park, due to a lack of funding.
The largest stadium in Bulgaria is abandoned and cannot be used for professional football matches, as it does not have a safety certificate.
Plovdiv Stadium, which is located in the city of the same name, has a capacity of 55,000 seats. Built way back in 1950, it was once intended to be the home of the national team, having also been used by local teams.
But the multi-purpose arena, which also has an athletics track around the pitch, has been left to rot in recent decades. Instead, the authorities have focused their finances on Lokomotiv’s current stadium – “Lauta”, as well as the adjacent Hristo Botev stadium.
As a result, Plovdiv Stadium now looks like a ghost town with parts of the roof missing and weeds growing in the stands.
The stadium still has some use, with third-tier Spartak temporarily playing their home games there while their stadium is being worked on.
Just 100 people watched a game last month, a far cry from the crowd that attended a Metallica concert in 1999.
The national team plays in the next largest stadium in the country, which has 44,000 seats – Vasil Levski National Stadium, in the capital Sofia, 1 hour and 45 minutes by car from Plovdiv.
The national team was due to play Hungary at the Hristo Botev Stadium earlier last week, but the municipality refused access due to construction work and UEFA moved the match back to Sofia.
The match was played behind closed doors due to the ongoing fan protests against the long-time president of BFS Borislav Mihailov, the publication concludes.
