The attempts of “Levski” to modernize the “Georgi Asparuhov” station entered a new phase, after a decision was approved today to transfer the ownership of the sports complex from the Sofia regional administration to the Sofia municipality.
This was done by a decision of the architectural commission of the Metropolitan Municipal Council, which was adopted unanimously. For this reason, tomorrow the municipal councilors are expected to vote only formally on this proposal. Together with “Georgi Asparuhov”, all adjacent sports halls in the “Gerena” complex are transferred to the municipality.
This opens the way to acquiring the stadium on a long-term concession – something that the owner of “Levski” Nasko Sirakov highlighted as a mandatory condition for a new stadium. Even at the beginning of February, the company “Stadion Georgi Asparuhov” EAD was established by the club, whose main goal is the construction of a new facility. However, it will be able to work in reality only after the current decision of the SOS.
At the moment, the “Georgi Asparuhov” station is owned by the Regional Administration, and “Levski” had the privilege since 1998 of not paying rent for the use of the facility, but only the building tax and garbage fee, which were due to the municipality. In recent years, however, the football club has not been a correct payer and debts of about BGN 2 million have accumulated. At the beginning of this month, the capital municipality agreed to conclude a 3-year agreement with “Levski” for deferred payment. This not only eliminated the danger of a problem with the club’s license for the next season, but also solved the issue of the pending debt.
With the mentioned rescheduling contract, “Levski” will now have the right to apply for a concession. In fact, on March 1, the club announced that they had initiated a procedure to establish a free stadium construction right. The documents were submitted to the regional administration, from where they are now to be transferred to the Metropolitan Municipality.
They were also submitted to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, with which Nasko Sirakov actively communicated in recent years. He had successive meetings with three sports ministers – Radostin Vassilev, Vesela Lecheva and Dimitar Iliev, at which he negotiated specifically for help in solving the documentary cases surrounding the ownership of the stadium.
In fact, “Levski” already once acquired the right to use the stadium on a concession for a period of 35 years. This happened with an urgent decision of the government of Boyko Borisov from February 2021, when the “Georgi Asparuhov” station was urgently included in the state plan for concessions for the period 2021-27.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s heart is good, especially before elections. The fans of the Levski football team are called to make sure of this.
However, then the Council of Ministers decreed: “the Minister of Youth and Sports will take action to award a concession for the construction of the “Sports Complex for Professional and Mass Sports “Georgi Asparuhov”, Sofia City, Stolichna Municipality, Sofia Region”.
However, the fact that the principal of the facility remained the Regional Administration and the property was never transferred to the Ministry of Sports prevented further steps towards the modernization of the stadium. And the expected financial aid from the state, for which Sirakov repeatedly called, did not follow.
At the moment, however, it is not clear with what funds the “Georgi Asparuhov” stadium will be renovated, since it will already be owned by the municipality and the club will apply for a new concession. It is a fact that “Levski” is experiencing serious difficulties in supporting the club, as they still have to repay debts to the National Revenue Agency and the Sofia Municipality for a total of BGN 5,762 million. This is also the reason for the reduced budget of the club. And the construction of a new stadium requires significant funds, which “Levski” have so far not shown that they have anywhere to provide.
There remains, of course, the hope for state support under the scheme with Plovdiv’s “Botev” and “Lokomotiv”, whose stadiums are also municipal property, and this gave the government the opportunity to transfer funds for the construction of their facilities to the municipality of Plovdiv.
