The match Levski – CSKA, during which the people secretly found out about the most terrible accident in the world

A big scandal erupts in Bulgarian football before a match between Levski and CSKA. It is about the final for the Bulgarian Cup in 1986, played on April 27. As BLITZ has already written, on this date the eternal rivals have three matches against each other. Saturday will be the fourth. We have already detailed the dramas during and after the 1996 battle. Today BLITZ takes you back another 10 years – in 1986.

The final was played just a day after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion. Then there is still no official announcement in Bulgaria about what happened. The authorities and the press are silent until the evening of May 2.

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However, the word is spreading for the first time in a public place around the Vasil Levski National Stadium. A dozen spectators out of all 28 thousand in the stadium heard about the huge accident at the Soviet (Ukrainian) nuclear power plant “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin”, which exploded in the early hours of April 26, on the “enemy” radio stations “Free Europe”, “Voice of America” ​​and the Bulgarian section of the BBC. Western media spread the chilling news already in their evening broadcasts on April 26, as well as in the morning of April 27. Before the start of the match, the fans in question whisper and tell what they have learned, and the others around them cannot believe their ears… Witnesses to this day say that in sector “A” of the national stadium, the main topic was not what was happening down on the field, but the dark and terrifying news from the inferno in Chernobyl, located about 1500 km from the Bulgarian capital. Most viewers do not believe it and blame those who released the fly, that it is a rumor and they should not listen to the “lies” and “deceptions” of the “capitalist manipulators”. It also leads to an argument that almost ends in a fight.

Now for the football scandal. Two weeks before the match, the two clubs agree not to use their national players. The chosen ones of the selector Ivan Vutsov are preparing hard for the world championship starting on May 31 in Mexico, which we are opening with a match against Italy (1:1).

However, Levski breaks the agreement and lets Georgi Yordanov play. The justification is that Lamyata was not a solid starter in the national team. The Blues do all this with the permission of the Bulgarian Football Federation.

CSKA reacted as if stung, but in the end Georgi Yordanov took part in the final from the first to the last minute.

Then both teams have different names. The “blues” play under the name Vitosha, and the “reds” play under the name Sredets. These changes were imposed as part of the measures against the two clubs due to the brawl in the final of the Bulgarian Cup a year earlier.

The match is known among Bulgarian football stars as the Banquet with “Sredets” vodka and “Vitosha” yellow cheese. The brands of vodka and cheese in question were quite popular in the country at the time.

Levski beat 2:1 with two goals from Mihail Valchev. Georgi Slavkov scores for CSKA.

Emil Spasov and Emil Velev are missing from the “blues” squad for the final, and Hristo Stoichkov is missing from the “reds”. All three are still suspended for their part in the brawl on June 19, 1985. In fact, Itso would make his first appearance since the ban just three days later on April 30 in Sliven in a Soviet Army Cup match.

Borislav Mihailov, Nasko Sirakov (the two have already been rehabilitated and returned to football), Petar Petrov and Bozhidar Iskrenov are missing from Levski’s national team. For the “reds”, national players Georgi Dimitrov, Radoslav Zdravkov and Stoycho Mladenov are absent. Lachezar Tanev is also gone. The CSKA star has not yet recovered from the car accident he suffered in December 1985.

The referee of the match is Bogdan Dochev, who just two months later (June 22, 1986) will be the side referee in the quarter-final of the world championship between Argentina and England (2:1). The match is remembered for Diego Maradona’s two goals. The former is known as the Hand of God, and the latter has been named the #1 goal of the 20th century.

Already in the 3rd minute, Levski was awarded a penalty. Georgi Velinov saves Mihail Valchev’s shot, but the striker is accurate with the addition. Again Michaud is in the arms of his teammates afterwards. It wasn’t until the second half that CSKA returned a goal through Georgi Slavkov from a penalty. No more goals are scored and the “blues” are jubilant with the Bulgarian Cup.
Rumen ILIEV/BLITZ SPORTS

April 27, 1986
Cup of Bulgaria, final
LEVSKI – CSKA 2:1
1:0 Mihail Valchev (3), 2:0 Mihail Valchev (22), 2:1 Georgi Slavkov (56-penalty)

LEVSKY: Vlado Delchev, Krasimir Koev, Antoni Zdravkov, Stoil Georgiev, Nikolai Iliev, Dimitar Markov, Rusi Gochev (78 – Rosen Krumov), Plamen Tsvetkov, Georgi Yordanov, Vladko Shalamanov, Mikhail Valchev (88 – Nikolai Todorov)
Coach: Kiril Ivkov

CSKA: Georgi Velinov, Nedyalko Mladenov, Alexander Chavdarov, Krasimir Bezinski (83 – Rumen Stoyanov), Angel Chervenkov, Kostadin Yanchev, Ivaylo Kirov, Ruzhdi Kerimov (57 – Emil Kostadinov), Yordan Dimitrov, Georgi Slavkov, Lyuboslav Penev
Coach: Dimitar Penev

Judge: Bogdan Dochev
Art. “Vasil Levski” – 28,000 viewers