The technical director of the Bulgarian Football Federation, Georgiy Ivanov, has come under fire after making some comments about the skin color of players who can play for the national team.

Georgy Ivanov, an ambiguous opinion about the naturalization of football players

The increase in the number of foreign players in Bulgarian football in recent years has led to a debate about possible naturalization, writes the Daily Mail.

The technical director of the Bulgarian federation, Georgy Ivanov, expressed his opinion on this matter.

“I want to see how Bulgaria plays with Bulgarian football players. As long as I am the technical director, no foreign player, with a foreign passport, with a different skin color will play. I don’t want players from other countries to replace Bulgarian players. Some countries can do it, but for me it’s a bad practice,” Ivanov said.

Having finished his career in 2009, having played 34 matches and 4 goals for the Bulgarian national team, Ivanov took over the management position in 2022.

Bulgarian ex-captain Stiliyan Petrov reacted sharply to the statements of Georgy Ivanov.

“I am really shocked and saddened by the words of the technical director, which I strongly condemn. This reflects the questionable culture and ignorance that exists among our leaders in football today,” Petrov said.