The president of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) has resigned following pressure from the country's prime minister in the wake of the racist abuse from fans towards black English players on Monday.
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov called for former goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov to step down after Monday's match was temporarily halted by the referee to tackle abuse from the crowd.
"Today, the president of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihailov submitted his resignation, which will be presented to the members of the Executive Committee at the meeting on Friday," the BFU said in a statement.
"His position is a consequence of recent tensions: an environment that is detrimental to Bulgarian football and the Bulgarian Football Union."
The BFU announcement came only a couple of hours after a BFU spokesman said that
Mihaylov would not resign because the state had no right to interfere in football.
"The football union cannot be held responsible for the hooliganism of a group of people," BFU's spokesman Hristo Zapryanov had said earlier.
Racist abuse cast a blight over the match at the Vasil Levski national stadium as the game was twice halted by the referee after monkey noises and chants from the crowd were aimed at black English players.
A group of black-clad Bulgarian fans, some of whom were making right-wing salutes, were moved from an area behind the dugout at the stadium with home team captain Ivelin Popov appealing to the supporters in a heated discussion at halftime.
The 56-year-old Mihaylov, part of Bulgarian team that reached the semi-finals at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, had been BFU president since 2005.
Reuters
