The Bulgarian football union (BFU) has notified police about allegations of match-fixing in its second division, according to reports. AFP reported that the BFU had issued a statement confirming contact with police authorities, due to ‘statements surfacing in the public domain in the past days about match-fixing in the B Group’. According to a Reuters report, officials from five clubs were summoned to give evidence: Septemvri Simitli, Lokomotiv Mezdra, Vereya Stara Zagora, Botev Vratsa and Pirin Razlog.

Reuters said that during the previous week, Lokomotiv Mezdra – a team in the Bulgarian B Football Group – had accused referee Nikolay Andreev of influencing its loss to Vereya Stara Zagora. “What happened in Stara Zagora was a mockery to us”, Lokomotiv captain Nikolay Tsvetkov told local media. “The referee was trying to provoke us during the whole game. He warned us that he would award the hosts a penalty. Even the hosts laughed at his decisions.”

Reuters reported that a day after Lokomotiv’s claims, another team in the same league, Septemvri Simitli, accused Andreev of illegaly awarding the Stara Zagora-based side a penalty during the match. Septemvri also apparently accused Vereya of bribing players from Pirin Razlog, another team in the B Group, before the game between Vereya and Pirin Razlog. According to Reuters, Vereya have denied the allegations.

The Sports Integrity Initiative could not find any BFU statement on the allegations on its internet site, nor on the website of any of the clubs concerned. The BFU office in Sofia (pictured) has been contacted.