Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov was attempting to take over from former Reading goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov as president of the Bulgarian Football Association. But Mihaylov has been re-elected as president after spending the majority of the last 16 years in the role.
He had hoped to bring “radical change” in the role, aided by fellow ex-Premier League stars Stiliyan Petrov and Martin Petrov, but sadly they lost out on the four year term with Mihaylov winning more than 50 per cent of the votes cast in the opening round of the ballot.
Berbatov gained 230 votes, 11 fewer than Mihaylov’s 241, while other votes were in favour of Hristo Portochanov.
A statement on the Bulgarian FA website read: “Bulgarian football clubs re-elected Borislac Mihaylov as their president for the next four years.
“In front of the eyes of all of Bulgaria and all those present in the hall, the representation of the clubs gave their support for Mihaylov in the competition of the other five candidates, who publicly assessed the transparency and democracy of the vote.”
