Long standing alongside some of Eastern Europe’s dormant football powerhouses with sporadic, but memorable winning runs in either a European, World Cup or Olympic championship, the Bulgarian national football team of today has long ago waved goodbye to its former days of glory. Once seen as a dark horse in any qualifying group stage by the likes of England, France and Germany, inflicting historic victories or registering shocking results at Wembley, Parc de Princes or “Vasil Levski” national stadium against the reigning German champions (1995), today’s remnants of what used to be a mighty side sink still deeper into the structural, administrative and organizational mayhem set by the country’s golden generation from the 1994 World Cup in the USA. It’s been these same handful of footballers who reached the semi-finals at the world’ biggest football stage and infamously defeated Argentina of Diego Maradona and Germany of Juergen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthaeus on their way to the nation’s first ever bronze medals from a World Cup - these same people who have overtaken the Bulgarian Football Union’s administrative ranks by storm over the last 15 years. The same men, who have swayed funding for football clubs and youth academies, keepings things barely afloat and notoriously twice re-electing the same ‘father figure’ of Bulgarian football as a president, namely Borislav Mihaylov.

But while the root of this footballing state of affairs continues to condemn the national team to placing even lower into the bottomless pit of sport team performances, it’s only fair that we turn into the latest results of the national team to prove this point.

With no clear long-term agenda, a change of 12 coaches in the last 15 years and boasting a squad that has no healthy balance between young talents and veteran players, it's no wonder that results continue to disappoint. Last Thursday’s latest defeat at home to Paraguay in a friendly match confirmed just that - a 0:1 loss, conceding a total of 13 shots to Bulgaria’s 4, a paltry 37% ball possession and another saddening scoreline which increased Bulgaria’s streak to a record 12 consecutive games without a win. Yet somewhat bizarrely, minutes after the end of the match, Georgi Dermendzhiev - Bulgaria’s newly appointed coach, shared his overall satisfaction and admiration for the style of play, but blamed the pressure as the reason for the loss.

Blaming the pressure in a friendly match with a new coach on the sidelines and in front of less than 2000 people at the national stadium - still another record for lowest attendance at a home game of the national side, may easily explain how detached Dermendzhiev is from football reality with the “Lions” at the moment.

But still more troubling for Bulgarian fans is the prospect of facing Czech Republic in today’s last game for the Euro 2020 qualifiers. Last in a group with the teams of England, Czech Republic, Kosovo and Montenegro, the winless run of games could soon increase to 13 in all competitions. Unless a consolating and by all means a largely surprising win would end the current abysmal record, the team is set to endure more boos and votes of no confidence from the entire football nation once again.

The selection of all 24 current national team players could look with little more than anxiety at all the previous major winless series in the last 20 years, knowing they have surpassed them long ago. Here are some of them.

6. September 5, 2001 - August 21, 2002 - 6 games without a win

World Cup 2002 qualifiers:

Bulgaria 0:2 Denmark

Czech Republic 6:0 Bulgaria

Friendly games:

Croatia 0:0 Bulgaria

Ecuador 3:0 Bulgaria

Mexico 1:0 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 2:2 Germany

End of winless streak

First game of Euro 2004 qualifiers

Belgium 0:2 Bulgaria

Goalscorers: Goran Jankovic and Stiliyan Petrov

5. November 17, 2004 - June 4, 2005 - 6 games without a win

World Cup 2006 qualifiers:

Bulgaria 0:3 Sweden

Hungary 1:1 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 1:3 Croatia

Friendly games:

Azerbaijan 0:0 Bulgaria

Egypt 1:1 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 0:0 Serbia and Montenegro

End of winless streak

Friendly game:

Bulgaria 3:1 Turkey

Goalscorers: Dimitar Berbatov and Martin Petrov

4. September 6, 2008 - March 28, 2009 - 6 games without a win



World Cup 2010 qualifiers:

Montenegro 2:2 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 0:0 Italy

Georgia 0:0 Bulgaria

Republic of Ireland: 1:1 Bulgaria

Friendly games:

Serbia 6:1 Bulgaria

Switzerland 1:1 Bulgaria

End of winless streak

World Cup 2010 qualifiers

Bulgaria 2:0 Cyprus

Goalscorers: Ivelin Popov and Dimitar Makriev

3. March 3, 2010 - September 7, 2010 - 6 games without a win

Euro 2012 qualifiers:

England 4:0 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 0:1 Montenegro



Friendly games:

Poland 2:0 Bulgaria

Belgium 2:1 Bulgaria

South Africa 1:1 Bulgaria

Russia 1:0 Bulgaria

End of winless streak

Euro 2012 qualifiers:

Wales 0:1 Bulgaria

Goalscorer: Ivelin Popov

2. June 4, 2011 - February 29, 2012 - 7 games without a win



Euro 2012 qualifiers:

Montenegro 1:1 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 0:3 England

Switzerland 3:1 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 0:1 Wales

Friendly games:

Belarus 1:0 Bulgaria

Ukraine 3:0 Bulgaria

Hungary 1:1 Bulgaria

End of winless streak

Friendly game:

Netherlands 1:2 Bulgaria

Goalscorers: Ivelin Popov and Iliyan Mitsanski

1. October 16, 2018 - November 14, 2019 - 12 games without a win



Nations League:

Norway 1:0 Bulgaria

Cyprus 1:1 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 1:1 Slovenia

Euro 2020 qualifiers:

Bulgaria 1:1 Montenegro

Kosovo 1:1 Bulgaria

Czech Republic 2:1 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 2:3 Kosovo

England 4:0 Bulgaria

Montenegro 0:0 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 0:6 England

Friendly games:

Republic of Ireland 3:1 Bulgaria

Bulgaria 0:1 Paraguay



Still on track with the current winless 12-game record, the Bulgarian team has scored 8 goals and conceded 24. If they lose or draw to the Czech Republic team, they will need to wait for another 4 months before the international break seeds them against another national team in a friendly, when the team will attempt to break their winless curse.

