The new Sport Edition sports complex for football and padel in Sofia was officially opened today by its owner Daniel Borimirov during a formal ceremony.<\/p>\n
Among the attendees were the entire Levski team with head coach Julio Vel\u00e1zquez and majority shareholder Nasko Sirakov, Ballon d\u2019Or winner Hristo Stoichkov, legendary midfielder Krasimir Balakov, Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) President Georgi Ivanov, representatives of local authorities, and other officials.<\/p>\n
The Sport Edition complex features six indoor padel courts and three modern football pitches, built on an area of 15,000 sq.m. The site also includes a restaurant with a children\u2019s play area and other amenities for visitors. The facility is located in Lyulin 6, 2 Indira Gandhi Street, Sofia.<\/p>\n
It was there that Stoichkov also announced his major project for the development of Bulgarian football. He revealed an idea for FIFA, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Sports, and the BFU to jointly build artificial football pitches in at least 20 Bulgarian cities. To achieve this, the 1994 Ballon d\u2019Or winner urged national institutions to speed things up, as he is still waiting for their project proposals in order to submit them for funding to the world football governing body.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to congratulate Boro for what he has done. This is a path that every club and municipality should follow, because this is how we get children involved in sports. My congratulations, Boro, for what you\u2019ve done! Unique! There will be others who will follow this path, because for me this is a truly unique facility. <\/em> This is the first of its kind. I haven\u2019t seen such a facility in Bulgaria. It\u2019s a one-of-a-kind project. A few years ago, they didn\u2019t allow him to build it in Boyana because the donkeys and horses had nowhere to graze. With this facility, we have not only caught up with Europe \u2014 we have surpassed it. <\/em> I travel everywhere and have seen many things. There are many programs. The BFU President, the Ministry of Sports, and the Ministry of Education must present plans to me showing where these facilities can be built in schools, and I will sign immediately. I\u2019m still waiting. How long will I wait \u2014 I don\u2019t know. This is a major responsibility for Georgi as president of the football union. There are FIFA and UEFA programs. It\u2019s no coincidence that at the last UEFA meeting, a big push was given to the football union. I hope that with the help of Georgi, the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Education will demand these things. Because every school should have at least one artificial pitch. <\/em> People often ask me what I saw in the countries I visited. I saw things that are 300 years ahead of us. Every club has a stadium, a training base, at least 10 pitches \u2014 two indoor, three or four artificial. Clubs should come and see this first step that Boro has taken. We are living off the glory of the 1990s, but we started back in the 1980s. You know where we trained and prepared, and we didn\u2019t complain. I hope this is a starting point. And once you start \u2014 there\u2019s no stopping. That\u2019s how it was with us. We started small in the 1980s and reached where we eventually all did,\u201d said Stoichkov.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n