Borislav Mikhailov and a Generations-Defining Football Career
Borislav Mikhailov died in Sofia at the age of 63, family members confirmed to the outlet Actualno. The legendary goalkeeper had faced severe health challenges since late 2025 following a stroke from which he ultimately could not recover. A funeral will be held on Saturday, April 4, with a memorial service scheduled at the Sveti Sofia temple.
Mikhailov earned 102 caps for the national team, anchoring the squad that secured bronze medals and a historic run at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. His standout performance on the American pitches included two saved penalties during the round-of-16 shootout against Mexico. He also appeared in four matches at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
At the club level, Mikhailov won three league titles and three Bulgarian Cups with Levski Sofia, spending eight seasons with the blue jersey and earning the country’s Footballer of the Year honors in 1986. His career also took him abroad to Portugal’s Belenenses and France’s Mulhouse. In the mid-1990s, he returned to Bulgaria to play for Botev Plovdiv for two seasons before heading to England’s Reading, and at the end of the century he returned to play a half-season for Slavia before finishing his career at Swiss club FC Zürich.
Once again, I am convinced that we plan, but the Lord disposes!
Marie Petrova, via Actualno
Following his playing career, Mikhailov transitioned to sports administration. He joined the Executive Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union in 2000, later serving as first vice president before winning the presidency of the Central Administration in 2005. With a temporary break, he remained in the post until 2023, when he stepped down following intense pressure from the football community, including street protests by fans. His son, Nikolai Mikhailov, confirmed the news and requested respect and privacy for the entire family.
Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski announced with deep grief that Prof. Georgi Karasimeonov died suddenly on January 7. As a primary founder and doyen of political science in Bulgaria, Karasimeonov spent decades at the university, serving as head of the Department of Political Science from 2008 to 2012. A memorial service is scheduled for January 12, 2023, at 11:00 AM at the St. Great Martyr George the Victorious temple at 90 P. Evtimiy Blvd. in Sofia.
Born in Warsaw in 1949, Karasimeonov completed secondary school in New York in 1965 and began studying public sciences at New York’s City College. He earned a law degree from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1971, a doctorate in law in 1976, and a doctorate in philosophical sciences in 1989. He was also a Herder scholar at the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna from 1970 to 1971.
Karasimeonov’s professional path was entirely tied to Sofia University, starting as an assistant in the Faculty of Philosophy in 1976, becoming an associate professor in 1981, and a professor of political science in 1991. He served as a visiting professor at Ohio State University in the US, Örebro University in Sweden, the University of Athens, and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
Internationally recognized, Karasimeonov chaired the Bulgarian Political Science Association from 1991 to 1998, served on the executive committee of the European Consortium for Political Research from 1991 to 1994, and was a member of the Council for Social and Political Analysis under the President of the Republic of Bulgaria from 2002 to 2012. In 1994, by decision of the government of Denmark, he was awarded the Danish Order of the Dannebrog for exceptional efforts in supporting the cause of democracy in Bulgaria and developing Danish-Bulgarian relations.
His academic output included participation in dozens of scientific and research projects and numerous works in comparative politics, political parties, and democratization in Central and Eastern Europe. Among them are monographs such as Politics and Parties in USA, Politics and Political Institutions, Political Parties
, The Party System in Bulgaria, and Challenges to Democracy
, alongside studies concerning the new parliaments of Central and Eastern Europe, Cleavages, Parties and Voters, and the handbook of political change in Eastern Europe. From 1995, he served as executive director of the Institute for Political and Legal Studies, maintaining the highest impact factor among Bulgarian political scientists for decades.
Veteran Photojournalist Georgi Tsvetkov Documented Decades of History
Photojournalist Georgi Tsvetkov, known widely as Goshore, died at the age of 79, the Club of Photojournalists announced on social media. Colleagues in the journalistic community noted that his passing represents a severe blow to Bulgarian journalism.
Born in Sofia in 1946, Tsvetkov began his career as a contributor to Uchitelsko Delo and ZHP Voin, before being recruited to the photo department of Narodna Mladezh while simultaneously contributing to Student Tribune, Srednoshkolsko Znamė, and Bulgarian Journalist magazine. In the newspaper Kooperativno Selo, he developed his talent as a photo-storyteller documenting life and traditions in small settlements, a period he described as his bohemian-anarchist phase during the 1970s and 1980s when he frequently clashed with the militia over disagreements with the regime. During the 1990s, he worked as a photographer during the peak years of Trud newspaper before retiring.
Tsvetkov held membership in the Union of Bulgarian Journalists and earned dozens of national and international awards for photojournalism and artistic photography, leaving behind a rich legacy of images capturing decades of Bulgarian history.
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