Sofia: Bulgaria football coach Krasimir Balakov has stepped down as head coach of the team following his team's 6-0 humiliating defeat at the hands of England in the Euro 2020 qualifying tournament.
The match garnered attention for all the wrong reasons as the England player's witnessed racial slurs being hurled at them from the Bulgarian crowd at Sofia.
The Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) confirmed Balakov's exit following a meeting of its executive committee on Friday.
"The performance of Bulgaria's men's national team in recent months has been described as unsatisfactory, which is why the national coach Krasimir Balakov resigned, which was accepted by the members of the executive committee," BFU was quoted saying.
In the match between England and Bulgaria, the match referee was even seen discussing the matter with England skipper Hary Kane and an announcement was also made at the stadium on Monday during the match instructing the fans not to racially abuse England players.
"Because of racist behaviour which is interfering with the game, the referee has indicated he may have to suspend the match. Please be in no doubt that the game may be suspended and abandoned if racist behaviour continues," was announced.
England players witnessed racial slurs being hurled at them from the Bulgarian crowd at Sofia. Three Lions' debutant Tyrone Mings had made the fourth official aware of abuse as he went on to say: "You hear that?"England were 2-0 up at the time, following goals from Marcus Rashford and Ross Barkley.A large group of fans who were wearing black hoodies were pictured showing their middle fingers and performing Nazi salutes towards the pitch.England coach Gareth Southgate made another complaint to the match officials shortly before half-time, with abuse towards his players continuing after the initial warning.With the match stopped for a second time before the interval, large numbers of the above-mentioned section of spectators were seen leaving the stadium.UEFA has a three-step protocol to deal with racism. In the first step, an announcement is made at the stadium to instruct the crowd if there is any racist abuse.In the second step, the players can leave the pitch while a second message is delivered to fans, before, finally, a decision is made whether to abandon or restart the match.Bulgaria are set to face the Czech Republic in their final Euro 2020 qualifier while England will face Montenegro and Kosovo in November in their final qualifying matches.
