The victory in the eternal derby was the fifth in a row for CSKA in all tournaments under the leadership of Hristo Yanev. It meant that he was the coach with the best initial results at the helm of the army in the last 5 years, writes "Topic sport".
We recall that the Kazanlak specialist started with draws against Loko Sf (1:1) and Ludogorets (0:0), but then successively beat Dobrudzha (1:0), Beroe (5:1), the second division Sevlievo for the Bulgarian Cup (2:1), Montana (3:1) and Levski (1:0). The previous red coach who started with such a good asset was Stamen Belchev in the summer of 2020, who also registered 5 wins and 2 draws in the first 7 matches of his second stay at the helm of CSKA. Then the former Haskovo scorer finished the 2019/20 season after the dismissal of Miloš Kruščić and took on the next campaign. He started with a draw against Ludogorets (1:1), and then beat Loko Pd (2:1) and Beroe (5:0) in the playoffs. The new campaign also started with a draw – 2:2 with CSKA 1948, but then entered a successful series against Botev Pd (2:1), Botev Vr (2:1) and Slavia (1:0) in the championship, as well as the Maltese Sirens (2:1) in the Europa League. This victory started the army team's path to the actual phase of the tournament.
It is precisely international competitions that are one of the main factors that put some coaches in an unequal position in the current ranking. Such is the example of Stamen Belchev's successor – Bruno Akrapovic, who started with 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the fall of 2020, with the defeat coming against the Swiss Young Boys right in the Europa League groups. It is clear that it is impossible to make comparisons between an opponent of medium European stature and… Sevlievo, but ultimately the dry numbers are in Yanev's favor. And his achievement should not be underestimated if we compare it with the balance of his predecessor Kerkez…
Something more - the 46-year-old specialist is on a streak of 13 matches without a loss at the head of CSKA from his three periods at the club (2015-2016, 2018 and 2025). His only defeat was against… the former coach of the army men and his teammate Alexander Tomas. It came in the second round of the 2016/17 season, when the rookie Vereya dropped the bomb with a 1:0 victory over the reds in Stara Zagora.
Hristo Yanev has an unprecedented asset at the head of CSKA, which is conditioned by the historic season in Group B. Then the Reds recorded 31 wins and 1 draw in the Southwestern Bundesliga, and the real story came in the Bulgarian Cup tournament, where 10 consecutive successes led the team to the trophy. Thus, Yanev's total balance as coach of his favorite team is 52 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss in all tournaments!