National coach Ilian Iliev to FACTI: The Executive Committee should decide whether they trust me

National coach Ilian Iliev, who also leads the Black Sea team, resigned from the national team a few days ago. This happened after he received sharp reprimands from the president of the Professional Football League Atanas Karaivanov and several clubs. "Pandora's Box" was opened after the draw for the semifinals of the Bulgarian Football Cup, which caused dissatisfaction mainly among the people of Varna and CSKA, and very soon after that, the president of the PFL Atanas Karaivanov demanded Iliev's resignation as coach of the national football team. How does he view all this happening… National coach Ilian Iliev to FACTI.

- Mr. Iliev, you resigned a few days ago as the national coach of Bulgaria. Is your decision final? Are you stopping working with the Bulgarian national football team…
- With my resignation, I responded to the attacks of Atanas Karaivanov. As I have already explained, I am resigning because I have a moral obligation to do this. The Executive Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union must now decide whether to believe me or Atanas Karivanov. I had a moral obligation to do so and I did. I simply had to respond to all the slander and lies from Atanas Karaivanov.

- Why now, nearly a year and a half since you took over the first team, has it become a problem that you are also the coach of the Black Sea team. This is also being put forward as an argument…
- I have no explanation. As you saw, the attacks were not only from Atanas Karaivanov, but also from other clubs. I have been in both places for a year and three or four months. If they have problems with this, they should raise it with the Executive Committee as a question. And I want to ask something important. Why has not a single colleague of yours come out in recent days to explain to the Bulgarian public who Atanas Karaivanov actually is. Who is he, how long has he been in football, where does he come from, what has he done for Bulgarian football, who is behind him, what is he doing at the moment? Nothing. Complete obscurity and silence from our journalism, which is generally very witty and consistent in explaining to people what is happening. But now, complete silence about this man.
Strange, for your extremely informed colleagues, whom we read every day, who bravely explain to us even the smallest tactical details in the work of each of our teams. But now nothing, silence, as if this person does not exist.

- Has anything changed this year and a little in terms of attitude towards you? How do you feel about things?
- Maybe the fact that I expressed my opinion during the week that more Bulgarians should participate in the Bulgarian championship has some weight. Also, we - from the Black Sea, and two other clubs expressed claims that there is something ordered in the draw for the Bulgarian Cup. Otherwise, I do not know why the topic is being raised right now. There are about fifteen days until the play-offs with Northern Ireland and I do not believe that this is some kind of attack just before these matches to distract us. Although this whole situation has done exactly that. Now our team, with which I work in the national team, is in resignation, but we are obliged to determine the group of players for the matches with Northern Ireland. This is because, when summonses are sent, no one asks if you are resigning, or everything is normal, the clubs are not interested in this, and there are also deadlines within which these summonses must be sent.

- Will we see you on the coaching bench of the national team for the matches with Northern Ireland?
- This must be decided by the BFU Executive Committee. The Executive Committee must decide whether they believe me or not, whether we continue to work according to the program that we have provided, or whether they believe Karaivanov.

- By we continue to work, we mean only these two matches that are coming up, or we continue to work according to the program that you proposed according to your contract with the BFU…
- The resignation must be voted on. The Executive Committee will meet, so we will find out soon. If they accept my resignation, it means they believe Karaivanov's slander. In such a situation, there is no point in continuing together if they don't believe me.

- Are you referring to what Karaivanov expressed as claims against you?
- Yes, for all these lies and slander, because he first inflicted them on the national coach of Bulgaria, and later on the coach of Cherno More, respectively on my personality. I have built my name for so many years and there is no way that one person can come out and slander me with nonsense and lies, and then I have to explain and justify myself for something I did not do.

- As a player, you know what it is like to be part of the national team, but as a coach, what lessons have you learned during this nearly year and a half of work in the first team?
- You know that the national team coach does not have much time to work with the players, so in the first team we work more on a psychological level. Also, because we play with high-level teams, we have to be extremely concentrated and responsible at every moment, knowing that there is always something to improve. And, of course, the responsibility as a national team coach is much greater, because we are responsible to the entire Bulgarian people. Of course, we hope that the fans will stand behind us again in the upcoming matches with Northern Ireland regardless of who will be the coach or who will play. Because everyone is there to protect the name of Bulgaria.

- Are all the decisions that you have made as a national team coach with your team yours? Has anyone tried to interfere in your work?
- I will state responsibly that at no time - neither under Bobi Mihaylov, nor now under Georgi Ivanov, has anyone tried to exert pressure on my decisions. On the contrary, I have had and still have complete freedom to determine everything in the sports and technical part. I am responsible for everything that I have been given authority for and that the team has gone through.

- Our team is developing, it is visible. The boys have raised their heads, as they say, and it is visible. There is a positive change against the background of the players we have...
- I really hope that things look like that from the outside, that there is some positive change. We are glad that people believed in us and came back to support us. But I will say again that there is always something to improve, especially in a team in our condition.

- What future do you see for the national team?
- We have talented young players and we need to develop them. We need to help them grow. We had a lot of matches in which we gave our best on the pitch, and at one point we thought things could go more easily, but then we were penalised in the match against Northern Ireland. At such a level, you cannot underestimate and such a result was achieved. This loss set us back a bit, both in terms of the fans' trust in us and in terms of self-confidence in the team. I am confident that we have talented young players and the only thing they need to receive is support. The players need to gain self-confidence. When a person is hampered because they are told every day that they cannot do it, that we do not have players, this affects their self-confidence. I want it to be exactly the opposite.

- And at the same time, the Executive Committee is discussing how to have more foreigners play in our teams?
- I have expressed my opinion. I have nothing against foreigners, because here too - in the Black Sea, and in the other teams I've been in, I've had foreign players with excellent qualities, but also very stable as people. What I'm claiming is that there should be a certain number of Bulgarian players in each team, a certain number should be set. At the moment there is no limit for players from the EU, so you see that there are teams that play with 11 foreigners.

- Yes, this is a possible option, and it is being used…
- The only thing I suppose could be done is to introduce a rule that a certain number of Bulgarians must play, in order to move a little forward in the development of domestic players.

- Let's go back a little to the Bulgarian championship. Levski was asked to have the matches with Ludogorets, CSKA and the away game against Cherno More in Varna, at the “Ticha“ stadium, refereed by foreign referees. Somehow, the fashion for Levski's matches with CSKA to be refereed by foreigners has gone out of fashion. Why did they start talking like that again…
- Look, I have no problem with any match, against any team in our country, being refereed by a foreign refereeing team, but be it at home or away. Although I trust the Bulgarian referees. Especially the young ones. There have been changes among the referees in recent months and in my opinion things have become better.