The Bulgarian national football team plays tonight against Turkey in its fifth match from Group “E“ on the road to the 2026 World Cup. In addition to the usual fight for points, the “lions” are also facing a historic stake – to avoid their worst qualifying performance in 91 years, writes "Topic sport".
Alexander Dimitrov's team has only two matches to avoid repeating the negative record from 1934, when Bulgaria finished its first World Cup qualifiers without a single point. The chances of salvation are today's match in Bursa and the subsequent hosting of Georgia on Tuesday at the “Vasil Levski“.
The first participation in the qualifiers in 1934 placed Bulgaria in a group with Hungary and Austria. In the three matches played, the team fell twice to the Hungarians with 1:4, once to Austria with 1:6, and after the Austrians refused to host the tournament, the campaign ended without a point. This remains the only case in which Bulgaria - regardless of whether in World Cup, European Championship or Nations League qualifiers - ended without an asset.
In two other cycles – for the 1938 World Cup and Euro 1960 - the national teams won by a point, while in the European qualifiers the format was elimination and Bulgaria was eliminated by the future finalist Yugoslavia after 0:2 and 1:1.
In more recent times, the weakest results came in the 2021 Nations League, when Georgi Dermendzhiev's team took 2 points and was relegated to the lower level, as well as in the Euro 2024 qualifiers under the leadership of Mladen Krastaic - without a win, with four draws and four losses. The year 2025 is also tough: two 1:2 defeats to the Republic of Ireland in the play-offs for League B, a 2:2 draw with Cyprus and a 0:4 defeat to Greece in the controls.
Today's opponent Turkey is among the strongest teams in the group, which was also seen in Sofia in October, when Bulgaria lost with a heavy 1:6. Vincenzo Montella announced that he does not expect an easy match and will not underestimate the Bulgarians, while Aleksandar Dimitrov, who has been criticized, is determined to stop the negative series.
History also remembers far better moments against Turkey - in a total of 22 matches, Bulgaria has a positive balance: nine wins, six draws and seven losses. The last triumph was in 2005 with 3:1 in Sofia after two goals by Dimitar Berbatov and one by Martin Petrov, and the last away victory dates back to 1982, when Zhivko Gospodinov brought the success of “Ali Sami Yen“.