An initiative committee of football legends and sports leaders, MPs, famous doctors and a lawyer, raised the candidacy to the head coach of the Black Sea football club Ilian Iliev as an Honorary Citizen of Varna, Topsport reported.
"In connection with the achieved second place of PFC "Black Sea" in our elite championship and for outstanding services to football and sports in Varna and Bulgaria, as well as for his proven professionalism, on the basis of Art. 2 and Art. 8 of the STATUTE for awarding honorary titles and distinctions of the Municipality of Varna, we propose that he be awarded with the title "Honorary Citizen of Varna Municipality" the head coach of PFC "Black Sea" Ilian Iliev", says the proposal to Varna Municipality Mayor Blagomir Kotsev.
The Initiative Committee includes Bozhil Kolev - Honorary Citizen of Varna, Honored Master of Sports and #1 Footballer of Varna for the 20th Century, Marin Mitev - Chairman of the Control Board of the Non-Profit Association "Strategy for the Development of Football in the City" Varna", Krasen Kralev - Member of Parliament, Blagoi Kalfov - Chairman of the non-profit association "Strategy for the development of football in the city of Varna", football coach and former chairman of the board of FC "Spartak" Varna and the HC of the BFS Varna, Dr. Ivaylo Mitkovski - Member of Parliament and Chief Assistant at the MU-Varna, Hristo Boev - Lawyer, Deputy Chairman of the Varna Bar Council and member of the Board of the non-profit association "Strategy for Development" of football in the city of Varna", Prof. Dr. Ara Kaprelyan - Chairman of the "Black Sea" SSC, Milen Bakardjiev - Member of the Board of the non-profit association "Strategy for the development of football in the city of Varna" and former football player of "Black Sea" FC, Dr. Hristo Kyosev - Manager of MCSRM I Varna, Christiana Gencheva - Chairman of SKHG "Gracia" and Nedko Petrov - Sports journalist from Petel.bg.
The reason for their proposal is the historic achievement of PFC "Black Sea", which under the leadership of Ilian Iliev became the runner-up and won the silver medals in our football championship for the 2023/2024 season.
This is the biggest success for Varna football in "A" group since it was created in 1948, although even before this triumph, with which he rewrote the history of PFC "Black Sea" and football in Varna, Ilian Iliev had long since become one of the recognizable faces in Bulgarian football.
Growing up as a football player in "Black Sea" FC, he set a club record for the largest outgoing transfer after moving to "Levski" in 1991.
Subsequently, Ilian Iliev became a three-time champion of Bulgaria and a two-time winner of the country's Cup, and made a successful career abroad with teams in Turkey, Greece and Portugal. With the European giant "Benfica" Lisbon is the winner of the Portuguese Cup.
For many years, Ilian Iliev was part of the Bulgarian national team, with which he participated in the finals of the 1998 World Cup in France and played in all three of its matches.
As a mentor of PFC "Black Sea" Ilian Iliev has been elected twice as the best coach in our country, and since November last year he has been successful as a selector of the Bulgarian national team.
With him at the helm, the tricolors recorded growth and have not lost in their last six games.