Bulgaria: President of First Division Football Club Shot Dead

Iliyan Filipov, president of Botev Plovdiv, is dead.

The 49-year-old president of the Bulgarian first division football club Botev Plovdiv was killed on Wednesday night.

Around 1:00 AM, Filipov was found shot dead on his property in a residential area of Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city.

As of now, nothing is known about the perpetrators, motives, or background of the crime. Filipov, a building contractor, had taken over the club in the summer of 2025 and saved it from financial ruin.

With a deficit of 3.5 million euros, the two-time Bulgarian champions and current sixth-placed team in the "efbet Liga" had been in a severe financial crisis.