Bulgarian Minister of Youth and Sports, Vesela Lecheva, Discusses Sports Developments in Interview

“Many untruths have been spoken about me. On my desk are the two decisions of the KPKNOPI. They state that I am not in a conflict of interest”. This is how the acting Minister of Youth and Sports, Vesela Lecheva, answered in the program “Why, Mr. Minister” on BTV, to the question of the host Maria Tsantsarova, whether she was questioned about the signals of her predecessor Radostin Vasilev.

“I will ask the former minister to apologize,” said Vesela Lecheva and added that she received the documents at the end of the week.

“The decisions on the two reports are already a fact, I received them on Friday. I didn’t want to make them public, but let the truth come out,” she added.

In the interview, Lecheva talks about the situation in the weightlifting federation, the CSKA stadium, and whether it is possible to have new lifts on Vitosha.

“Bulgarian bars have come a long way, filled with internal tensions. We paid special attention to the federation out of concern for athletes, coaches and specialists, because they were the biggest losers,” commented Lecheva.

“The new management was recently inducted and we await their reports and documents as required by law. We congratulate them on the successes they have achieved. It is a matter of procedure for the federation to sign a new contract with MMC and clear all liabilities,” she said, adding , that he hopes that by the end of May the contestants will receive all the delayed salaries.

Minister Vesela Lecheva commented on when there will be more new stadiums in Bulgaria.

“Good things happen slowly. Yesterday we saw the new stadium of “Botev”. We also have new halls such as “Arena Sofia”, the hall in Ruse, and soon the one in Burgas will be opened. The turn of the stadiums is coming. I hope that and the clubs have already matured how such a modern investment should be managed. Because it is not just a question of building it, then you have to manage it so that it is self-sustaining. Football clubs are aware that they have to make working models for similar large-scale investments,” said Lecheva.

The Minister of Youth and Sports believes that CSKA will have a new stadium regardless of who will manage it.

“All the necessary steps have been taken for the new CSKA stadium – creation of a company, a conceptual project for the facility, so I expect in a short period of time that the other institutions will also complete their work, so that we can also have the first sod”, commented Vesela Lecheva and added, that the Metropolitan Municipality and the Chief Architect cooperate. She hopes that the steps taken by the ministry’s team have made the project irreversible.

Vesela Lecheva is convinced that the state interest in the joint company with CSKA will be preserved: “We have a statute of the company that does not allow the state to have less than 50 percent, regardless of whether the contribution of the other co-founder, which he makes through the construction, exceeds the amount of the contribution”.

According to Lecheva, in the past there were a number of vicious models that did not give the opportunity to develop successful public-private partnerships. The Minister of Youth and Sports also commented on the other leading capital team – “Levski”.

“I also hope that “Levski” will find a sustainable model for the development of the club, which will enable an attractive and modern stadium to be made that will delight the fans. The question is whether the football club has the desire and the opportunity to realize such a concession at the moment. No new intention has been declared,” announced the Minister of Youth and Sports.

Vesela Lecheva also commented on the situation with the sports facilities of Vitosha.

“Unfortunately, Vitosha has been in this unenviable state for over 20 years. And in the last year, 100 facilities were built in Europe alone, and 10 in the Balkans,” she stated.

“The expert group that we have created, and which should make legal proposals, is charged with the task of making them so as to limit indiscriminate construction, but to give way to the construction of sports facilities. Vitosha is not only sport, it is health . Our children can be at school until lunch, and then they can be in the mountains, which are kilometers from Sofia. And not only them – but all of us who live in the capital,” commented Vesela Lecheva.