Levski coach Kostov quits after first defeat
Reuters - Monday 26 March 2012, 12:23
Levski Sofia coach Nikolay
Kostov resigned on Monday, a day after his side suffered a
surprising 1-0 home defeat by Minyor Pernik, the Bulgarian club
said.
It was Levski's first league loss since former midfielder
Kostov, 48, took charge of the 26-times Bulgarian champions in
November.
"Levski didn't perform according to my expectations and we
didn't achieve the results, which I expected when I took over,"
Kostov told Levski's web site www.levski.bg. "Therefore I
decided to quit."
Levski, considered title and cup favourites, were also
knocked out of the Bulgarian Cup in a 2-1 extra-time defeat at
Lokomotiv Plovdiv earlier this month.
Kostov replaced Georgi Ivanov, who resigned following the
1-0 defeat by bitter city rivals CSKA Sofia and was under
immense pressure to win Levski's first league title since 2009.
Kostov coached teams in Cyprus, Armenia and Ukraine in the
last decade and won the Cypriot Cup with Anorthosis Famagusta in
2002 and led Metalurg Donetsk to the Ukrainian Cup final in
2010.
Financially-stable Levski are third in the standings with 45
points from 20 matches, three points behind leaders CSKA, who
also changed their coach this month.
A few weeks ago, Levski signed a sponsorship deal with
Russian investment bank VTB Capital, whose parent group owns
Russian club Dynamo Moscow.
"Our dream is to see Dynamo and Levski playing in the
European Super Cup final," said VTB's Deputy President Yuri
Soloviev.
Levski have already begun their search for a new coach with
local media reporting Stanimir Stoilov, who guided the team to
the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 2006 and to the Champions League
group stages the following year, is the favourite to replace
Kostov.
"There's no need to worry," Levski owner Todor Batkov said.
"We'll have a meeting tomorrow and we'll decide who'll succeed
Kostov."
"I can't confirm anything about Stoilov but I don't want to
deny this information either."