July 22, 2026
This week saw the first legs of the Second Round of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League and Fatbear’s choice was the match between the champions of Bulgaria against the champions of Romania.
In the first round Levski eliminated Borac Banja Luka, the champions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a 4-0 home victory in front of a near capacity crowd of 17,345 after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Universitatea Craiova had won both games against Belarus champions Maxline Vitebsk, winning the first leg played in Hungary due to the sanctions against Belarus 4-1, and then eased through the second leg via a 1-0 home victory with 14,008 spectators in attendance.
This winners of this tie would play Omonia of Cyprus or Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan in the Third Qualifying Round.
In the current UEFA coefficients, Bulgaria were 27th whereas Romania were 20th.
Football In Bulgaria
These diaries had previously prepared three previews/reviews of the Bulgarian Parva Liga in 2020, then wrote previews of Ludogorets’ European ties in Belarus in 2020 and 2021. A return to Bulgaria was long overdue !
Ludogorets run of 14 consecutive titles came to an end last season as Levski won their 27th title, but their first since 2008/09, as they finished 14 points ahead of CSKA 1948 and Ludogorets. Levski’s average attendance was 10,017, the highest in the division.
For the 2026/27 season, the league has been reduced from 16 sides to 14, who will play each other twice for a 28 regular season. The top four will then form the Championship Group and play 6 more matches to determine the champions. Fifth to Eighth will form the Conference League Group, with the best placed side having a one-off game against 4th in the Championship Group for a place in the UEFA Conference League.
The bottom 8 form the Relegation League, and the bottom side after the 7 additional games will be automatically relegated, whilst 2nd and 3rd bottom play relegation/promotion play-offs against 2nd and 3rd in the Second League.
The new league season started last weekend, and is scheduled to finish at the end of May.
PFC Levski Sofia
Levski were formed in 1914 and were named after Vasil Levski, a Bulgarian revolutionary renowned as a national hero and who was sentenced to death by hanging by the Ottoman Empire in 1873.
Formerly the side of the Interior Ministry, Levski are known as the Blues or the Blue Avalanche. Home is the 17,688 capacity Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, named after the former international striker who played at the 1970 World Cup but was tragically killed in a car crash in 1971.
Levski reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup, in 1969/70, 1976/77 and 1986/87. They have twice also reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, in 1975/76 and 2005/06. Levski have eliminated VFB Stuttgart and Glasgow Rangers from the European Cup, Boavista from the Cup Winners Cup, and Ajax, MSV Duisburg, Olympiakos, VFB Stuttgart, Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA Cup. Notable individual victories have also been registered over Barcelona, Lazio, Atletico Madrid, Marseille and Sporting Lisbon.
Levski started the defence of their league title with a 2-1 home win over newly promoted Dunav Ruse. Goals from captain Dimitrov and Algerian midfielder Akram Bouras had given Levski a 2-goal lead with around 20 minutes left to play, but after being on course for a routine victory, they were nervously hanging on after Dunav pulled one back with 5 minutes remaining. The game attracted a crowd of 11,000.
Levski Squad
Winger Everton Bala was the league’s top scorer last season with 18 goals and was one of three Brazilians in the Levski squad, alongside left-back Maicon and new signing Reinaldo, who scored twice in the win over Borac, and had played in Portugal for Alverca, Chaves and Santa Clara. Reinaldo reportedly cost €1.5M.
Other signings during the summer included Portuguese central midfielder Serginho for €1M, also from Santa Clara, Angolan forward David Kusso from Chaves for a reported €900K, Moroccan midfielder Mehdi Moubarik from UAE side Al-Ain, and Spanish left-back Alex Centelles joined from Almeria on a free transfer.
Irish Under 21 midfielder Armstrong Oxo-Flex might be known to some in the UK, having started his career at Celtic, before moving on to West Ham United, Swansea City, then FC Zurich. Slovenian midfielder Gaspar Trdin played for Bravo and Radomlje in his homeland, right back Oliver Kamdem had 2 caps for Cameroon, and North Macedonian centre-back Nikola Serafimov ( 29 caps ) had played for two clubs in Hungary before joining Levski.
Forward Juan Perea was from Colombia, Venezuelan defender Christian Makoun ( 15 caps ) had played for Inter Miami, Charlotte, New England Revolution and Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta, and Croatian centre-back Stipe Vulikic joined from Sampdoria having previously played for Perugia and Modena.
Only three Bulgarians featured in the win over Borac, centre-back and captain Kristian Dimitrov ( 24 caps ), who had a spell with Hajduk Split, keeper Svetoslav Vutsov ( 10 caps ) and forward Stivan Stoyanchov
Levski’s coach was Spaniard Julio Velazquez, who in the past had been in charge of Alaves, Villareal, Betis, Belenenses, Maritimo, Udinese, Fortuna Sittard and Real Zaragoza.
Football In Romania
These diaries have published 5 match reports and 6 match-day reviews/round-ups for Romania, with the most recent being in January 2025. However, Universitatea Craiova had not been featured in any match reports, although they had mentions in the 5 weekly round-ups.
The Romania SuperLiga consists of 16 sides who play each other home and away for a 30-game regular season. The top 6 form the Championship group, with the points won halved, for 10 further games. The top 2 and the Cup Winners take three of the four European places.
The bottom 10 form the Play-Out Round, with again the points being halved, and the bottom two sides are relegated. Third and fourth bottom will face two-legged play-offs against the sides finishing 3rd and 4th in Liga II.
The top two sides in the Play-Out Round have a one match play-off for the right to play the 4th placed side in the Championship Group for the final remaining European spot.
Last season Universitatea Craiova finished 4 points ahead of Universitatea Cluj to win their 5th title in their history, but the first one since 1990/91. CFR Cluj were a further three points behind, but 4th placed Dinamo Bucharesti lost the play-off to FCSB, who had finished 7th in the regular season, and had been 8th after the Play-Out Round.
Craiova did the double, beating U Cluj on penalties in the Cup Final after a 0-0 draw, which was the 8th time they had won the Cup.
Like Bulgaria, the new season started last weekend, and is also scheduled to finish at the end of May.
CS Universitatea Craiova
The club were initially founded in 1948 as part of the CSU Craiova Sports Organisation. Craiova, which is located 230km west of Bucharest, is the sixth largest city in Romania.
In 1991 the Craiova Sports Organisation dissolved it football organisation, ironically after the club had achieved a domestic double, and a new privatised club FC U Craiova was formed and took the place of CS Universitatea Craiova in the League. The new club ran into legal troubles in the early 2010s and were disaffiliated by the Romanian FA. Dissatisfied with the state of affairs the University reformed its football section and the new side were placed in Liga II.
Lengthy court battles then followed between the two Craiova clubs, similar to that of Steaua Bucharest and FCSB, over who was the legitimate successor to the history and records from 1948 to 1991, with the University arguing that they did not hand over any records and that FC U Craiova 1948 were actually a new club. In 2016 the courts agreed, and FC U Craiova 1948 are now in Liga III.
Home is the Ion Oblemeco Stadium which was renovated in 2017 and now has a capacity of 30,983.
Craiova’s colours have traditionally been white shirts with blue shorts and socks, but the current shirt has a white top half and mostly blue bottom half. Their nickname is usually the white-blues but Wikipedia lists several others, including The Students.
Craiova have a proud record in Europe, being European Cup quarter-finalists in 1981/82 when they were eliminated by Bayern Munich, and semi-finalists in the 1982/83 UEFA Cup when after eliminating Fiorentina, Shamrock Rovers, Bordeaux and Kaiserslautern, they lost on away goals to Benfica.
In 1979/80 Craiova won both legs in the UEFA Cup against Leeds United 2-0, and in 1984/85 Betis were eliminated on away goals, making Craiova one of the few sides to have won European ties against teams from the big 5 countries in Europe ( England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France ).
In the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League, Craiova got past Bosnian side FK Sarajevo, Spartak Trnava from Slovakia and Istanbul Basaksehir to reach the League Phase, where they beat Mainz and Rapid Wien, drew with Armenian side Noah, but lost to Rakow Czestochowa from Poland, Sparta Prague and AEK Athens to exit the competition.
Craiova’s average home attendance last season was 14,066, the highest in the SuperLiga.
Craiova started the defence of their title with a 4-0 home win over UTA Arad on Saturday. With several first-choice players rested with tonight’s game in mind, Craiova only led 1-0 with 5 minutes left to play, but three goals at death put a gloss to the scoreline. Teles, Baiaram, Elisor were on target and an own goal completed the scoring, with the attendance being 10,833.
Craiova had already secured their first piece of silverware for the season by winning the Super Cup, beating U Cluj on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
CS Universitatea Craiova Squad
The most recognisable name to Fatbear in the Craiova squad was midfielder Tudor Baluta ( 14 caps ) who was signed by Brighton and Hove Albion as a 20-year-old from Viitorul Constanza but made only one appearance in the EFL Cup before being loaned out to ADO Den Haag and Dynamo Kiev, before being sold to Farul Constanza. He had now returned to Romania after a spell with Slask Wroclaw.
The highest valued player at €5M according to Transfermrkt was winger Stefan Baiaram ( 6 caps ), whilst other current Romanian internationals included ex-Fehervar, Pisa and Pafos centre-back Adrian Rus ( 23 caps ), left wing-back Nicusor Bancu ( 52 caps ), ex-Galatasaray midfielder Alexandru Cicaldau ( 39 caps ), midfielder David Matei ( 2 caps ), and midfielder Vladimir Screciu ( 8 caps ) whilst keeper Laurentiu Popescu was called-up to the most recent national squad but did not make his debut.
Foreign players in the squad include Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Romanchuk ( 1 cap ), Croatian Under 21 international left-back Juraj Badelj, Costa Rican winger Carlos Mora ( 23 caps ), Portuguese midfielder Samuel Teles, Nigerian striker Monday Etim, who had played in the USA and for three sides in Denmark, and last season’s top scorer with 11 goals, Palestine forward Assad Al Hamlawi ( 3 caps ), had played in Sweden, Thailand and for Slask Wroclaw.
Centre-back Nikola Stevanovic had 1 cap for Serbia, Jamaican defender Ronaldo Webster ( 6 caps ) had played for North Macedonian side Shkendija, French forward Simon Elisor had played for Ajaccio, Seraing, Metz, Troyes and Famalicao, ex-Benfica, Brest, Famalicao, Estoril and Maccabi Netanya Cape Verde winger Heri Tavares had 6 caps, whilst Georgian midfielder Anzor Mekvabishvili ( 33 caps ) was ex-Dinamo Tbilisi
The coach was Portuguese Felipe Coelho whose previous positions had included being assistant manager for South Korea and UAE.
Matchday Information
After a wet day, the weather at the 20.30 local time kick-off ( 18.30 UK ) was dry and 23 degrees.
Tickets for the match were between €13 and €17 but the game was sold out for home supporters. There were some spaces visible in the away enclosure. Programmes were €4
Bet365, who live streamed the match made Levski 5/4 favourites, with Craiova at 21/10 and the draw 2/1.
Levski were playing in all blue with the names of their players on the back of the shirts in the Cyrillic alphabet but the sponsors’ name on the front was in Roman script. Craiova were wearing an all-white kit with blue patches on the front shoulders and upper chest and blue numbers.
Levski made three changes to the side that started against Borac Banja Luka, with Portuguese right-back Aldair Neves replacing Kamdem, whilst Bouras and Moubarik came into midfield at the expense of Trdin and Centelles.
Craiova made four changes to the team that took to the field against Vitebsk, with Screciu , Mekvabishvili, Bancu and Elisor replacing Badelj, Baluta, Teles and Al Hamlawi
The referee was Adam Ladeback from Sweden
Match Report
All the early possession went to Levski and with just over a minute played a low ball from the left by Reinaldo needed to be put off a corner by Rus.
The early pressure told as a right-wing cross from Serginho was met by the stooping Dimitrov to head high into the roof of the net from 6 yards at the far post. 1-0 after 8 minutes.
Levski were looking to add a quick second goal but after a ball down the right-hand channel, the attempted pass from Neves in search of Reinaldo inside the area was cut-out.
Craiova were first seen as an attacking force in the 14th minute when a slick move saw Cicaldau keep the ball in play with a pull back from the byline inside the Levski area. The ball reached the unmarked Mora just inside the 18-yard line, who had time, but blazed high over the bar.
The visitors then saw three shots from edge of area blocked and Levski broke quickly, and after some lively play by Reinaldo, Serginho saw his shot held by keeper Popescu diving low to his right.
A short spell of pressure by Craiova saw Bancu’s low shot-cum-cross from left held by keeper Vutsov at his near post, then Etim’s low ball from the right-hand byline was put out for a corner.
Levski were soon back on the front foot, and when Neves cut in from the right-hand touchline, his fierce shot from the edge of the area was pushed away by Popescu diving to his left.
With 28 minutes played Elisor was lucky to escape receiving a yellow card after a bad foul on Neves close to the half-way line.
A minute later Craiova forced a corner, but Screciu fouled a defender in effort to head the ball.
The first yellow card of the game finally arrived in the 33rd after Romanchuk’s late tackle on Maicon as the Levski left-back ran past him.
Popescu then needed to be alert to dive on a pull-back by Bouras from the Universitatea byline then at the other end Baiaram ran into the Levski area and was able to prod the ball to Mekvabishvili just outside area, but the Georgian shot high and wide.
The lively Reinaldo ran past the static Rus inside the Craiova area, but the shot from a tight angle went into side netting.
A flare up occurred five minutes before the interval as Neves and Bancu challenged for a loose ball. There didn’t appear too much to it until Baiaram needlessly joined in and was shown a yellow card for his contribution. Neves also saw yellow.
The last action of the first period saw Levski play a short free-kick only for the ball to then be floated across the edge of the penalty area. Serafimo headed high into air and Popescu made an easy catch.
It was 1-0 at half-time. Craiova had a slight edge in terms of the possession statistics, but the only shots on target had come from Levski.
There was nearly a dramatic start to the second half when Etim latched on to a through ball but the Craiova striker put the ball wide from 8 yards as Vutsov came off line.
The visitors had made a strong start after the break as a scramble then ensued in the Levski area after some poor defending to a cross, and when the ball again fell to Etim his shot struck the head of Vutsov from point-blank range. Levski somehow cleared and then broke quickly. Reinaldo’s threaded pass left Oko-Flex with just the keeper to beat. The Irishman attempted to chip Popescu as he came off his line and spread himself, but the keeper’s raised arm was able to made the block. Both sides could have scored in the space of less than 60 seconds……
Everton Bala became the next player to enter the referee’s note book for a bad foul.
Craiova forced another corner but again Levski broke quickly after clearing, as Reinaldo fed Oko-Flex who slid a pass to give Bouras a one on one with the keeper, but the midfielder put the ball over the bar from 12 yards. Again, Craiova were nearly undone by a lightning end to end move after an attack broke down.
The visitors’ response was for Baiaram to shoot wildly high and wide from a good position on left-hand side inside Levski area. Elisor then sent a diving header across goal but wide of the far post, after which Romanchuk sent a long-range effort harmlessly over.
Levski got the ball into the net for a second time in the 57th minute but after Everton Bala was put clear by a slide-rule pass from Bouras, his calm finish across goal and inside the far post was chalked-off by the linesman’s raised flag for offside, which was confirmed by VAR.
Two minutes later Serginho robbed the dozing Screciu close to the touchline, but his low cross went just ahead of Reinaldo and Romanchuk put the ball of play for a corner. The set-piece was played short then floated to beyond far post, but the lurking Dimitrov could only shoot wide under pressure.
Craiova substitute Steven Nsimba attempted an ambitious long-range effort which bounced well wide
Oko-Flex then showed some good skill to send Bancu the wrong way and leaving him falling to the floor. However, it was Oko-Flex’s last contribution as he was immediately taken off !
With 66 minutes on the clock, a long drop-kick by Vutsov was latched onto by Reinaldo deep inside the Craiova half, but from his low ball across the goalmouth Screciu managed to get a foot to it to deflect to his keeper before Bouras could tap in.
Three minutes later Levski lost control as they took a short goal-kick and although Nsimba got a foot to it, the Frenchman was unlucky to see the ball roll the wrong side of the post.
Craiova came close again a minute later as Nsimba beat his marker down the left-hand side and sent a left-footed cross towards the far post where Mora stole in to strike the ball on the half-volley, but Vutsov produced a good diving save to concede a corner. Craiova played the corner short, then put the ball into mixer. Two shots were blocked before the ball fell to Nsimba close to the penalty spot, but his left footed effort flew a few feet over the bar.
The final 20 minutes saw Craiova having most of the possession but creating very little whilst Levski still looked dangerous on the counter. As the game moved into 4 minutes of added time, Maicon was shown a yellow card for sending Mora flying through the air.
Craiova ended the game with a bit of a whimper. Substitute Baluta’s long-range effort went yards over the bar, then with basically the last kick of the match a cross from a promising position on the right wing sailed high over the bar and off for a goal-kick.
Levski held on to the final whistle to take a one-goal lead to Romania next week, but it still all to play for.
Levski Sofia : Vutsov – Neves, Dimitrov, Sefafimov, Maicon – Bouras, Serginho ( Soula ), Moubarak ( Trdin ), Everton Bala ( Kusso ) – Reinaldo ( Stoyanchov ) , Oko-Flex ( Cantelles )
Universitatea Craiova : Popescu – Romanchuk, Rus, Screciu – Mora, Cicaldau, Mekvabishvili ( Baluta ), Bancus – Etim ( Teles ), Elisor ( Nsimba ), Baiaram ( Tavares )
