Bulgaria: We hope to continue where we left off, but of course, we want to win the tournament.

Right before the start of the tournament, we sat down with Rostislav Chanev, manager or the Bulgarian team, coming to Slovakia with nice memories after they won bronze medals last year at EMF EURO 2022 in Košice.

WHAT BRINGS YOU TO EMF NATIONS GAMES IN SLOVAKIA AND WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO ACHIEVE WHILE YOU’RE HERE?

We hope to continue where we left off last year with our first medals from international tournaments, organized by EMF and WMF. We also qualified for our first Mini Euro World Cup this autumn in Ras Al Khaimah, so the Nations games will be the perfect start of preparation for it. We respect all the teams in Galanta and we are very happy to play with such strong opponents, but of course, we want to win the tournament.

HOW MANY PLAYERS AND WHAT AGE WILL YOU BRING WITH YOU?

17 players are coming to the tournament, almost all of them played in the European championship last year, where we’ve won third place.

HOW DO YOU SEE MINIFOOTBALL EVOLVING IN THE FUTURE, AND WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK TOURNAMENTS LIKE THIS WILL PLAY IN ITS DEVELOPMENT?

We see that is becoming fast the sport of the people, easy to play, no need to be a professional and also it helps to connect people and communities together, while supporting fairplay and equality. The interest in minifootball in Bulgaria is huge, with millions of people celebrating our bronze medals from Kosice last year.

WHAT DOES YOUR FEDERATION DO FOR THE YOUTH IN YOUR COUNTRY?

Bulgarian Minifootball Association is one of the largest minifootball organizations in Europe with a lot of initiatives, concentrated on creating and administrating child and youth football tournaments and leagues in the whole country. We also host a number of tournaments, local, national and international, for men with nearly 20000 players around Bulgaria.

WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF SLOVAKIA AND ITS PEOPLE, CULTURE, AND HOSPITALITY?

Great people, very warm, while the cities are clean, modern and full of different interesting attractions. We are looking forward to be your guests again!

Thank you, Ros, and good luck in Galanta!