Bulgarian soccer club mistakenly mourn ex-player who's still ALIVE

Updated: 21 Mar, 2025 • 0 • min read

Table of Contents

Bulgarian soccer club mistakenly mourn ex-player who's still alive

Bulgarian outfit Arda Kardzhali were caught up in the embarrassing affair after mistakenly believing that one of their former players had died.

Arda and Levski Sofia faced off against each other in the Bulgarian First League match at Arena Arda on Sunday.

And prior to kick-off, the two sides gathered at the centre circle and bowed their heads to pay tribute to Arda's former player Petko Ganchev.

Unbelievable scenes in Bulgaria! Arda's match against Levski Sofia began with a minute of silence for ex-player Petko Ganchev… only to later find out he’s alive! The club has since issued an apology. A truly bizarre moment in football pic.twitter.com/R4nTlsYHxY
— tether.bet (@tether_bet) March 17, 2025

However, before the game had ended, Arda forced to issue an unfortunate apology after they discovered 78-year-old Ganchev was, in fact, still alive.

The management of PFC Arda would like to express a huge apology to the former Arda player Petko Ganchev and his relatives after the club received wrong information about his death.

We wish Petko Ganchev many more years of good health and to enjoy the success of Arda.

Speaking with television station bTV, Ganchev explained how he found out about his supposed death.

I never miss watching Arda's matches on television. This time, I was about ten minutes late for the game against Levski because I had some work to do.

As I was driving home, my phone started ringing a lot but I was driving and I didn't dare to answer.

I entered the garden and my wife greeted me in tears. She said, "Petko, Petko, they've announced on TV that you've passed away!" I couldn't understand what she was saying or what had happened.

For any enquiries, please contact us here.