site.btaFederation Dispute Puts Bulgaria’s Weightlifting Future at Risk

The sport of weightlifting in Bulgaria is said to be under a serious threat, according to members of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation, who announced at a news conference on Monday that they are preparing a protest. The demonstration is scheduled for Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in front of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The board members said that there is a real danger that the federation could lose its licence. Such a development would prevent Bulgarian athletes from competing at European and World Championships and would effectively turn national team lifters into free agents, allowing them to represent other countries.

According to the board, there are two possible ways out of the current deadlock: either federation President Stefan Botev should resign, or coach Plamen Bratoychev should withdraw his appeal against the election of Asen Zlatev as federation President at the General Assembly held at end-2025.

Zlatev was quoted as saying that the immediate problems were the failure to approve the federation’s financial report and the ongoing appeal, which could drag on indefinitely. He warned that European and World Championships were approaching and that, unless the appeal was withdrawn, the consequences would be severe. In his view, the federation’s work would become almost impossible, state funding from the Ministry of Youth and Sports would be blocked, and alternative sources of financing could not be secured. He added that the federation already had substantial debts and that creating a new federation would only lead to even worse conditions over the next two or three years. Zlatev said he hoped for reason and responsibility from his colleagues and stressed that the issue was not a personal conflict between himself and Botev.

He further explained that, after the last Management Board meeting, he and Botev had held a long discussion and had parted calmly and without hostility. Zlatev emphasized that the situation should not be interpreted as a personal power struggle and added that his primary goal was not to be president of the federation, even though he currently held that position.

Former world champion Zlatan Vanev also commented that an extraordinary assembly had been convened in May to limit the powers of the federation’s presidents in order to curb unlawful spending. He explained that the board was meant to act as a controlling body but that this was not happening in practice. Vanev argued that, if the sport’s interests were to be protected, the ongoing court disputes had to be brought to an end, warning that otherwise there was a real risk that weightlifting in Bulgaria could be effectively shut down.