Bulgarian Prime Minister Calls for FA President to Resign After England Game

Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov has called for Borislav Mihaylov, president of the country's FA, to step down after the racist abuse England players were subjected to at Sofia's Vasil Levski National Stadium on Monday.

England's 6-0 victory over Bulgaria in their UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier was marred by racist behaviour from the home fans, which included monkey chants and Nazi salutes:

Play was stopped twice in the first half, and as per UEFA protocol, a stadium announcement warned that the match would be abandoned if the abuse continued.

On Tuesday, Bulgarian sports minister Krasen Kralev explained prime minister Borissov had contacted him to ensure steps were made to impose financial sanctions on the FA after the ignominious scenes, per Alex Young of the Evening Standard:

"The prime minister called me urgently a short time ago. You know that the government has done a lot for the development of Bulgarian football in the last four years.

"But after the recent events, having in mind the whole state of football and last night's incidents, the prime minister has ordered me from today to suspend any relations with the BFU, including financial ones, until the resignation of Borislav Mihaylov."

Raheem Sterling, who has been the victim of racist abuse on numerous occasions in the past both for Manchester City and England, praised Borissov for his actions:

The Jamaican-born winger netted a double against Bulgaria to continue his fantastic form for the Three Lions:

Ross Barkley also scored twice in Sofia after Marcus Rashford's opener, and Harry Kane completed the rout to ensure England bounced back from their shock 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic three days earlier.

England played in front of a reduced crowd on Monday because Bulgaria had been sanctioned by UEFA for racist behaviour against Kosovo and Czech Republic.

At half-time, Bulgaria captain Ivelin Popov went over to a section of the home support following the first-half stoppages due to racist chanting.

Bulgaria coach Krasimir Balakov, though, did not acknowledge in his post-match interview that there had been any problem:

England's players now return to club action before their final Group A qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo next month.