Bulgaria Boss Krasimir Balakov Apologises to England Players After Racist Abuse

Bulgaria manager Krasimir Balakov has apologised to the England players who were racially abused in the Three Lions' 6-0 win over his side in Sofia on Monday. 

In a Facebook post, Balakov—who had initially denied hearing the abuse, which prompted the game to be stopped twice by the referee—condemned racism, which he said "should be buried deep in our past."

He continued:

"I have coached a lot of Bulgarian teams with players of diverse origin and have never ever judged anyone by the color of their skin. What is more—I have always actively participated in all noble initiatives that involve unprivileged people or those in need.

"My comments prior to the game versus England—that Bulgaria did not have trouble with racism—were based on the fact that the local championship has not seen such an issue on a large scale. There might have been isolated cases, but it is definitely not something that you see at the stadium. The majority of football fans do not participate in such chants and I believe this also to have been the case in the game against England.

"I would like to state one thing very clearly—since there have been reported cases of racial discrimination at the stadium in Sofia I, as Bulgaria national team head coach, would like to offer my sincere apologies to the English footballers and to anyone who felt offended."

England eased to a 6-0 win thanks to braces from Ross Barkley and Raheem Sterling and further strikes from Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane, but the victory was marred by racist abuse from sections of Bulgaria fans in the stands:

Per Simon Peach of the Press Association, Balakov—who had suggested prior to the match that England had a bigger problem with racism than Bulgaria—said afterwards he had not heard any abuse:

Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Manchester City star Sterling called out Balakov for his comments on Twitter:

Bulgaria goalkeeper Plamen Iliev followed a similar line to Balakov's initial comments, but captain Ivelin Popov—who was pictured at half-time pleading with supporters to stop—condemned the abuse:

Following the match, UEFA has charged the Bulgarian Football Union for the fans' racist behaviour, which included monkey chants and making Nazi salutes.

As part of the fallout from the match, BFU president Borislav Mihaylov resigned on Tuesday following pressure from Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov.

Per BBC Sport, four supporters have been arrested as part of the investigation into the abuse, while efforts are continuing to identify other fans involved.

The match was played at a partially closed Stadion Vasil Levski after Bulgaria were sanctioned by UEFA for other incidents of racism during their matches with Kosovo and Czech Republic.

England's win on Monday saw them bounce back following a 2-1 defeat to the Czechs in Prague on Friday.

The Three Lions are three points clear at the top of Group A having accrued 15 points from six matches, with Montenegro and Kosovo still to play home and away, respectively.

Bulgaria have played seven matches but are yet to earn win. They sit on three points, taken from three draws.