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Bulgaria's Stoichkov fined for truancy
Posted: Monday June 22, 1998 07:03 PM
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Stoichkov (middle) has been found and will play against Spain (AP) |
BONDOUFLE, France (Reuters)
-- Bulgaria's
football federation decided to slap a fine on wayward striker Hristo
Stoichkov on Monday after he was found absent from the team hotel without
permission two days before a crunch World Cup game.
But the federation appeared to have opted for discretion rather than
discipline in dealing with its soccer diva and his striking partner
Lyuboslav Penev, saying they had not been out all night, as a senior
official had told journalists.
Spokesman Nikola Exerov said the pair had left the team hotel near
Paris without permission at 9:00 a.m. local time on Monday and returned at
2:30 p.m., missing a news conference and a team meeting.
"There's going to be a severe fine. We can't say how much yet,"
Exerov said at the team's evening training session, where both players were
present. Asked where they had gone during their absence, he added: "No one
knows and no one is asking."
Earlier the general secretary of the Bulgarian Football Union, Ivan
Vutsov, had said the pair had headed for Paris and not returned by morning.
The players themselves then told journalists they had overslept in their
rooms and had not been woken.
Bulgaria, semifinalists at the 1994 World Cup, have been unimpressive
in their first two matches in Group D, drawing 0-0 with Paraguay and
losing 1-0 to Nigeria. But
the Bulgarians could still qualify for the second round on Wednesday if
they beat Spain and Nigeria
loses or draws against Paraguay.
Stoichkov is the team's lynchpin, its best known and most gifted
player, but also its most temperamental.
At 32, he is nearing the end of a career that has brought him 36
goals in 73 international appearances, four Spanish titles and a European
Cup winner's medal with Barcelona, as well as the 1994 European Player of
the Year title.
He was Bulgaria's driving force at the 1994 World Cup, finishing
joint top scorer of the tournament with six goals.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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