Bulgaria football teams face mixed results in Nations League and U21 qualifiers

The Bulgarian men's national football team suffered a historic 1-2 defeat against Luxembourg in their opening UEFA Nations League Group C4 match in Plovdiv. Despite an early goal from debutant Asen Chandarov in the 18th minute, Luxembourg staged a comeback with goals from Leandro Barreiro in the 37th minute and Vincent Thiel in the 65th minute. This marked the first time Bulgaria has lost to Luxembourg in 18 matches.

In separate youth competition news, the Bulgarian U21 national team secured a significant 2-1 comeback victory against Portugal in the Euro 2027 qualifiers. After trailing 1-0 until the 87th minute, Bulgaria scored twice in stoppage time through Todor Pavlov and Aleksandar Marinov to claim the win. The result places Bulgaria third in Group B, trailing leaders Portugal by five points.