Dragomir Draganov announces retirement from elite refereeing

Elite Bulgarian referee Dragomir Draganov has announced his retirement from officiating after a 26-year career. In a social media post, Draganov detailed his professional achievements, which include nearly 200 First League matches, two Bulgarian Cup finals, one Supercup final, participation in the EURO U-21 tournament, and 86 matches officiated abroad.

Draganov expressed gratitude to various officials within the Bulgarian Football Union's Referee Commission, as well as several players and coaches. He specifically thanked Mark Bata, Viktor Kashay, and David Burbalan for their contributions to his development and the implementation of VAR technology.

However, the announcement included criticism of a “powerful man in refereeing” who has been part of the Referee Commission both 15 years ago and currently. To address allegations of bias, Draganov released three video clips from Levski Sofia matches—against Botev Plovdiv, Ludogorets, and Pirin—to demonstrate that his decisions regarding penalty situations were not biased toward or against any specific team.