Dimitar Berbatov has failed in his bid to become the next president of the Bulgarian Football Association after Borislav Mihaylov was re-elected.
Former Tottenham, Manchester United and Fulham striker Berbatov had hoped to bring “radical change” in the role, aided by fellow ex-Premier League players Stiliyan Petrov and Martin Petrov.
But at a meeting in Sofia, incumbent president Mihaylov won a further four-year term having received more than 50 per cent of the votes cast in the opening round of the ballot.
Forty-year-old Berbatov gained 230 votes, 11 fewer than Mihaylov’s 241, while the other eight were in favour of Hristo Portochanov.
A statement on the Bulgarian FA website read: “Bulgarian football clubs re-elected Borislav Mihaylov as their president for the next four years.