The Sofia Globe this evening reports that the Roger Waters concert on August 30th at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in the Bulgarian city, could have a dramatic effect on a potential upcoming football fixture.
They note that: "Ludogorets Razgrad qualified earlier this week for the Uefa Champions League play-off round by defeating Partizan Belgrade. The play-off round is due to be played on August 20/21 and August 27/28. If the Uefa draw in Nyon on August 9 sets Ludogorets as the home team for the second match of the tie, then the club will be unable to play the match at Vasil Levski stadium, which has been booked by concert organisers Sofia Music Enterprises for the several [days] prior to the gig.
"The stadium is the only one in Bulgaria certified to host Uefa Champions League matches at this stage of the competition. This prompted an angry tirade from club owner Kiril Domouschiev in an interview with local television station bTV. 'The only stadium in Bulgaria that is licenced by Uefa and is the national stadium at that, turns out to have signed a contract, for a lengthy period, for some concert. Some colossal walls are to be built and it seems that we use the national stadium as a concert hall instead of its actual purpose,' Domuschiev said.
"Domuschiev blamed the stadium's management, saying his team might be forced to play its home game abroad and issued a not-so-subtle threat: 'If we are going to play abroad, maybe it is best that we move the team and the investment abroad too, because it is shameful that there is not a single stadium in this country.'"
Bulgaria's Sports Minister Mariana Georgieva said that the team will play at Vasil Levski National Stadium whatever date the draw assigns for its home match, but did not comment on what would happen to The Wall Live. Sofia Music Enterprises have not commented on the issue yet either. Naturally, should the concert change date or venue, we will let you know as soon as we know...
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