Going Loko in Plovdiv

 With the arrival of the Easter break came another opportunity to travel to a new country, and the last twelve months have been pretty strong with regard to ticking off new countries. Though the summer didn't bring any new countries, I did still have the joy of returning to Cork, experiencing Koper in Slovenia, and finally getting to the Eastern part of Slovakia with a long weekend in Košice.

I did manage to get to Montenegro in October, though the less said about that, the better. Belgium in February was thankfully a lot more enjoyable, especially getting to experience the phenomenal atmosphere at Standard Liege. Now, it's the turn of Plovdiv in Bulgaria - a city I'd always wanted to visit having heard it was one of the longest inhabited cities in Europe, as well as a new country I was keen to explore.

Having found a cheap flight from Bratislava to Plovdiv (and an annoyingly pricy one to get us back from Sofia to Vienna), the plan was to fly out on the Thursday and come back on Monday. Friday and Saturday would be the days to explore Plovdiv, with Sunday reserved for travel and a brief rest-stop in Sofia before our flight home.

Of course, as always, football is still a central part of any trip for me, and I'm thankful to have a partner who understands that, even if she doesn't care for football herself. I was surprised to see how low the attendances were in Bulgaria on first glance, yet perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise given the nature of the division - industrial vanity project Ludogorets have won the last 14 titles available despite lacking any real fans. Refreshingly, however, this season might be the very first one that Ludogorets don't win - Levski Sofia are currently 11 points clear, and set to win their first title since 2009.

Both teams I'm watching for this blog are having steady seasons, particularly Lokomotiv Plovdiv in contrast to last season's relegation dogfight. Going into the game, they sit in 6th, and look likely to stay around that part of the table. Lokomotiv Sofia are only seven points back in 10th, and it's fair to say they look fairly safe from any relegation fears. But before we discuss the game and the overall experience of Bulgarian football, let's talk Plovdiv itself.

A long weekend in Plovdiv - is it worth it?

Some biscuit juice?

The short answer is absolutely. Plovdiv is a wonderful city teeming with history, culture, and a vibrancy you perhaps wouldn't expect from such a seemingly understated town. We landed at Plovdiv airport, and perhaps should have planned how to get to the city in advance given that it's quite a way from the city itself, and transport options beyond long waits for Taxis are limited. There is a shuttle, but it only takes cash, and the airport ATM inevitably charges extra.

On arriving at our accomodation, however, we could tell we were in an incredibly unique part of the world - the contrast between abanoned Soviet architechture and Roman ruins was quite something to behold. After a little rest in our not-too-shabby apartment, we grabbed some late dinner at a phenomenal restaurant called Victoria's in the shopping centre before hitting the hay.

On Friday, we took our first foray into the historical centre, taking in the incredible Roman ruins, as well as the Bishops' Basilica of Philipopolis - essentially a musem of mosaics from Roman times. It's only then when visiting such things that you truly realise the scale of Plovdiv's history. We also grabbed lunch at a lovely restaurant which I've forgotten the name of, but I had the chance to try Eggs Panagyurishte - essentially poached eggs in Bulgarian yoghurt and brine. It was unusual - particularly the contrast between hot and cold - but it was delightful all the same.

Later that day I ventured off to Lokomotiv Plovdiv for the only solo part of the trip (my girlfriend doesn't really care for football), but I'll cover that in more detail later on. Saturday was more of the same - we ventured toward the centre once more, taking in the market, saying hello to the many cats in the streets, and paying two euros to see an art gallery which had just one room of statues on display...

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of Plovdiv was just how many book shops there were throughout the city, and a lot of them with a solid collection of books in English. We also decided to grab some Turkish food for lunch, and it was absolutely glorious - not surprising perhaps considering Turks make up the largest non-Bulgarian demographic in the city. 

We stayed there until the rain had ceased before making our way back to the apartment, via Billa to pick up some unusual Bulgarian food and drink, including a juice drink that genuinely tasted like cake and biscuits. It's limited edition, so if there's just one reason to get yourself to Bulgaria, there it is. The next day was essentially travelling to Sofia and resting up before an early flight, so we had no time to explore the capital. 

We did, however, have some exqusite Indian food near our hotel, and the mountain views just a short walk from the hotel were majestic. We seemed to be staying near an array of international embassies which was quite interesting - we spotted flags from Algeria, Jordan, Iran, Syria, Belgium, Ukraine, and Spain on just a ten minute walk.

In any case, the weekend was incredible, and definitely gave plentiful reasons to return to Bulgaria at some not-too-distant point in the future, particularly to explore Sofia, or maybe even one of the coastal towns or cities. But...is the football any good? Well, I'm glad you (or rather I) asked.

Do the Lokomotivs

It would be fair to say Lokomotiv Plovdiv are one of the most well-known clubs in Bulgaria, perhaps alongside the Sofia clubs (CSKA, Levski), as well as the other club in Plovdiv (Botev). Perhaps surprisingly though, Lokomotiv Plovdiv have only won the Bulgarian league on one occasion in 2003-04, when the goals of club legend Martin Kamburov fired them to glory.

In more recent years, the club has won back to back cups in 2019 and 2020 - a 1-0 success over Botev at the national stadium in Sofia in 2019, and a penalty victory over CSKA at the same arena. Despite cup success, none of it translated to European football beyond the qualifying round, with a loss to Tottenham ending their 2021 hopes, and Copengahen ending their 2022 hopes despite a penalty win over Slovacko of Czech Republic in the first qualifying round,

As well as the fierce intercity derby against Botev, Lokomotiv Plovdiv also have a fierce rivalry with CSKA Sofia (don't ask me which one - probably both of them), due primarily to the shared rivlary between the country's first and second cities. Despite the low attendance too, the ultras still make a heck of a noise throughout, with all manner of flags on show - a Union Jack with 'The Usual Suspects' written on it, a Napoletani Ultras Plovdiv flag to mark their friendship with Napoli, and countless others.

Of course it would be remiss to completely ignore the elephant in the room here - Bulgarian football has a serious issue with racism and fascism. This was there for all to see in the 2019 Euro qualifier against England, when a significant number of Bulgarian supporters were giving Nazi salutes and doing monkey chants. In all honesty, I'd never been so happy to see Bulgaria be absolutely demolished 6-0 by an England team courtesy of Barkley, Sterling, Rashford and Kane.

There was also a notable presence of a 'no left turn' flag in the ultras section, which suggests progressive politics perhaps aren't welcome at Lokomotiv, but when anti-communist ideologies are so deeply entrenched in a country to the detriment of anything remotely progressive on the basis of it being perceived as left-wing, it feels like something of a hopeless battle to even mention it.

After an earthquake in 1928, the club were homeless for twenty years, but by the 1940s, the club was the best supported in the country, often breaking attendance records. Though the game has change significantly from these halcyon days of Bulgarian football, based on my limited experience, Bulgarian football is still very much worth making the trek for.

The game was an all Lokomotiv Friday night affair, as Plovdiv hosted their Sofia namesakes, Lokomotiv Sofia, who themselves have an extensive history of winning trophies (four leagues and four cups), though not since 1978 have they lifted any silverware. I was hoping to perhaps see Jordon Ibe, who now plies his trade for Lokomotiv in the Bulgarian capital, but Flashscore tells me he was suspended for a red card in the previous fixture.

To tell the truth, the first-half was a bit of a snooze-fest, even if Plovdiv had a goal ruled out by VAR, and Sofia had a couple of gilt-edged chances. The game kicked into action in the second-half with Erol Dost sending off for the away side happening no sooner than the game had kicked off again. 

This allowed Plovdiv to dominate the second-half, though Sofia still had chances to put the ball in the net. Dutch striker Joel Zwarts finally did so for Plovdiv, which ultimately sealed the three points for the hosts. Substitute Georgi Chorbadzhiyski had an 'icing on the cake' goal ruled out in stoppage time by VAR, but it was ultimately a fairly comfortable win for Plovdiv, and a much needed one too.

The experience as a whole was surprisingly straightforward - I got my ticket online at Eventim for around 15 Euros (I wanted to avoid the ultras section as a left leaning foreigner...), and I pretty much had an entire row to myself. The stadium is a bit of a walk from the centre admittedly, but if you're heading to a game in Bulgaria in the near future, you could do a lot worse than Plovdiv.