FC Slavia - 1913

Slavia-1913, established in 1913, is Bulgaria’s oldest sports organization. The club has been a national champion eight times andin 1966/67 it was the first Bulgarian team that qualified for a European championship.

The club is controlled by some representatives of SIK – a security firm with a background. Two of its founders were murdered in 2004 – Stoil Slavov and Dmitry Minev or “The Russian.” Two other SIK leaders –Brothers Krasimir and Nikolay Marinov, nicknamed “The Big Margin” and “The Little Margin” – were convicted in 2005 of organizing the murders of three rivals. Cases against them continue. In October 2006 their property was frozen by government officials.

The son of club President Venzislav Stefanov was kidnapped in 2004 and has never been found, although ransom was paid.

SIK owns nearly 66 percent of the club through two offshore companies, Anfield Finance Ltd., registered in the Virgin islands, and Green Park Investments Ltd., registered in Cyprus. The other third is owned by Sofia Real Estate, owned by the city of Sofia. Former mayor Stefan Sofiansky and some city officials agreed to a joint venture with SIK in 1999.

The city has yet to profit from that. Prosecutors are looking into the arrangement with SIK.