Bulgarian Football Club Lokomotiv Plovdiv Announces Gazprom Deal, Company Denies

Bulgarian football club Lokomotiv Plovdiv "has announced it is on the verge of signing a new partnership agreement with the Gazprom petrol station," according to Alexander Krassimirov of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. NIS Petrol Exec Dir Ivan Kostadinov denied the news. The Gazprom petrol station network "has been in the Bulgarian market since July this year." Gazprom "had already been in talks with another Bulgarian club, Levski Sofia, but those negotiations stalled" when 13 clubs wrote to present Bulgarian PM Plamen Oresharski, asking Gazprom to support all the clubs, not just one club -- Levski. The Lokomotiv Plovdiv statement "surprised all the clubs, and seeming Gazprom." The club statement said that "the Gazprom petrol station network had chosen PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv as its strategic partner in Bulgaria football! It is expected, the formal contract between the two parties to be signed soon" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 10/28).