Spoiler

Bulgarian Prime Minister turns out against English pub team

The iron-fisted leader in action. (He’s the one on the left.)

A pub side from Nottingham rocked up to a friendly kickabout in Bulgaria on Thursday only to be met by national TV crews and armed guards, after the country’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov decided to gatecrash the match and turn out for the home side.

It’s the greatest brush with fame for your average pub footballer since Milan’s Kevin Prince-Boateng was spotted playing Powerleague football in Essex.

East Midlands Public Authorities League outfit Nottingham United set up the match with third division team Vitosha as part of ‘a boozy tour of Bulgaria’.

Unknown to them, however, on hearing his hometown side would be facing English opposition, sports-mad leader Boyko (a seventh-dan black belt, dontcha know) demanded to play up front, “even though he is 51 with a pot belly” as The Sun so kindly puts it.

Here is a highlights reel packed full of Borisov’s breath-taking velvet skills. Are you watching Harry Redknapp?:

Magical. Unfortunately for United the match ended in a 6-0 spanking after Vitosha were gifted three penalties, one of which PM Borisov earned with a blatant dive (and then promptly missed. Gutted.)

The Prime Minister has promised to travel to the UK for a rematch, bringing the rest of the Vitosha team along on his private jet. With home advantage and no dodgy refs, Nottingham have a good chance of exacting revenge. As long as they don’t get any of our own former leaders involved.

• Boyko Borisov
• Bulgaria
• pub team football