A unique incident occurred during the match. The Arda Kardzhali football club held a minute’s silence before the match against Levski Sofia to commemorate their former player, Petko Ganchev, on Sunday (16/3/2025). However, in the middle of the match, the Bulgarian club realized that they had received incorrect information, because Ganchev was still alive.
It is known that the chronology of the Bulgarian club’s mistake occurred before kick-off. Players from both clubs gathered in the center circle of the field, along with the audience, to observe a minute’s silence for Ganchev, a 28-year-old player who used to strengthen Arda.
However, in the first half of the match, the home team management received the correct information and immediately corrected the error to the TV station broadcasting the match.
Arda also immediately released a statement of apology via his official Facebook account:
“The Arda Board of Directors would like to express its deepest apologies to former player Petko Ganchev and his loved ones, after the club received inaccurate information about him. We wish Petko Ganchev good health and continued success for Arda,” the Bulgarian club wrote.
However, the post appears to have been deleted on Monday (17/3/2025) night. However, the incident has already spread widely on social media and become a topic of conversation in the football world.
Many social media users responded to the incident with humor. One comment on platform X read: “The story would have been more interesting if Arda had put Ganchev in for the last 10 minutes and won,” the netizen wrote.
Ganchev played for Bulgarian club Arda Kardzhali from 2020 to 2022, making 21 appearances and scoring one goal. The centre-back currently plays for Dobrudzha Dobrich in the Bulgarian Second Division.
