June 30 (Metodi Yordanov of BTA) - June 30 of this year marks the 50th death anniversary of two of Bulgaria's all-time greatest football players - Georgi (Gundi) Asparuhov and Nikola (The Kitten) Kotkov, both playing for PFC Levski at the time. Hundreds of thousands of fans attended their funeral, which left the communist regime at the time unsettled and caught off-guard.

The two football legends died in a tragic fiery car crash on this day 50 years ago on their way from Sofia to the northwestern city of Vratsa, where they were invited to play in a football match hosted by the local Botev Vratsa football team on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

The two never made it to the game. Enchanted by the invitation to play and pay their respects to the local team, Gundi and Kotkov got into the former's Alpha Romeo car and headed towards Vratsa. A stranger at a gas station on the way asked them for a ride and hopped into the doomed Italian vehicle. The three continued to their destination, where Gundi and Kotkov would not live to play their football match. Driving along the curvy mountainous road, they came across a truck with a trailer that cut them off right after a sharp turn. The crash was almost instant. The car rammed into the truck's gas tank, which ignited and incinerated the vehicle and its occupants before anyone could come to their rescue. Asparuhov had managed to step on the brakes, leaving 30-meters long skid marks.

At the time, Gundi had managed to get the attention of some of the top European football clubs. He was wanted by Benfica, as well as Italy's AC Milan. AC Milan's emissary is quoted as saying the following about Asparuhov's response to their offer: "Tell them that there is a country named Bulgaria. In that country there is a team named Levski, you might not have heard of it. But I was born in this team and I will die in this team." The communist regime was not very enthused about such a transfer either.

The two football legends' funeral was attended by 150,000 mourners (some sources put this figure as high as 500,000) which was more than the number of attendees of any organized event by the communist government, such as dictator Georgi Dimitrov's funeral. To make matters worse, the two beloved Bulgarian players' demise coincided with the tragic death of three Soviet astronauts from the Soyuz 11 mission, which the Bulgarian government spared no effort publicizing, even staging a symbolic funeral. The huge attendance of Gundi and Kotkov's funeral left the communist regime wobbling and the authorities went as far as to oust the then Interior Minister, Angel Solakov, who went to the two footballers' funeral, instead of the Soviet astronauts'.

Georgi Asparuhov was declared posthumously Bulgaria's best football player of the 20th century. In 2014, by a presidential decree, he was presented with the Oder of Stara Planina, Bulgaria's highest state honor, for his exceptional contribution to sports. MY/LN/


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