Efbet continues Bulgarian investment
Bulgarian sportsbook Efbet is investing BGN25m a year into Bulgarian sports confirms the owner of the company, Tsvetomir Naydenov.
The sportsbook, which started out as ‘Eurofootball’ in 1990, currently sponsors CSKA 1948 of the Bulgarian second division whilst also sponsoring a host of top flight Bulgarian teams and the country’s First Professional Football League.
As well as being greatly involved within Bulgaria’s football competition, efbet also sponsors the Bulgarian national volleyball team and both the countries national basketball and volleyball leagues. The operator is now seeking to expand into Western Europe.
Naydenov discussed the company’s formation and its plans for the future: “We started with ‘Eurofootball’ first in 1990. At that time our company was family – my father, me and my brother. Then 2003 – 2004 I saw the development of online sports betting and saw that Malta, as a member of the European Union, is the European sports betting hub. I went there, and founded the company which is today’s efbet. The brand “efbet” has always belonged to our family.
Ever since Eurofootball we have sponsored various sports clubs and federations, and we have expanded a lot more since efbet. There has been efbet Romania for two years, in one month we will start efbet Italy, we have already started efbet Serbia and efbet Spain. We are in the process of getting a UK and US license. I have negotiated with the FCFB, Astra Giurgiu and CFR Cluj – maybe our sponsorship interests in Romania will end up somewhere there. We will do the same procedure for Spain and Italy.”
Naydenov, who is an avid CSKA fan, discussed his relationship with the club, concluding: “My whole family are fans of CSKA. From the age of 12 I started to go to CSKA matches alone. My favorite football player is Emil Kostadinov. The fans made an association, and I was made a member – one of two hundred.
“I was fed up with CSKA going bankrupt. I submitted a recovery plan on behalf of the company, which was 100% owned by Vasil Bozhkov, but he had no desire for it. When he does not want to rebuild the club, there is no way outside people can do it.
“Our company then became a sponsor of CSKA 1948 in January 2017. I’m still a fan, one of the 200 members, and a sponsor. I don’t make important decisions because I’m just a sponsor. I’m interested in how the money is spent, but the decisions are made by Dobrin Gyonov and Kiril Kotev. I control our funds. I don’t know if it’s a trade secret to say how much sponsorship we have, but we give 25 million a year for the Bulgarian sport.”
Source: SBC News
