Overview
- The club president, businessman Iliyan Filipov, was shot dead in Plovdiv in the early hours of Wednesday after exiting his car, and police arrived to find him fatally wounded.
- Officers cordoned the scene, restricted movement out of the city in the hours after the attack, and opened a formal homicide investigation with prosecutors saying they are pursuing all leads.
- Bulgarian media reported that a 51-year-old man was arrested in Sofia in connection with the killing and that he is a former employee of Filipov’s company PIMK, though official authorities have not yet confirmed motive or filed public charges.
- Botev Plovdiv has suspended training, postponed matches, and held tributes at Hristo Botev Stadium as fans and players mourn a figure credited with rescuing the club and completing the stadium rebuild.
- Filipov’s death removes a leading local business figure who founded PIMK and led the stadium reconstruction, raising questions about club leadership, security for high-profile figures, and the pace of the police inquiry in the coming days.