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Bulgarian PM urges the country's FA chief to resign after racist chanting at England match
The Bulgarian Prime Minister has called on FA president Borislav Mihaylov to resign in the wake of the horrific scenes during the Euro 2020 qualifier on Monday night.
England v Bulgaria: Ian Wright slams UEFA over racist chants
Bulgarian Prime Minister Bokyo Borissov has urged FA president Borislav Mihaylov to resign after the shocking racist scenes during the Euro 2020 qualifier with England last night.
England beat Bulgaria 6-0 as they edged towards a place at next summer’s tournament.
But the match was overshadowed by the racist abuse from the Bulgarian fans aimed at England players.
Tyrone Mings, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford started the match and were booed throughout, while there have also been reports of monkey chants from sections of the crowd.
The match was stopped twice and the fans warned about their behaviour and a section of the crowd was ejected before half time.
ITV cameras picked up fans making Nazi salutes and UEFA are going to launch an investigation after reading the referee’s report.
The game, which came close to be called off, was already taking place in a partially closed stadium after UEFA punished the Bulgarian FA for two previous acts of offensive chanting and displaying inappropriate banners.
But despite the horrendous scenes the Bulgarian FA president Mihaylov has tried to turn the gun on England players, by blaming them and Gareth Southgate for making false accusations.
Boris Johnson has commended the England team for their "tremendous dignity" in dealing with the "vile" racist abuse during their match against Bulgaria as he called on Uefa to conduct a swift investigation resulting in tough penalties.
The Prime Minister said European football's governing body must "face up to facts" in order to root out the blight on the sport which is not being adequately targeted.
And the Bulgarian manager insisted after the game he didn't hear any racist chanting and tried to insist there had been no such problems before.
He also attempted to blame travelling England supporters for inciting their counterparts.
But now Prime Minister Borissov has been so incensed by the handling of the whole event - coupled with a run of woeful defeats - he wants Mihaylov to resign with immediate effect.
It is also understood Balakov is battling to avoid the sack as well.
England v Bulgaria: ‘Winning made a statement’ says Southgate
Borissov used his official Facebook account to confirm he had demanded Mihaylov stand down and vowed to terminate the government's co-operation with the Bulgarian FA until he did so.
He said: "After last night's shameful defeat and the bad run of results, we will end all kind of relationship with the FA until Mihaylov resigns."
UEFA, meanwhile, will use evidence from specialist 'spotters' in the crowd and TV footage to prosecute those responsible for last night's trouble.