Owner of Bulgarian football club murdered; suspect is former employee

The owner of Bulgarian club Botev Plovdiv was murdered on Wednesday. According to Bulgarian media, Iliyan Filipov was shot in the head after getting out of his car and walking to the front door of a woman known to him. Police have arrested a suspect.

At around 1.00am local time, police in Plovdiv received a report of a shooting in the Hristo Smirnenski district. Officers quickly arrived at the scene, where they could do nothing for Filipov.

Police immediately cordoned off the area around the crime scene. Reports said nobody was allowed to leave the city in the hours after the shooting. The relevant authorities launched an investigation straight away.

That investigation led to the arrest of a 51-year-old man in the capital Sofia, although it is still in full swing. The suspect is a former employee of the transport and construction company PIMK, which Filipov founded and ran.

It is still unclear whether there were any witnesses. Neighbours regularly saw him in the district, where he visited an apartment occupied by a woman.

Filipov was a prominent figure in Bulgarian football and had close ties to Botev Plovdiv, one of the leading clubs in the historic city. He also played a crucial role in the construction of the new Hristo Botev Stadium.

On Wednesday, Botev fans gathered at that stadium to honour Filipov. The club cancelled training and is looking for a new date for the match against Slavia Sofia.

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