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UEFA Europa League
Thursday 3 December
Kick-Off 20:05

Supporters are now able to purchase tickets for our UEFA Europa League home game against CSKA Sofia on Thursday 3rd December (Kick-Off 8:05pm) for just £15 Adults and £10 Juniors each!

Buy your tickets now

How to Buy tickets

• buy tickets online – 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day. Available to Season Ticket Holders & Members only for this game. Save on booking fees by booking online*
• by phone on 0870 442 1234 (option 1) – 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day
• in person from the Ticket Office: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; non-match day Sat 10am-12pm
• by fax 0207 384 4810 (download printable form)
• by postal application to FFC Ticket Office, Stevenage Road, Fulham, SW6 6HH enclosing a stamped addressed envelope (download printable form)
• Seatwave – the official fan-to-fan ticket exchange
• Thomas Cook – match breaks for all Fulham FC home games

* Lower booking fees compared to telephone booking

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Tickets/Games/FulhamvCSKASofia.aspx

The Administrative Court in the Black Sea city of Burgas upheld the ban of the coach of Bulgaria’s CSKA Football Club, Lyuboslav Penev, to leave the country.

The measure interferes with the CSKA game in London with the UK Fulham from the UEFA Europa League on December 3.

The Court tried Tuesday the case over the complaint filed by Penev disputing the order of the Head of the Regional Police Directorate dated November 6 to not allow the coach to travel abroad. The order has been issued on the request of a private law enforcement officer over Penev’s default BGN 2 M loan from EIBank.

The magistrates rejected Penev’s claim. The rule can be appealed in a 7-day period. The Supreme Administrative Court must rule in a month.

Evidence presented by Penev’s attorney before the Burgas Court proved the loan is backed by a real estate property and the bank had not requested additional collateral.

FC Basel comfortably beat CSKA Sofia 3-1 and maintained their position at the top of Uefa Europa League group E with nine points, though the Swiss side are yet to secure a place in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Alexander Frei scored a brace against the Bulgarian side, as he had done in the first match between both teams in Sofia two weeks earlier. With this latest victory, FC Basel are two points ahead of second placed AS Roma and four from third placed Fulham. CSKA are bottom of the group with one point.

The Bulgarian side showed a spirited display and scored a stunning goal through Todor Yanchev, but it was not enough to spark a revival. At the bottom of the group with only one point from four outings, CSKA’s hopes or further contention in the tournament have all but dissipated.

The Bulgarian league leaders are now facing an equally arduous task as they will have to travel to London and face Fulham at Craven Cottage. Meanwhile, group leaders FC Basel will travel to the Eternal City and take on Roma. Both matches are on December 3 2009.

CSKA Sofia will travel to FC Basel on November 5 in their UEFA Europa League Group E encounter in the hope that they can salvage a result from this tough away clash.

The Sofia Reds are currently bottom of the group with one point, while Basel are top with six, followed by Fulham in second with five and AS Roma in third with four points. The previous match between the Bulgarians and Basel was in Sofia on October 22, which the Reds lost 2-0.

Should CSKA register another defeat in the competition, while, concurrently, Fulham beat Roma away, the Bulgarian side will be out of contention for the further stages of the competition.

CSKA will enter the fray on the back of domestic turmoil, having lost a crunch league encounter on November 2 against Litex Lovech, which also prompted the team’s head coach Lyuboslav Penev to take drastic measures against nine players whom he accused of being responsible for the loss, by partying away the night before the match and breaking curfew.

However, club authorities decided to end the “punishment” of nine players who were reportedly “sacked” three days ago, and said they would be reinstated in the first team after the League Europa clash with Basel.

“We will return all of them, they were just temporarily ousted from the team, but I will have them back,” said club president Dimitar Borissov.

CSKA Sofia and FC Basel had never met in their European history prior to the October 22 encounter in Sofia, which was also Basel’s first ever match Bulgarian opposition, while CSKA’s two previous away trips Switzerland both ended in defeat.

Following this round, the Reds will visit London where they have a date with Fulham while Basel will travel to the Eternal City and take on Roma on December 3 2009.

Kickoff between FC Basel and CSKA Sofia is at 9pm Bulgarian time.

Club authorities have decided to end the “punishment” of nine players who were reportedly “sacked” two days ago by head coach Lyuboslav Penev, Dnevnik daily reports on November 4 2009.

The players will be reinstated in the first team after the League Europa clash with Basel on November 6. “We will return all of them, they were just temporarily ousted from the team, but I will have them back,” said club president Dimitar Borissov.

The president told Bulgarian media that late on November 3 “he had a discussion with them all until 11pm and they had sincerely apologised for their conduct”,  the report says.

Apparently this decision was taken without the knowledge of head coach Penev who had promised stiff reprisals against the players and their “irresponsible behaviour” which led to the leagee defeat against Litex on the weekend.

Penev said at the time that the rules are the same for everyone and, as such, must be applied equally.

“Discipline is essential. They can’t just talk about money, money, money… They must conduct themselves in a professional manner, they are CSKA players after all. I will not make any compromises, even if they receive offers from other clubs,” Penev said.

He had threatened to relegate the players to the reserve team and have them remain there until they “sorted out” their attitude.

On November 2 2009, Penev barred nine players from training with the first team following reports of inappropriate conduct the night before a key league match against Litex Lovech. CSKA were beaten 2-0 and a major reason for the fiasco, according to Penev, was that nine first-team players were seen partying late on the night before the match, breaking curfew.

The players are Ivan Karadjov, the starting goalkeeper for all but three league matches this season; defenders Kiril Kotev, Pavel Vidanov and Ivan Ivanov and midfielders Marquinhos, David Silva, Yordan Todorov, Todor Timonov and Svetoslav Petrov.

CSKA Sofia bow out to superior FC Basel

Unbeaten in nine home matches in European competitions, CSKA Sofia faced a tough opposition in the form of FC Basel on October 22 2009, and were comfortably outplayed as Alexander Frei scored a brace, one in each half to propel the visitors on top of Group E.

The visitors were menacing on most occasions when they surged forward. The atmosphere at Vassil Levski stadium generated by the red supporters was not going to intimidate them in any way and Basel quickly obtained the initiative on the pitch.

Just 19 minutes into the first half and CSKA Sofia were 1-0 down when Marco Streller allowed a long pass bound for him to reach Frei, who in turn chested the ball and drove it past the advancing Ivan Karadzhov.

CSKA Sofia were then lucky not to concede a second four minutes from time when the Switzerland forward burst through in the penalty area in the 41st minute, beating two defenders, and having done the difficult part of the task, managed to squander it all by shooting wide off the post from several metres.

Second half under way, and the visitors maintained their harassment in style. It was a selfless and desperate defence from substitute Aleksandar Branekov that denied Frei from scoring a second goal on the stroke of the hour mark.

It was apparent, however, that the second goal was only a matter of when and not if, and it did not come too long afterward. Frei rose to meet Carlitos’s cross from the right with a header in the 64^th minute, making it a brace for himself and a comfortable 2-0 away win for his team.

The victory over CSKA left FC Basel with six points in the bag, one more than Fulham and two clear of AS Roma, while CSKA are five adrift. This defeat was the first time CSKA lost a European match at home since the 1-0 defeat inflicted by Hamburger SV in October 2005.

CSKA Sofia football club had started work on the construction of a new club stadium, CSKA’s president Dimitar Borissov told Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily on October 14 2009.

The new sport facility will replace the club’s current pitch, the Bulgarian Army stadium in the Borissova Gradina park.

Preliminary calculations made by the CSKA owner have shown that the new stadium, with a capacity between 25 000 and 30 000 seats, could cost up to 50 million euro. It will have to be ready for the 2011/2012 season.

“We have found financing for the project,” Borissov said. The idea was that the the new venue would also include a medical centre, cinema halls and shopping facilities, although current legislation bans anything other than sport facilities to be built in parks and green areas.

“The project will happen only if the authorities allow us,” Borissov said. Of more immediate concern for CSKA was paying all of its debts to the state, which owns the club’s current stadium, the training ground in Pancharevo borough as well as the Cherveno Zname sport complex near Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard.

CSKA’s debt is about 1.6 million leva, overdue leases to the Sports Ministry, which has been the subject of numerous complaints from CSKA’s arch rivals Levski Sofia, who claimed that CSKA was getting preferential treatment from authorities. On October 7, Sports Minister Svilen Neikov gave CSKA 10 days to begin paying its debts or face legal action.

The solution offered by CSKA was for the Sofia city hall to transfer the money it owed Titan refuse collection company, which owns CSKA, to the Sports Ministry. Although Neikov spoke in favour of the proposal, no transfer has been made just yet.

Once CSKA clears its debt, then it could go ahead with its plans to get the facilities it uses on concession. If this happened, Borissov said that construction of the new stadium could start as early as the spring of 2010.