Bulgarian soccer's ruling body has apologised to UEFA and president Lennart Johansson over coach Hristo Stoichkov's behaviour at their World Cup qualifier against Sweden in Stockholm on Saturday.

Stoichkov, Bulgaria's most successful footballer, was banned for one game after he was shown a red card for arguing with Belgium referee Frank De Bleeckere. Sweden won 3-0.

On Sunday, the 39-year-old coach also made remarks to reporters about Swede Johansson, who left the stadium when the score was 2-0.

The Bulgarian Football Union's (BFU) executive committee has written to Johansson offering "sincere apologies in connection with the press statements and scandalous behaviour" of Stoichkov, said UEFA.

The BFU vice-president Borislav Mihailov told local sports radio station Gong: "We sent the letter with the knowledge of Stoichkov himself.

"Together with BFU president Ivan Slavkov we talked to Hristo Stoichkov. He has been a national coach for a year and he has not had such problems so far."

UEFA said on its website it had filed a disciplinary complaint with FIFA over statements made by Stoichkov.

After a goalless first half, Saturday's game changed in the 49th minute when Bulgarian Blagoy Georgiev was sent off for a bad tackle on Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg.

The sending off enraged Stoichkov who in turn was shown a red card.

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