Italian referee to officiate Bulgarian league match

Italian referee Matteo Trefoloni will officiate this weekend's potentially volatile Bulgarian premier league match between CSKA Sofia and Litex Lovech.

It will be the third time a foreigner has taken charge of a Bulgarian domestic match this season. Germany's Michael Weiner refereed the game between Litex and Levski Sofia, while Swiss Jerome Laperriere officiated between Marek Dupnitsa and Lokomotiv Sofia.

The match will be CSKA coach Stoycho Mladenov's first in charge of the Bulgarian giants after yesterday he was handed the team's reins and replaced Plamen Markov who was sacked.

Second-placed CSKA are second in the league on 39 points, six behind leaders Levski. Litex are fourth with 35.

"It's obvious that we are not pleased with our recent performances," said club chairman Alexandar Tomov.

"The loss of four points took us away from the title, which is our main goal, and therefore we decided to replace the coach and appointed Stoycho Mladenov."

Markov, who led Bulgaria in Euro 2004 in Portugal, took over from Serbian Miodrag Yesic last April.

In his first spell as CSKA coach, Mladenov, 49, won the league title with the club in 2003.