World Cup USA 1994 : Boost for Bulgaria : Soccer Upset Puts Obscure European Nation on the Map
The phone has been ringing constantly at the Bulgarian American Cultural Society’s makeshift office in the Los Feliz district since the Eastern European nation became the darling of the World Cup by beating the odds and reaching the tournament’s Final Four.
“Can I get Bulgarian stamps?” one caller asked. “Do you have any extra Bulgarian coins?” asked another. “Just where is Bulgaria, anyway?”
Club President Nikola Tschamoff has stepped in as a local expert of sorts, providing tidbits about his homeland in the wake of its team’s stunning win Sunday over defending soccer champion Germany.
“Bulgaria has had a great history, but a very difficult history,” he said in broken English, alluding to the country’s struggle under Soviet domination. “This is definitely a boost for the country.”
Bulgarians in Los Angeles will gather in small, hopeful clusters today when the team--which until this year had never won a World Cup match--plays Italy in New Jersey for a chance to miraculously advance to Sunday’s championship match in Pasadena.
Win or lose, Tschamoff said he’s just happy the team has made it this far. The country of 9 million people, located between Romania and Turkey along the Black Sea, has finally stepped out of obscurity. It’s been a long time coming.
Despite the end of Moscow’s 50-year domination in 1989, Bulgaria remains poor, with some families living on less than $10 a month.
“Maybe the team’s strong showing will help the tourism and the trade,” said Tschamoff, who runs the 150-member Bulgarian club out of his house. “Bulgaria doesn’t have a great deal to be happy about. But this has made them very, very happy.”
And it has given Los Angeles’ Bulgarian community, including many expatriates who fled as the Soviet Union took over in the late 1940s, a chance to finally cheer for their home team.
On Tuesday, Nick Baikoushev, 64, a retired Hollywood painter, spent the afternoon in search of T-shirts and other World Cup paraphernalia. He and his friend George Tutundjiev, 70, nearly cleared out the Bulgarian section of a Hollywood Boulevard sporting goods store .
“We should be proud,” said Baikoushev, who fled the country in 1948. “Nobody ever thought we would get this far. . . . I’ve waited a long, long time to cheer.”
For its part, the Bulgarian Consulate in Los Angeles is planning a party for today’s game.
“Clearly, this is raising the awareness that Bulgaria is not some backwater country with nothing to bring to the world,” said honorary Bulgarian Consul Latchezar Christov. “It shows we have good athletes and nice people who enjoy winning.”
Although the 1990 Census found that there were only 6,759 Bulgarian-born people living in the United States, Christov said he believes there are many others who trace their roots to Bulgaria.
Steve Kantardjieff, 65 a retired Bank of America executive and Bulgaria native, said the game has provided a good excuse to see old friends from his early days in the United States. He’s planning a party for about a dozen friends.
“This does bring everyone together,” said Kantardjieff, who left Bulgaria in 1949. “Everyone gets to feel the joy and the pride that this has finally happened.”
