The "legendary" Bulgarian footballer who was wrongly announced as dead by his former side in March was invited back to the club as a special guest on Wednesday.
Bulgarian outfit Arda Kardzhali held a minute's silence for club great Petko Ganchev before their match with Levski Sofia last month, after believing the 78-year-old had died. It turned out, however, that he was very much still alive.
After realising their mistake, the club said in a statement on Facebook: “The management of PFC Arda would like to express a huge apology to the former Arda player Petko Ganchev and his relatives after the club received wrong information about his death.
Bulgarian side invite player they wrongly announced as dead to game
The Bulgarian league game between Arda and Levski began with a minute of silence to honor ex-Arda player Petko Ganchev before it was revealed that the guy is still alive.‘We are very sorry for the misunderstanding and wish Mr Ganchev all the best,’ Arda said 🇧🇬 pic.twitter.com/cJoV3u3YiXMarch 18, 2025
“We wish Petko Ganchev many more years of good health and to enjoy the success of Arda.”
Ganchez found out the 'news' from various people phoning him, though he took it slightly better by pouring himself a small brandy.
Two weeks ago, Petko Ganchev's ex-Bulgarian club held a minute's silence thinking he was dead, leading to frantic calls from his friends and relatives while his wife was in tears when he got back home.Today they invited the 78-year-old for their home game to honour him. pic.twitter.com/fJwPO0MoLLApril 2, 2025
Speaking to bTV, as quoted by the Independent, Ganchev said: “As I was driving home, my phone started ringing a lot but I was driving and I didn’t dare to answer. I entered the garden and my wife greeted me in tears.
“She said, ‘Petko, Petko, they’ve announced on TV that you’ve passed away!’ I couldn’t understand what she was saying or what had happened.”
In order to make up for their mistake, Arda Kardzhali invited their former player back to the club for their 4-0 win against Cherno More in the Bulgarian top tier.
They presented Ganchev with a club shirt before the game, while also describing him as a "legend" and apologising once again for their rather unfortunate mistake.
"Before the match Petko Ganchev saw the sport director Ivaylo Petkov, who gave him a jubilee jersey. He watched the match in the company of other Arda veterans," the club said.
"Once again we apologise to Petko Ganchev."
