October 24 – The British-based sports investment firm Sport Republic has reportedly expressed interest in taking an 87.5% majority stake in Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia, but no formal offer has been made.
Levski owner Nasko Sirakov (pictured) said in a statement that he held two preliminary discussions with representatives of Sport Republic in the summer, but despite those meetings progress has been slow.
Sport Republic was founded by Scandinavians Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft and is financed by lead investor, Serbian media owner. Dragan Šolak. The business owns Southampton in the EFL Championship, Valenciennes in France, the Turkish club Göztepe, and Malian club Malou Kourra.
Sirakov said he held an exploratory conversation with the CEO of Sport Republic, Dirk Gerkens, who confirmed Sport Republic’s readiness to purchase the shares. Sirakov said he insisted on an official letter of intent and a financial audit, the results of which should also be disclosed to the club’s management. The letter was sent to Levski on August 2, but the audit has not yet been conducted.
“In mid-June 2025, a meeting was held at the club between PFC “Levski” and representatives of Sport Republic, led by the group’s CEO, Mr. Dirk Gerkens. The meeting was informal and introductory – it was not pre-planned and had no specific topic requests, which is why members of the Supervisory Board were absent,” said Sirikov.
“At the meeting, Mr. Gerkens raised for discussion the renewed desire of Sport Republic to acquire the controlling stake (85.7%) of Levski and for the club to be included in the group of clubs owned by Sport Republic – Southampton (England), Valenciennes (France), Göztepe (Turkey), and Mali Kourra (Mali).
“I expressed readiness to assist according to the established procedure, and during the meeting, we outlined two clear steps: first, an official letter of intent to be submitted to the club; second, immediately thereafter, a Sport Republic team to begin the financial audit (due diligence) procedure. The only precondition from our side was that the results of the analysis should also be accessible to the club – something that did not happen during the previous audit conducted by the same group,” Sirakov continued.
“On August 2, 2025, I received a letter that essentially repeated what Sport Republic said at the meeting, and the club remained ready to assist with the next step – the financial audit by their team. As of today, Sport Republic has not initiated such a procedure. There have been no further meetings on the topic.
“I publicly confirm that we are ready to assist if there is a real interest and a clearly described strategy for the development of PFC Levski, should an intention to acquire the controlling stake materialize.”
Sirakov said that there had been interest from other companies to take control of Levski and that the club has shared its financial information but to date there has been no formal offer.
Sirakov said: “To be fair to the supporters and partners, I also share the main questions and comments raised at the meeting, as well as in subsequent discussions with the Supervisory Board:
– What has changed in the attitudes of Sport Republic compared to the period two seasons ago, when I personally offered to transfer the shares to them free of charge;
– The need to appoint authorized representatives from both sides to lead the negotiations, to avoid repeating situations like at the end of 2022, when immediately after I met with Mr. Šolak, he held a second, unsanctioned meeting in his office with third parties from the club. This approach seriously undermined the trust between all involved parties, and the subsequent events jeopardized the club’s stability;
– Clear guarantees of autonomy and identity – Levski must be managed by people for whom the club is a goal, not a means in a larger group or for participation in political projects;
– Clear protection against a “satellite” model – legally binding guarantees that “Levski” will not be used to develop players for the benefit of other clubs in the group;
– Risk management according to UEFA rules for multi-club ownership and financial fair play – specific proposals on how possible future restrictions will be addressed, which prohibit clubs with a common owner from playing in the same European tournaments during the season;
– Guarantees for sporting results and sustainability – how a scenario will be avoided where Levski follows a negative dynamic observed in other projects of the group (e.g., Southampton and Valenciennes in their respective championships);
– Clear framework for investments – financial and temporal: not only concerning sports-technical aspects but also infrastructure projects.
Sirakov said he is waiting for “concrete” answers to his questions, particularly around guarantees that will protect Levski’s independence. “This will allow us to move to the next stage of any conversation about ownership,” he concluded.
Contact the writer of this story, Aleksander Krassimirov, at moc.l1761278953labto1761278953ofdlr1761278953owedi1761278953sni@o1761278953fni1761278953
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