Badge of the Day #103: Spartak Sofia

Another of the latest additions to the European club collection in the form of this rather lovely vintage object representing the former Spartak Sofia of Bulgaria, the badge pre-dating 1969, when Spartak merged with Levski to become Levski-Spartak, one of the great & favourite names, the acquisition of whose badge was featured here on TOoT.

Again, the ‘shield’ form of the object is an interesting one, & of course the Cyrillic ‘Spartak’ & the red star are ever-seductive elements of the design, making the whole rather irresistible.

World Cup '74 Portrait Collection: Squad #4 (Bulgaria)

all drawings graphite & putty eraser, some with watercolour pencil, each 30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #253 (Zonio Vassilev: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #236 (Dobromir Jetchev: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #224 (Ivan Zafirov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

The latest drawing to be processed in the Project is a re-mediation of an image of Ivan Zafirov, who was represented in both the FKS & Panini World Cup ’74 commemorative albums, & selected as a member of the official Bulgaria squad for the Finals, but not subsequently chosen to play in any of his country’s 3 matches at the tournament, which they departed at the conclusion of the First Round group stage.

World Cup '74 Portrait #186 (Denis Milar: Uruguay)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Today our randomly-chosen subject depicts Denis Milar, who was selected to appear in both the FKS & Panini World Cup ’74 sticker albums & as a member of the Uruguay squad for the tournament itself, appearing in all 3 of his country’s matches, as a 64^th-minute substitute against Holland & then throughout versus Bulgaria & Sweden, although remaining unknown to me at the time.

World Cup '74 Portrait #180 (Johan Neeskens: Holland)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Continuing the this week daily progress of the Project with a ‘re-mediated’ drawing of Johan Neeskens, as represented in sticker form in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’  album (the player was also featured in the Panini ’München 74’ collection).

Subsequently selected for inclusion in the official Holland squad for the Finals, given the central role Neeskens played in his country’s progress through the 1974 World Cup, playing in all of their matches & scoring 5 goals, including one in the effective ‘semi-final’ win over Brazil & the second-minute penalty that gave the Dutch the lead over West Germany in the Final, it seems inevitable that his name would have become one of the relative few to have registered during a novice’s exposure to the televised coverage of the tournament, as indeed it did, memorably so.

World Cup '74 Portrait #145 (Jordan Filipov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #142 (Stefan Aladjov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #126 (Kiril Milanov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #115 (Kiril Ivkov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #112 (Ivan Stoyanov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

World Cup '74 Portrait #108 (Juan Masnik: Uruguay)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Today’s randomly-chosen subject is Juan Masnik, who was represented in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ sticker albums, & selected for inclusion in the Uruguay squad for the tournament, during which he subsequently appeared in all three of his country’s matches, captaining the team against Holland then coming on as a substitute against Bulgaria (after 73 minutes) & Sweden (immediately following half-time).

World Cup '74 Portrait #106 (Christo Bonev: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

After a day’s lull, this most recent drawing in the Project has as its subject Christo (Hristo) Bonev, photo stickers representing  whom were featured in both the FKS & Panini albums published to commemorate the 1974 World Cup, & who was selected as a member of the Bulgaria squad for the Finals, at which he went on to captain his country in each of the three matches they played at the tournament, scoring the goal against Uruguay that, but for a late equalizer, almost gained the Bulgarians their first victory at a World Cup Finals (for which, & having first qualified back in 1962, they would eventually have to wait a further 20 years on from ’74 & a total of 17 matches). 

World Cup '74 Portrait #104 (Benno Magnusson: Sweden)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

The latest subject to be featured is the previously unheard-of Benno Magnusson, who was represented in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ sticker album, & selected for the official Sweden squad for the Finals, during which he appeared twice, in the First Round group matches, as a 73^rd minute substitute against Bulgaria & then from the start versus Uruguay, subsequently to be replaced after an hour.

Meanwhile, back in the room at the first semi-final of the 2014 World Cup, it's 5 - 0 to Germany against the hosts Brazil after half an hour...by what might be a most serendipitous coincidence in relation to the Project & current events, we're halfway to a repeat of the 1974 final.

(P.S. final score 7 - 1)

World Cup '74 Portrait #92 (Georgi Denev: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

Today’s randomly-chosen subject proved to be another of the previously-unheard-ofs in the form of Georgi Denev, who was represented in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ commemorative sticker albums, & selected for the Bulgaria squad for the Finals, where he appeared in each of his country’s three matches, after which, following two draws & a comprehensive defeat to Holland (during which Denev collected a yellow card), they were eliminated from the tournament at the first stage.

Back at the 2014 World Cup, this drawing was brought to a conclusion to the sound of the commentary of Russia taking an early & worrying lead in their match against Algeria, our African favourites of the tournament, but all ended well as we were able to see & enjoy the Algerians come back to draw the game & thus, delightfully, progress to the knock-out stages, for the first time in their history: now to overcome Germany, to advance further into uncharted territory & make proper amends for the still-disgraceful carve-up of the 1982 World Cup.

Bringing the subjects of archive stickers & albums of & the current Algeria World Cup squad together, a little light match-accompanying research led to the discovery of their manager, the Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic (a great name), as represented during his time as a player, for the mighty Velez Mostar, in the Yugoslavian-published ‘Fudbaleri i Timovi’ 1974/75 season album, & as a member of the Yugoslavia squad in the Panini album (or at least a reproduction of) commemorating the España '82 World Cup.

And also, topically, here’s the small selection collected (to date) of the Algerian squad’s stickers from the contemporary Panini 2014 FIFA World Cup Brasil album, a delightful gift from A, which has been keeping us occupied, although not necessarily quiet, whilst keeping an eye on the televised matches: at the current count, we have managed to fill 278 of the 639 available spaces (interesting to consider that the figure of 278 is already greater than the total of the earlier albums, not least the 1974 ones which provide the raw materials for this drawing project, but this time so far from completion – in fact, nowhere near even half way). Anyone have any swaps (we have about 80)?

World Cup '74 Portrait #77 (Stefan Staikov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Introducing a new set of pencils, with slightly different aesthetic results, today’s randomly-chosen subject represents Stefan Staikov, who appeared in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ sticker album & was subsequently selected for the official Bulgaria squad for the tournament, where he eventually played one match, replacing Rumen Goranov, the Bulgarian’s concluding fixture in the first round group phase, the 1 – 4 defeat to Holland that resulted in their elimination following two preceding draws.

World Cup '74 Portrait #74 (Dimitar Dimitrov: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser/30x21cm

Today’s randomly chosen subject represents Dimitar Dimitrov, who was selected for inclusion in sticker form in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ collectors’ albums but who failed to make the official Bulgaria squad for the tournament, thus casting him as one of the particular ‘ghosts’ of the event, absent at the time yet maintaining an historical presence down the years since via the memorabilia trade.

Research reveals that Dimitar Dimitrov played on 18 occasions for the Bulgarian national team, including a couple of matches in the qualifying competition for the 1974 World Cup & a sequence of friendlies preceding the Finals before missing out on them for whatever reason, then briefly resuming his international career in 1976.

Being the 74^th drawing in the ’74 project, we are now at exactly the one-quarter point of proceedings, unless the decision is made to exclude the ‘excluded nations’ as featured in the Panini ’München 74’ album & instead rigorously concentrate upon only the qualifying nations/squads, in which case we’re a bit further along the road to completing what would be a total of 256 drawings.

World Cup '74 Portrait #69 (Rudi Krol: Holland)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

The latest subject to be randomly chosen for the drawing project proved to be Rudi or Ruud Krol, who was selected to appear in both the FKS & Panini ‘World Cup ‘74’ sticker albums, for inclusion in the official Holland squad for the Finals, & subsequently played throughout the tournament, in all of the Dutch team’s seven matches on their way to the final itself, scoring twice from his defensive position (although the ‘Total Football’ of Holland allowed for much fluidity of movement), once for his country against Argentina in a 4 – 0 win, & once against them, an own goal for Bulgaria (of no consequence, as the Dutch won 4 – 1).

Given the profile enjoyed by Holland during the 1974 World Cup, which event they illuminated, a number of the players’ names registered at the time & stuck in the memory, including that of Ruud Krol, who is thus one of the relatively few familiar names from the time.

World Cup '74 Portrait #60 (Dimitar Penev: Bulgaria)

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour pencil/30x21cm

Today’s randomly-chosen subject represents Dimitar Penev, a sticker of whom appeared in both the FKS & Panini collectors’ albums previewing the 1974 World Cup, & who was subsequently selected as a member of the Bulgaria squad for the Finals, where he appeared in all three of his country’s First Round matches (after which they suffered elimination), as, indeed, he had previously done in both the 1966 & 1970 World Cups (where the same unsuccessful fate had befallen Bulgaria: indeed, it was not until the 1994 tournament, when Penev was now their manager, that the Bulgarians won a match at a World Cup & advanced beyond the opening phase, going all the way, in fact, to the semi-finals on that occasion).