A Bulgarian first division team held a minute’s silence for a former player… only to later discover he’s still alive.
Arda Kardzhali made the shocking gaffe ahead of facing traditional Bulgarian giants Levski Sofia in the highest flight on Sunday.
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Each teams gathered on the centre circle and bowed their heads to recollect the house team’s club legend, Petko Ganchev.
A minute’s silence was held for the 78-year-old, who was reportedly out on the town getting some work done.
The group nobly joined in too, and all the things seemed to be happening as usual.
Nonetheless, on the hour mark, Arda incredibly put out a club statement which read: “The management of PFC Arda would love to precise an enormous apology to the previous Arda player Petko Ganchev and his relatives after the club received flawed details about his death.
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“We wish Petko Ganchev many more years of fine health and to benefit from the success of Arda.”
Because it turned out, an apology was definitely due, as they nearly gave his wife a heart attack.
Later recalling his version of events on television station bTV, Ganchev said: “I never miss watching Arda’s matches on television.
“This time, I used to be about ten minutes late for the sport against Levski because I had some work to do.
“As I used to be driving home, my phone began ringing loads but I used to be driving and I didn’t dare to reply.
“I entered the garden and my wife greeted me in tears. She said, ‘Petko, Petko, they’ve announced on TV that you just’ve passed away!’ I couldn’t understand what she was saying or what had happened.”
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They at the least got to enjoy an honest afternoon, as Arda held 26-time league champions Levski Sofia to a 1-1 draw, keeping the southern team fifth within the table.
