Touch launches in Bulgaria

Stefan Doychev, President of Bulgaria Touch, said the sport is emerging in the eastern European country because of “an investment in efforts towards a National Touch Championship”, the foundation of new clubs and the use of the latest digital marketing techniques such as social media to promote the sport.

“We’ve had tournaments in the past, but we have only formalised the sport in Bulgaria recently with structured games officiated by fully-qualified referees,” said Stefan pictured here with Alex Petitcolas from Touch France. 

In October, Bulgaria Touch hosted its first National Championship in Sofia, with five clubs and a total of 60 players competing. Leading club side Murphy’s Misfits, which includes Doychev, won the inaugural tournament.

Building on the success of the championship, Stefan said increasing the ranks of qualified referees and coaches are significant priorities. “We are working on having coaching and referee courses. After that, we aim to approach schools to promote the benefits of Touch,” explained Stefan. 

“We would like to see Touch included in the physical education programs offered by Bulgarian schools or as part of their extracurricular activities.”

The diversity offered by Touch is another appeal of the game for Bulgarians. “Touch is a unique game that allows men and women to compete together along with their children,” Stefan said. “Touch is a perfect opportunity to bring families and friends together to enjoy the social aspects of our game.”

The benefits of joining the global Touch family

Stefan, who attended the inaugural FIT’s Member Workshop in Paris last month said the opportunity to learn from the leading lights of the Touch world such as Australia, New Zealand and England was a helpful opportunity for the fledgling association.

“There was a lot of knowledge available to us at the workshop that will be valuable at this stage of our development, especially about how to manage membership fees”, said Stefan. 

He added, “We are very excited about the future of Touch in Bulgaria, especially the opportunity to have more competitions and more clubs. We have recently introduced an open practice for everyone who wants to try Touch on Monday nights with the Serdi Touch club, which is an excellent way to start the week.”