Eight players from the Concordia Social Football Club will represent Bulgaria at the SATUC World Cup for underpriviliged children. The Bulgarian squad, lead by head coach Metodi Zdravkov, is currently training in Teteven prior to the championship opening ceremony on Saturday. The tournament will take place at the "Boyana" National football center between August 12th and August 15th.

"Two of the players - Nikolay Traykov and Georgi Iliev, are accomodated in the Concordia Foundation resident service. The other team members are from low-income urban areas in Sofia, mostly populated by ethnic minorities. Goalkeeper Asen Traykov and his teammates Ivo Milanov and Aleksi Kirilov are from "Fakulteta" neighborhood, while Traycho Metodiev, Ognyan Spasov and Svetoslav Dimitrov are from "Filipovtsi", said Viktor Kirkov, CEO of Sports Management Bulgaria, official partner of the SATUC Foundation for Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian team has one of the lowest average ages among the participants in the World Cup - the tournament rules allow for players below the age of 17 to take part in the games, and the hosts' average age is a little over 15. "I don't believe this will interfere with our results in any way", said head coach Zdravkov. "Our players are used to facing older opponents in the BFU tournaments anyway." The manager also acknowledged that the championship format (four outfield players plus one goalkeeper) is relatively new to the Concordia team, yet the players are quickly absorbing his tactical instructions.

Metodi Zdravkov is the first national team coach of the "Team for Hope". In 2012 he led the squad to the 14th place in the Homeless World Cup in Mexico City, which in turn put him in the Top 10 Bulgarian coaches of the year.

The SATUC World Cup for unprivileged children is organized jointly by Sheikha Al-Thani's foundation of the same name and the Bulgarian Football Union.