The sports ministers and the top football executives of Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Serbia met in the "Boyana" National Football Center in Sofia to work out a memorandum of understanding between the four respective governments, which in turn will formalize the establishment of an Organizing committee in charge of the joint bid to host the UEFA EURO 2028 and the FIFA World Cup 2030. The memorandum is expected to be signed officially at the next meeting which will take place in Greece in mid-April.

Apart from the sports minister Mr. Krasen Kralev, Bulgaria was represented by the president of the Bulgarian Football Union Mr. Borislav Mihaylov, the executive director of the National sports base Mr. Plamen Manolov, Mr. Anton Popov, deputy general secretary of the BFU and the head of the "European programs, projects and international collaborations" at the Ministry of youth and sports Mr. Victoria Slavkova. Romania's representatives included the sports minister Mr. Bogdan Constantin Matei, the president of the football federation Mr. Razvan Burleanu and the former footballing icon Gheorghe Popescu, who is currently acting as a sporting adviser to the prime minister Viorica Dancila. From the Greek side the participants were the deputy minister of culture and sports Mr. Georgios Vassiliadis and the general secretary of the football association Mr. Alexis Dedes, while the Serbian guests included the sports minister Mr. Vanja Udovicic, the vice-president of the football union Mr. Marko Pantelic and the general secretary Mr. Jovan Surbatovic. This was the third work meeting of the expert group in preparation for the joint bid of the Balkan states.

"We will try to make a decision on the formalization of the bid until the end of the year. We are still exploring the opportunities for the four countries to present an official common bid", said Mr. Kralev at the post-meeting official press conference. He added that Bulgaria is very well informed about all aspects of the infrastructure development that need to be addressed and executed for the bid.

"Concrete decisions have been made on our side, there have been funds allocated for the roads to Belgrade and Athens. Whenever we have the exact numbers, needed to accomplish all infrastructural projects, we will make them public. Have in mind that this is an extremely serious project and a good side for future collaborations not only in the field of football. We will work as friendly states because we all share the ambition for the Balkans to become a center for organization of sporting events", added Mr. Kralev and pointed out Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas as the four Bulgarian cities that have the potential to host tournament games.

Mr. Borislav Mihaylov underlined the importance of the construction of new stadiums in the country. "Even if the joint bid doesn't succeed, these stadiums will remain for the future generations and for our kids. This is the most important thing which is why I sincerely hope to be able to build four new stadiums. The difference between this bid and our ambitions for Sofia to host UEFA EURO 2020 games is the political support from the government and the prime minister", said the BFU president. 

"This is an extremely important bid because through it our states will build solid relationships which in turn will help them realize future collaborations outside of football", said the Serbian sports minister Mr. Vanja Udovicic.